Winning That Match Took Every Ounce of Energy from Me

Duncan Road Trip 2012  |  Another year, another Duncan road trip has come and gone. Despite missing a couple of our top juniors, Jedi Tetik and Alexander Baumann, our team did very well. Our finished positions could easily beat out the Canada's summer Olympic team performance. 2 victories, 4 second places, and 4 semi-finals appearances to go with the 4 consolation gold medals and 1 consolation silver medal.

The weather cooperated for another year with blue skies and very warm temperature. On Friday, Saturday and Sunday, it was already blazing hot at nine in the morning. Our 5 girls and 9 boys kept their cool but turned up the heat in their performances.

Mark Lintott, 18, finishing off his last year in the juniors, gave two of his best performances of his junior career. His goal for this tournament was not to go out in the first round. He did not, but he almost did. In his under 18 singles match against Keenan Ishida, Lintott lost the first set 6-4 and was determined not the leave his goal sitting on the bench. He stepped up his focus and fought back with every ounce of his energy. He kept pace with his opponent throughout the second set, and eventually took the tie-breaker. The third set was still a battle, but Lintott gained momentum and finished off the match with a 6-3 score.

His next round opponent was the No. 1 seeded player, Daniel Diemer, in the draw. Lintott made a comment after winning his first match: "Winning that match took every ounce of energy from me, and I don't think I have much left to give in my next match. It will be too hard on my mind and my body." Lintott was just happy to have made the second round, but after a few choice words in the pep talk, something happened. He decided if he can dig deep once again, anything can happen. Slowly the believe start to take shape. He was pumped up for the match. After a great start by winning his service game, he fell to 1-4 in the first set despite putting in the effort. Every point leading up to 1-4 score was hard fought. He did not seemed discourage and continued his fight with long drawn out rallies that were so unaccustomed of his game. And fight he did, with fist pumps and loud "yeah... come on" motivational cries, to level the set at 4-4. He could not hold on to his serve in the next game and eventually lost the set 6-4

The second set stayed even until 4-4. This time Lintott held serve and broke Diemer to take the set 6-4. The third set was too exhaustive for both players under the afternoon heat. At 2-2, Lintott looked spent, and did not have the edge in the next three games. He found himself down 2-5. After the change over, he was first back on the court. He looked across the net at his opponent who was going to serve out the match. He stood on the baseline looking quite helpless. The look on his face said it all. Dejected. Tired. Nothing left in his tank. Two breaks down and too hard of a climb to come back. He looked over to the side lines for support, and he got it. Once again digging deeper than he has ever done before, he mounted another wave of effort. He broke serve to gain one of the two service breaks he lost. He held his own serve and found himself at 4-5. With Diemer once again serving for the match, the game went deuce countless of times, just it had through the match. This time it seemed endless. It would be 'advantage Lintott' then 'advantage Diemer' back and forth, until Lintott forehand sailed long over the baseline. It was over. Game, set and match to Diemer.

Mark Lintott walked away from this match with a higher level of respect for his game and a new found respect for himself. Tournament matches like these will transform and bring a player's game to the next level. Priceless!

Elsewhere on the same draw, a seeding mixed up in the boys' under 18 singles event had put the two best players in the draw to face each other in the first round. Both unseeded, Steven Shen faced Austin Hoole. After winning the first set 6-3, Shen could not hang on to his lead and lost the next two sets 6-3, 6-4. His older brother Daniel reached the semi-finals but lost to Hoole. Steven was still eligible to play in the under 16 event but chose not to. Both Shen brothers paired up to win the under 18 doubles event defeated the number one seed of Hoole and Austin Nguyen 6-2, 7-6 in the finals. Steven won the consolation singles finals.

Eddie Wu reached the boys under 14 semi-finals after his team mate Christian Georgiev withdrew after twisted his ankle on the grass court. Wu lost to the eventual champion, Aaron Diemer and younger brother of Daniel.

Over to the girls' draws, both Vanessa Mansfield and Giselle Bonney were seeded number 1 and 2 in the under 18 singles event. Both players advanced to the finals with Mansfield winning in a score of 6-4, 1-6, 6-4. Anastassia Krasnova lost in her first match, but she regrouped to win the consolation finals. Krasnova reached the semi-finals of the under 16 singles event. She lost to the second seed Johannah Hixson in three sets, 6-2, 4-6, 6-2. Mansfield lost in the first round of the under 16 but rebounded to take the consolation draw with a 6-2, 6-1 win over Lucy Ewart.

Tiana Andjelic made the under 14 semi-finals after beating Chanelle Moisson 6-1, 6-3. She lost to Sasha Vagramov in that match. Franzene Tsui beat club mate Jenny Jia 7-5, 6-2 to take the under 14 consolation gold medal.

Our under 14 boy's team of Matthew Wong and Joshua Yang brought home the runner-up trophy for the doubles event. Andelic teamed up with Sybella Garvin of North Saanich to reach the finals of the girls' under 14 doubles event. They both lost to Alexandra and Jayden Nielsen 6-3, 6-1. Jia and Tsui won the under 14 doubles consolation beating out the team of Moisson and Vagramov 6-2, 7-6. Bonney and Mansfield partnered up for under 18 doubles. Both players lost out on the gold medal, losing to Ann Cleverley and Hixson in a pair of tie-breakers.