This year’s NC Women’s 4.0 Wednesday Doubles Finals will once again be between Lakeshore and Midtown-Chicago. Last year Midtown-Chicago prevailed. Will it be Lakeshore’s turn this year? Or will Midtown-Chicago take back the trophy for the 2nd year? Stay tuned. In order to get to the Finals, Lakeshore won all but one court (court2) against Midtown-Palatine. LSSF won 5-1. In the other playoff match NSRC had to default one court which put them in a slight hole against Midtown-Chicago. But it was the 3rd set win on court 4 which put MTC into the Finals. For more details on these playoff matches, go to www.facebook.com/chicagolandindoortennis.

The NC Women’s 3.5 Doubles Playoffs took place on April 29th. Midtown-Palatine faced off against Lincolnshire and Midtown-Chicago faced off against RC Lake Bluff. Lincolnshire prevailed over Midtown-Palatine, but just barely, by winning a set on court 2 which gave them an extra set win over MTP. LINC won 3 (7 sets) – 3 (6 sets). In the other playoff match, RC Lake Bluff prevailed over Midtown-Chicago 4 matches to 2. It could have gone either way though. All of their matches were close with 4 of the 6 courts going to tie-breakers! Unbelievable! Go to www.facebook.com/Chicagolandindoortennis for more details. The Finals take place at Glenbrook Racquet Club on May 6th at 10am

The NC Women’s 3.0-3.5 Singles Playoffs took place on April 28th between Midtown-Palatine and Glenbrook and between RC Lake Bluff and North Shore. The results for both match ups were 3-1. For more details, go to www.facebook.com/Chicagolandindoortennis. The Finals will take place on May 5th between Midtown-Palatine and RC Lake Bluff at The Racquet Club of Lake Bluff at 12 PM.

On Sunday, April 26th, the singles players for The Racquet Club of Lake Bluff won all four courts against Glenbrook Racquet Club’s players. As I said in my previous post regarding this league, RCLB is looking to win this league for the 3rd time in a row. RCLB will face The Libertyville Club 1 team in the finals. LIB 1 won 3 of the 4 matches against North Shore with the only loss, a 3rd set match tie-breaker between LIB 1’s captain Matt Deans and NSRC’s Nick Schoewe. The Finals will occur at The Lincolnshire Club on May 3rd at 7:30 A.M.

The Men’s 3.5 league started a few years back with two clubs talking to each other about having some competitive matches at the 3.5 level. Their guys needed another level where they could feel competitive. The conversation grew to include a couple more clubs and then a couple more. There are currently 7 teams in this league. The difference with this league is that there are only 4 courts to manage rather than 6 courts as in the other Men’s leagues. This translates into “only” needing to schedule 8 players vs. 12 players for the lineup. Last year’s finalists are currently in 1st and 2nd place. This year North Shore is in the #1 spot. Last year, River Trails was #1. RTTC ended up winning the trophy last year. Midtown-Palatine finished the regular season in 3rd place only 3.5 points behind RTTC. They play against each other in the playoffs (each team has had a win against the other team in the regular season). #4 RC Lake Bluff will play against #1 NSRC. Playoffs are on Saturday, May 2nd. Good luck everyone.

The Men’s 4.5 league is a very competitive league. Of the 4 teams in the Playoffs, two of the teams also have an Open level team. Years ago there were complaints that the Men’s leagues were not that competitive; but I haven’t been hearing those complaints lately. A couple of teams who used to be in the Open league have dropped down to the Men’s 4.5 level. Are all the guys in this league “4.5”? On court 1 you’ll probably see some guys who deserve to be in the Open league except they don’t have enough players to form a team and still be viable in the Men’s 4.5. Those players help fill in the gaps in level from court to court. This year, #1 RC Lake Bluff, looks to have beefed up their eligibility roster. Last year, RCLB made it to the finals only to have to default 2 courts because they didn’t have extra eligible players on their roster and a couple of their eligible players had other commitments. I don’t think they’ll have that problem this year. They will go up against #4 Libertyville who just missed the playoff cut last year and is looking to have a good showing this year. The other two playoff teams are between #2 River Trails 1 and #3 College Park East. CPAC-E fell off the Playoff grid last year but looks like they regrouped and are back in form. RTTC 1 last hoisted the trophy in 2012. I’m sure both teams will have a strong lineup of players for the Playoffs. Playoffs are on May 2nd. Good luck everyone!!

In my post under NC Women’s 4.5 Green – Final Four, I wrote a bit about the difference between the 4.5 Green and the 4.5 Red. In the 4.5 Red league, the captains have to figure out the best balance of players if they also have an Open team. If they lose a couple of their players to the Open team, the shift in players may make the difference in being in the Playoffs or not being in the Playoffs. Most captains, though, want to give players the opportunity to challenge themselves. What’s sometimes hard is the converse…getting some players who have played on the Open team to shift down to the 4.5 Red league. It’s not always an easy conversation for the captains/pros to have. Along these lines, #1 Midtown-Chicago and #2 Lakeshore do not have Open teams. This gives them a bit of a leg up in this league as they have a larger pool of strong players to choose from. But even though they are #1 and #2, they still have to get past #3 River Trails and #4 Midtown-Bannockburn 2. #1 MTC will play against #4 MTB 2 and #2 LSSF will play against #3 RTTC. Playoffs are on May 1st. Good luck everyone!

What’s the difference between the 4.5 Green and the 4.5 Red? The levels are slightly different. The 4.5 Red is the stronger of the 2 leagues. While a team may have a strong showing in the 4.5 Green, they may be in for a surprise in the 4.5 Red. Some of the teams who are in the 4.5 Red league may find themselves in a more competitive sphere if they were in the 4.5 Green league. I’m just saying! #1 RC Lake Bluff made it to the playoffs last year but lost to the eventual winner Midtown Palatine. RCLB will go up against #4 North Shore. #2 College Park East reevaluated their teams to be more competitive and it looks like their decision to do so was the right thing to do. They will play against #3 Midtown-Bannockburn. Playoffs are on May 1st. Good luck everyone!!

For the NC Women’s 4.0 Friday league, the difference between being in 1st place and 2nd place amounted to having 146.5 points won (Midtown-Chicago) vs. 145.5 points won (Midtown-Palatine). The difference between being in 3rd place and 4th place amounted to having 135.5 points won (RC Lake Bluff) vs. 133.5 points won (Lakeshore). Not a huge difference. Three of the four teams who have made it to this league’s playoffs are also in the playoffs in the NC Women’s 4.0 Wednesday league. RCLB does not have a team in that league. Can anyone guess who won this league last year? I’ll let you look it up. Go to the website, www.citatennis.net, and click on Archived Results. Then click on Friday 4.0 doubles league. In the meantime, here are the matchups. #1 Midtown Chicago vs. #4 Lakeshore and #2Midtown-Palatine vs. RC Lake Bluff. Playoffs are on May 1st. Good luck everyone!!

In the NC Women’s 4.0-4.5 Singles league there are 11 teams vying for a playoff spot. Depending on who is available and who you are up against, your matches can run the gamut of an easy win to a hard loss with hopefully more than a few evenly matched games. It’s the take away after the matches that is important. Did I start well but run out of steam? Were my serves or returns effective in helping me win points? What could I have done differently or more consistently to have won the match? How can I counter my opponent’s style of play? These questions and more will help you when you have to play that person again. Three of the four teams in the 4.0-4.5 Singles playoffs have teams in the 4.5-Open Singles league. The team that is currently #1, RC Lake Bluff, does not have a 4.5-Open Singles team but does have a solid group of singles players to round out their team. Last year RCLB was also in first place but lost in the playoffs to #4 Midtown-Palatine who won the league. This year #4 Northbrook 1 will take on RCLB and one of the two Midtown-Bannockburn’s teams MTB 1 or MTB 2 will make it to the Finals. The playoffs are on Thursday, April 30th. Good luck everyone.

The NC Women’s 3.0 league is the league where players get their feet wet…not literally… but then again my feet do sweat so…we’ll leave it at that. This league will have a range of beginner players. This is the league where you start learning the geometry of doubles. Eventually some of the things your pros are telling you will make more sense. And like all of us, what the pros are telling us may make sense but it’s sometimes hard to get us to do what we’re supposed to do. Keep at it! The shots and strategy will start to gel. This year #1 NSRC, who was last year’s runner-up, would like to keep their #1 status. But they first have to play against #4 Midtown-Palatine. #2 Lakeshore is a newcomer to this league. They are a dedicated group of players with most of the players playing fairly often in this league. They will be playing against #3 College Park East who also have a dedicated group of players. These two team are fairly evenly matched. When they played each other in the regular season, they tied 6-6. Which teams will advance? Stay tuned…playoffs take place on April 30th Good luck everyone!!

The NC Women’s 3.5 league started the season with 10 teams but ended the season with 8 teams. In forming their teams, most captains have a fair idea of how many players they need to fill their lineups. But sometimes, as the season gets under way, the reality may be different from what the captains envisioned. Such was the case when FSSC and MTB decided to drop out of the league rather than struggle through the rest of the season with defaults. With the standings readjusted, the rest of the teams settled in. #1 Midtown-Palatine suffered only one match loss at the beginning of the season against The Racquet Club of Lake Bluff and did not give up a lot of points the rest of the season. They will come up against #4 Lincolnshire. #2 Midtown-Chicago will play against #3 RC Lake Bluff. These two teams just played each other on 4/22 with RCLB coming up on top. But a few months back MTC won. We shall see who will be in the Finals. Playoffs take place on 4/29. Good luck everyone!

The Racquet Club of Lake Bluff is on the hunt for a chance to win the Men’s 4.0-4.5+ Singles trophy for the 3rd time. Standing in their way will be #4 Glenbrook who has added a couple of players who have helped them move up to the #4 spot. #2 Libertyville 1 (they have 2 teams) came so very close last year against RCLB in the Finals. But first they need to face #3 North Shore. Who will the Finalists be this year? Will it be a 3-peat for RCLB? Or will there be a new Champion? Stay tuned. And good luck everyone!

The NC Men’s Open League is CITA’s top level men’s league. For the many juniors who have learned at our clubs, who have played tournaments and gone on to play college tennis and perhaps even tested themselves on the ATP tour, for those players who still want to test their abilities, this league is where they will get tested. There are only four teams in this league which means they know they will automatically be in the Playoffs. But these four teams have committed to keeping this league alive in order to have a consistent place for players to test themselves. Some of the club’s pros play in this league and find that their egos may get a bit bruised if they come up against a former high ranking ATP player. But there is an admiration that comes with good play. Because there are only 4 teams, the players have gotten to know each other a bit better which in turn makes this a good league to be in. This year, #1 College Park will face #4 Midtown-Chicago in the Playoffs. For the last 2 years these two teams have faced each other in the Finals. Last year Midtown-Chicago won, two years ago, College Park won. Which team will make it to the Finals? For the other Playoff match #2 North Shore will face #3 River Trails. Both of these teams are probably happy to not have to face CPAC-East or MTC but they still have their work cut out to get to the Finals! Good luck everyone.

Richard Michalski, Northbrook’s behind the scenes captain, stopped me last week and asked me to let him know if his team makes it into the playoffs. I didn’t understand why he was asking me this until I looked at the schedule and saw that his team had a Bye and was at the mercy of the other teams and their outcomes. While his team was in 3rd place, he knew that anything could happen in the final regular season match. Libertyville who was in 4th place had a big win over Five Seasons which catapulted them into 3rd place pushing Northbrook’s team down to 4th place. Glenbrook had a solid win over College Park East 1 but it was not enough to push Northbrook out of the playoffs. River Trails had a strong showing against Midtown-Bannockburn though they had a big enough lead in the #1 spot to not have to worry about losing a playoff spot. And Midtown-Palatine came in 2nd with a win over College Park East 2. So the matchups are as follows: River Trails vs. Northbrook and Midtown-Palatine vs. Libertyville. In this league, who gets into the Finals will all depend on who is available to play in this round of the Playoffs. The matches will take place on May 2nd. Good luck everyone!

The North Central Open Red league has some big hitters, especially on court 1. It can be a humbling experience to play against some of these top level players but it also serves as a source of inspiration to become craftier, braver, steadier and faster. So for any of you who have lost badly, I feel your pain AND use it to move your game forward. This league started with 5 teams but midway through the season, Lincolnshire, in fairness to the league, decided to drop out. We hope a few additional players to their team will bring them back next season!! So who was going to be in the Final Four was not going to be a surprise to any of the teams. Here are the playoff matchups: #1 Northbrook will play against #4 College Park and #2 North Shore will play against #3 Glenbrook. You can be sure it will be very competitive but fun! Good luck everyone!!

River Trails was 9 points behind Libertyville going into the final match of the regular season. They had a big win over Midtown-Bannockburn’s Team 1 giving them 13.5 points. Could they hope to be in the playoffs? First, they had to wait to find out the outcome between Midtown-Bannockburn’s Team 2 and Libertyville. Things were looking hopeful as MTB 2 only allowed 2 points in the top half but when the bottom half scores appeared in the late afternoon their hopes faded. They were behind Libertyville by 1.5 points. So Libertyville is the #4 team and will play against the formerly #2 team but now #1 team Midtown-Palatine who had a big win over Five Seasons. The former #1 team RCLB slipped down to the #2 spot and will play against MTB 2. The playoffs will be on May 1st.

The NC Women’s 4.5-Open Singles league ended their regular season with Northbrook in 1st place, Midtown-Bannockburn 2 in 2nd place, Glenbrook in 3rd place and Midtown-Bannockburn 1 in 4th place. There are many styles of singles play at this level. Some players are backcourt players who hit flat or with a lot of topspin. Others have a serve and volley game. And still others incorporate a mixture of both depending on who they are playing against. Singles helps your doubles games and doubles helps your singles game. If you haven’t thought about playing singles, give it a try (or two). It’s a great form of exercise! The playoffs will match Northbrook against Midtown-Bannockburn 1 and Midtown Bannockburn 2 against Glenbrook. The playoffs take place on April 30th. Good luck everyone!

The NC Women’s 3.0-3.5 Singles League’s last regular season match took place on 4/16/15. There are 5 teams in this league – Midtown-Palatine, RC Lake Bluff, North Shore, Glenbrook and College Park East. For anyone who wants to improve their game, both mentally and physically, playing singles will help you. Let your pros know you are interested in playing singles. On 4/16/15, Midtown-Palatine had a strong showing against North Shore and ended the regular season in the top spot. RC Lake Bluff also had a strong showing against Glenbrook while College Park East had a Bye. The Final Four pairings are as follows: #1 Midtown-Palatine vs. #4 Glenbrook and #2 RC Lake Bluff vs. #3 North Shore. The playoffs will take place on Tuesday, April 28th to avoid any potential conflicts with the NCW3.0 Doubles Playoffs. Good luck everyone!

The NC Women’s 4.0 Wednesday’s regular season ended on 4/15/15. Three of the four teams who made it to the playoffs this year were in the playoffs last year. Lakeshore held on to the #1 spot for most of the year except for one time when #2 North Shore overtook them. Midtown-Chicago, last year’s Champion, came in 3rd. Midtown-Palatine, the 4th place finisher, started the season in the middle of the pack at the beginning of the season but a big win in December propelled them into 4th place which they held on to after the final regular season match. Playoffs begin on Wednesday, April 29th with Lakeshore playing against Midtown-Palatine and North Shore playing against Midtown-Chicago. The Finals will be hosted by Five Seasons on May 6th at 11AM.