Category: Challenge Ladder

Greetings robust August challengers!

I have a very important update.

There is a new leader on top of the Summer Ladder and his name… is Ryan Losey! On the first day of August he challenged and defeated Sarah Evenson, who had been at #1 all summer. Congrats on your long reign, Sarah, and congrats Ryan, to you and your team, on being #1. I hope you enjoy the view…while it lasts…. : )

Remember, we play through September 24 so there is still lots of time for DRAMA!

Top 3 now reads: #1 Ryan Losey #2 Sarah Evenson #3 Alan Tang

Will Sarah seek revenge?

Will Alan reach up in an attempt to take the top spot?

Will Carlos Alcaraz re-join the ladder?

Anything could happen.

Over on the points ladder, Conroy Jackson remains in the top spot with yours truly gaining traction in the #2 position. Pengcheng Wu is right beneath me and my position feels tenuous at best. Nice job Pengcheng.  I can feel your fingers right at my sneakers!

Enjoy the tennis. Enjoy the US Open Series. Play on

-Doug of the longlegs

 

Greetings fellow Ladder Climbers!

July is winding down and things on the Challeng Ladder are continuing to heat up.

The weather looks spectacular this weeks so get out there and play tennis!

Sarah Evenson continues to maintain her spot at #1 though she’s only been tested ONCE this season! Who will take her on next? Maybe soon it will be me? I see you Sarah.

Jason Wu, Ryan Losey, Mark McDonough and Ming Che round out our top 5. Others are lurking directly below though….look out top 5! We are coming after YOU!

Over on the points ladder, well done to Conroy Jackson who is the leader by more than 10 points with 37: the Conroy Caravan!

Tied for second are myself and Pengcheng Wu with 26 points each. Bill Lamberson and Alan Gnani are ties for 3rd with 20 points apiece. Great work getting out there everyone!

Please let any friends who may be interested know that believe it or not they can STILL join the ladder! We go thru most of September!

Please remember to let me know too if you have any vacation time where you need to be ‘frozen’ for a spell. I will have one of those coming up myself the week after this.

The US Open series begins soon: be ready be inspired, be the ladder!

-Doug

 

 

Greetings Summer Challenge Ladder Competitors!

We are nearly one month in to the 2023 Tennis 4 All Summer Challenge Ladder and things are certainly heating up! 23 Matches have been played. The fans are going wild!

Happy to report we are 46 players-strong overall. Please let friends know they are still welcome to join. There is always room on the ladder. Would love to get to 50!

Newcomer Sarah Evenson remains on top of the Overall Standings, backing it up with a victory over newcomer Jared Sawyer.  Nice job, Sarah!

Speaking of Jared Sawyer, he had a huge win yesterday over the ever-tenacious Alan Gnani, moving him way on up to #5 in the rankings: well done, Jared!

Over on the Points Ladder, Scott Enos finds himself in a familiar place at #1 with 13 total points….Steve Sage and newcomer Bill Lamberson are right behind him with 12 points each. Great work all 3 of you getting out there to play lots of tennis!

The weather has been a bit unpredictable but this week looks pretty good as we all prepare for Wimbledon.

Don’t forget about the pot luck this Saturday, hosted by the ladder’s own Dan Chak. Contact him if you need info: dan@chak.org      Thanks for doing that, Dan!

I’ll be unable to attend as I’m performing in a matinee of Shakespeare’s ‘As You Like It’ which is entering its final week over at the Balch Arena at Tufts. This is not a museum-piece of Shakespeare hoity-toity nonsense but rather, a highly Queer production for our Times. Come check it out if you are interested! I’m the Fool.

Buy Tickets!

Otherwise, I’ll see you out on the courts!

Cheers,

Doug

 

 

 

Greetings Tennis4All Summer Challenge Ladder Tennis Community!

This Saturday May 27th marks the beginning of official match competition. Not a bad idea to start setting those up if you have not done so yet. Take a look at the rules again if you’re not clear about who you can and cannot challenge.

Make sure the winner emails me with the results, and please include Who challenged who as that manifests in different points.

One thing I neglected to include in my initial invitation: if you would like to, please send me a quick message with your preferred pronouns, and also let me know if I have your consent to include those with your name on the ladder. If you would prefer not to do this, totally fine of course, just make sure when you and your opponent introduce yourselves to one another, that you include this information if it is important to you.

Thanks and for those of you with matches this weekend, Enjoy!

-Doug (he/him)

Good day.

Thank you for another excellent summer of tennis and bitchiness. I loved it.

Here are the Winners of the 2022 Summer Challenge Ladder….

End of Season #1 Player: Scott Lee (living up to his 4.5 status, Scott Lee simply could not be touched)

TOP 2 Players for Point Accumulation: Jason Wu (101) and Marnin Romm (98) (exhausting)

Highest Climber from Starting Position to Final Position: Thomas Le  (from 29 t0 9!)

Congrats to the winners and everyone who participated this year. You will all be receiving glorious prizes in the mail.

Hope to see you all on the ladder next year.

-The Ladder Master is….out!

 

Greetings from a Sunday night Long Legs

One week from tonight, the Ladder shall close.

Our leaders on the Match Ladder are: Scott Lee, Ian Shank and Terry Epps at 1, 2 and 3 respectively.

Will anyone sneak up on these three for a place at the top of the ladder?

Our leaders on the Points Ladder are: Jason Wu at 101 and Marnin Romm at 98. I don’t believe they can be caught.

One more week. What chaos can you bring down on the ladder? Whom can you usurp?

I will tell the final story one  week from tonight.

When the ladder Collapses.

-the ladder master has spoken

Greetings Summer Challenge Ladder!

We are in the final month now. September 25 is the last day of the summer Challenge Ladder. After that, the ladder disappears. Into thin air.

The US Open is happening, sure, I get it….but will anyone usurp Scott Lee from atop the Challenge Ladder? Well done, Scott. You remain ensconced up there. Ensconced.

Congrats to Terry Epps, who recently took over 2nd place on the ladder. Huge!

Special kudos to both Alan Gnani and Ian Shank who, on separate days and not against one another, played 2 matches in one day. I simply do not understand this feat but it was achieved by both of them. And this summer has been hot as….

On the points ladder, Jason Wu has just entered the 90s. Well done, Mr. Wu. Marnin Romm  is not far behind. The top 2 on the points ladder will receive spectacular prizes. Can anyone catch these guys? I think not.

I have removed myself from the ladder as a player as I am dealing with a left leg injury. Feeling optimistic now about playing in the Fall singles league but I’ve had a pretty awful time with sciatica and other left leg woes that are too boring to speak of,  so thought it best to take time off, lots of stretching and walking and just, ya know, watching the US Open.

But I am still here to record all of your matches and make the occasional catty report.

Enjoy the September temps!

Your ladder master…ensconced in all kinds of things…

longlegs

Well, well, well….some spicy news to report.

We have a new 4.5 arrival on the ladder this week in the form of one Ian Shank. Welcome aboard, Ian. There is only one other 4.5 on the ladder and that player sits on top. Will Ian make his way up for a 4.5 showdown with Mr. Lee? We shall see….there are some very talented 4.0s who might have something to say about it….

Speaking of making his way up, Mr. Mark McDonough defeated Mr. Terry Epps this past brutally hot weekend over at Tufts and took over the #3 spot. Well done, Mark:  only two players ahead of you now!

As Mark and Terry began to warm up, I was being soundly defeated by Mr. Alan Gnani. It has been 2 substantial losses to Mr Gnani this summer, and despite the fact that he’s just a super nice guy, I am FURIOUS!

On the points ladder, Mr. Jason Wu and Mr. Marnin Romm are starting to run away with things, entering the 70s now. You guys are astonishing!

Remember, fabulous prizes will be awarded to the top 2 on the points ladder, the number 1 of the challenge ladder itself and 1 prize for whomever rose the highest from beginning to end of summer. Hopefully, I have kept track of that….I totally have.

This weekend doesn’t look quite so brutal on the humidity-side of things. I look forward to reading about your scores from Block Island, where I will be competing in the Lockwood Family Olympics.

yours sincerely,

The Ladder Master

 

Your ladder master is impressed.

Despite scorching local temps, you continue to get out there and play tennis.

I got off the plane tonight coming home from Oakland and was overwhelmed by the wall of humidity.

But not you. The summer challenge ladder players cannot be stopped.

Mr. Wu, Mr. Romm and Mr. Le continue to battle it out on the Points ladder, all of them have entered the 50s, very well done to them!

Mr. Romm also continues to ascend the Ladder itself…some very impressive wins of late. Mr Jackson and Mr Smith are also putting together some nice victories of late. How high can they soar?

Mr. Lujares and Mr. Wu have had two EPIC matches already this season, both won by Mr. Lujares…perhaps third time’s the charm for Mr. Wu?

Mr. Lee continues to Lead the ladder in the #1 position, thwarting the valiant efforts of Mr. Epps most recently…(who now has a hold on the #3 spot, by the way.) Can anyone melt this man’s game down?

Keep hydrating. Keep reporting. Keep making sure I’m getting the scores and shit right.

-Ladder Master Lockwood

 

Well, the grass court season is done. Ms. Rybakina and Mr. Djokovic did fine I guess… but the real intrigue is here with the Summer Challenge Ladder!

Mr. Grosdidier and Mr. Lee had their first battle and Mr. Lee proved a worthy #1, prevailing 1 and 1. So many 1’s, so little time….

Will it be Mr. Krasikov or Mr. Epps who take on Mr. Lee next? Mr. Epps has been making his way slowly but surely up both the matches ladder AND the points ladder where he is currently #4 in both! How far can he go? Only time will tell….

Mr.Le, Mr. Wu and Mr. Romm remain the top 3 contenders on the points ladder but so much could change in these next few months: no rung is really secure. Some may in fact be on the wobbly side even as I type…

A few matters of business: if you know you’ll be traveling or have an injury that will keep you out for over a week, please let me know so I can ‘freeze’ you and so others don’t come after you with their challenges. Also, you may want to check your Spam folder once every couple of days. It is possible that some challenges are ending up there in that spammy wasteland. To that end, if you are a challenger and you don’t hear from the person you’ve challenged within a day or two, you may wish to try them via text/phone.

I’m doing a bit of traveling myself these next few weeks, hopefully my back will also have time to recover from chasing Mr. Poyar’s and Mr. Lee’s spin-balls all over the place (!)

I will have my lap top by my side however, ready to update your results during this beautiful spell of summer we are having. While many in the world turn their attention to the U.S. Open series, while players prepare for San Jose, for Cincinnati, for Washington DC and eventually for the U.S. Open itself, my focus remains GLUED to this page…to the 2022 Summer Challenge Ladder.

There is simply nothing else like it.

-Ladder master Longlegs