Submitted by francisarotin:

Another newbie to the SMTB, Ryan Perez-Daple, show amazing raw talent and heart as he battle in a two set match against seasoned player Chris Arotin on Tuesday night. Daple’s lost the first set 0-6, but showed great improvement as he dazzled onlookers with stronger 4-6 loss in the second set. Fan will certainly want to keep an eye on this rising star!

Chris is now 1-0 against Ryan and 3-0 overall in 2012.

Making his debut appearance on the blog (our first SMTB baby), newcomer and up-and-coming star Sam Martin stepped onto the court against Chris at the Penmar Courts on January the 25th.  Sam Martin, who we shall from now on refer to as “Smarty” for cataloging purposes, put up a good debut against Chris.  Chris compared his abilities to the other Sam (Garcia) in terms of skill, but just like his previous game, he was easily able to defeat Smarty with a comfortable 6-3 victory.

Chris is 1-0 against Smarty and 2-0 overall in 2012.

Smarty starts his SMTB career with a 0-1 record.  Hopefully, this does not become a trend.

“Winter, Spring, Summer or Fall / All you have to do is call and I’ll be there.” - Carole King

Those lines, while appropriate for friendship, do not apply to outdoor tennis matches.  The SMTB has been on break due to the inclement weather, but slowly, in the new year, the games are coming back.  In the inaugural game of 2012, our reigning champ Chris played against the perennial crybaby fighter Sam Garcia at the Penmar Courts on January the 19th.  Yes, the game was rusty.  Yes, both were out of shape and listless, and yes, it was pathetic.  But the game soldiered on, and thanks to Chris’s dramatic serving performance, he was able to handily defeat Sam 6 games to 3.

Chris is now 14-2 against Sam G. and 1-0 in 2012 overall.

After another brief tennis break due mostly to inclement weather, Sam and Fernando met once again at the Penmar courts to determine tennis superiority on September 22nd.  Sam, as per usual, started out strong with a 2-0 victory.  With a huge, ridiculous grin on his face, Sam bragged about how this was going to be a quick game as the players exchanged sides, but Fernando quickly proved that he was not going to go down so easily. He won the next three games like it wasn’t even a problem, while Sam was beginning to look visibly concerned, emotional, and feeble.  Even an impressive rally of about 20 hits or more, including a strong net game from both players in said rally, wasn’t able to bring Sam back from the brink.

Sam and Fernando exchanged a couple of wins to bring the score to 4-4, only to have Fernando finish the match with a strong service game for a final score of 6-4.

Fernando now holds a career record of 11-5 against Sam.

Sam beat Fernando on 8/24/11 at the Penmar Courts 6-4.

Sam is now 5-10 overall against Fernando.

After a tennis break due to busy schedules, Fernando and Sam reunited at the Penmar courts on 8/10/2011, in what was sure to be an exciting, riveting, and physically brutal game.  Sam’s bravado was on full display hours even before the match even started, bragging about his physical fitness and mocking Fernando by saying that he was going to wear baseball gloves for improved grip.  However, Fernando was eager to prove himself after the embarrassing defeat 2 months prior.  Sam did not know that Fernando had been working out Rocky style, and his new ripped physique would go on to defeat Sam easily with a 6-4 victory.  Even though the final score was close, the overall match was a clear and decisive victory for Fernando.

Fernando now holds a 10-4 against Sam.

Submitted by sammyvg:

A mere 47 minutes was all it took for Sam to dispose of Fernando 6-3 in a match that “wasn’t even that close,” according to an anonymous spectator. Sam displayed a calm confidence and a steely resolve on this afternoon, and Fernando appeared shaken from the word go. Fernando was seen throwing his racket on nearly every lost point as he fell behind 4-1 in the opening minutes of what would become his most embarrassing defeat to date. When asked to comment, a satisfied Sam said only, “You know how I do.”

Sam now has a career record of 4-9 against Fernando.

In the wake of a devastating loss just 2 days prior, Sam decided to get back on the court and lose play again.  They met at the Penmar courts on 6/19/11, and it was a gorgeous Sunday.  Sky was blue and clear, and there was a slight breeze coming in from the North.  Conditions were perfect for a victory for Sam.  But again, it was “Typical Sam” as described by the spectators.  An even first half of the game was quickly overshadowed by the dismal second half, and the term “Samming It” is quickly becoming a mantra among Santa Monica players with poor end games.  Chris was able to win with a comfortable 6-3 victory.

When SMTB reached out to Chris to discuss Sam’s game, Chris responded with: “No Comment…. but there was definitely some racket throwing going on”.  With Sam’s reputation as a sore loser a strong player, are we seeing a new, less sportsman-like side of him?  This reporter would rather not want to find out.

Chris is now 13-2 against Sam.

In SMTB’s first match of the summer, Sam and Fernando squared off once more at the Penmar courts on 6/16/11, and Fernando was looking for revenge.  Having been defeated by Sam in their last outing, Fernando was keenly aware of the problem areas he had to work out.  His serving game was strong, and beat Sam in the first 4 games, despite there being many deuces during Sam’s service games.  A demoralized and tired Sam was able to win 2 games before the match ended with Fernando winning 6-2. 

Sam’s sportsmanship was called into question, resorting to such childish namecalling, such as “dodo” and “dick” and “jerkface”. Fernando released a statement to SMTB regarding Sam’s poor taste in words post game:

“I’m not surprised by the way Sam reacted to being defeated so handily, but I understand that he’s just projecting his own insecurities about his game onto me.  I’m not offended or anything, but Sam needs to grow a pair.” - Fernando

Fernando now has a 9-3 career record against Sam.

Sam challenged Fernando to a rematch at the Penmar Courts on 5/25/11 following a string of embarrassing, humiliating, and emasculating defeats. As usual, Sam and Fernando traded wins for the first two games, but Sam was able to pull ahead to an almost insurmountable lead of 5-1.  Fernando began to feel humiliated, and began to use Sam’s weak endgame to his own advantage, staging a formidable 5-4 comeback.  Sam’s strong start, however, was mathematically too strong for Fernando, and he was ultimately defeated 6-4 by Sam.

Even though Sam was able to best Fernando this time, his endgame is beginning to become a cause for concern.  Is it just a matter of time before this cancer spreads to the rest of his game? Or will he improve on it and become a formidable opponent for SMTB? Most spectators were saying the former, but let’s hope for the latter.

Sam now has a career 3-8 record against Fernando.