In the 4.5 level, anyone can beat anyone on a given day, so it comes down to who is in form and can convert when it counts the most. Joseph was competitive throughout the regular season with all 4.5 players with a 5-5 record, but he was able to separate himself from the pack in the playoffs with wins over 3 opponents who had beaten him earlier in the year. In the finals, he finished with a 6-4,7-6 win in a tight contest over 4.25 champion Dougles Becker.
Joseph's Story: My introduction to tennis was from my sister who challenged me to a match and humilated me. After that I vowed to get better, and I improved rapidly. I started competing in tournaments and played in the USTA League and the West County Tennis Ladder before it became Gladiator Tennis. Learning mostly through match play I started volunteering in different tennis programs and got some good tips and advice from some great coaches. I received a scholarship to play tennis at Lewis & Clark where we played at regionals down in Texas both years, which was a great experience. After taking a break I came back to playing USTA and Gladiator. I was awarded USTA player of the year two years in row in St Louis, after going undefeated in singles those two years through the regular season, districts, sectionals and at nationals in Arizona, I was then awarded Missouri Valley player of the year. I also started teaching tennis full-time after having played, volunteered, and part time coaching for over two decades. I think playing Gladiator in the summer is great fun and helped me train with some grueling three set battles, and I look forward to more.
The mission of Gladiator Tennis is to provide an opportunity for players to Get Back in the Game, and Rich was a perfect example of that this year. A high level collegiate player in his early life, Rich started the year at our top 4.5 level with some rust, and moved down to 4.25 for the first Summer Season. After a competitive 3-3 record in the Summer #1 season, Rich finally started to find his form in the Summer #2 season with a 6-1 record, his only loss coming to Trey Barker. Rich opened the playoffs with a victory over Robert Noblitt, then survived a tight contest with contender Ali Javaheri 6-4,7-5. The finals featured a rematch with Trey Barker, and in the closest playoff final of 2022, Rich prevailed 6-1,4-6,7-5.
Rich's Story: I learned to play tennis hitting against the side of the barn on our family farm and fell in love with the sport. I transitioned into playing competitive tennis as a junior. But like so many others, I took a hiatus from the game for 25+ years to focus on school, work, and family. My daughter actually got me back into the game when she decided to play high school tennis. So about three years ago I started hitting again and trying to find the old magic. I found out about Gladiator Tennis from a friend who had previously played Gladiator. My first year in Gladiator has been a great experience. Besides the competitive aspect, I’ve met a number of really great guys in the league. I love to go on the site and check out the results from other matches in my division, and the playoffs were a blast. I’m looking forward to competing in Gladiator again next year!
Alejandra competed in our top level for the women's playoffs this year and exposed our need for a 4.5 or even 5.0 level on the women's side. She was easily able to run through the playoffs, and we look forward to including her in the men's side of the league next year until we can find more women to compete with her. She's a great player!
Alejandra's Story: I am from Bogota Colombia. My dad started teaching me tennis when I was a little girl and from there my love for this sport grew more and more. I owe tennis so much because it made me the person I am today. It also was my “stairway” to come to the United States, learn English, and get my graduate degree.
I have won multiple tournaments in Colombia, and I received a scholarship to go to college here in the United States.
A friend I met in facebook, Azher Zameer, recommended me to Gladiator. I became a great fan of the app because of its flexibility to schedule your own matches at a great price. I hope I can continue to enjoy tennis and most importantly to teach and coach newcomers.
Santosh keeps improving and winning at every level he plays! In 2021, his 1st year in the league, Santosh finished as the 3.5 champion. This year he moved up to the 3.75 level and finished the opening Spring Season with a respectable 3-3 record. For the Summer Season, Santosh figured out the competition at the 3.75 level and finished 6-1, earning another promotion to 4.0 for the final season. At 4.0, Santosh was winless, and this qualified him to move back down to 3.75 for the playoffs.
Santosh won the first 2 playoffs rounds without dropping a set. The 3rd round quarterfinals against Steven Jacob proved to be the biggest test, but he prevailed in 3 sets 1-6,6-4,6-3. Santosh won the final 2 rounds without dropping a set to finish as playoff champion for the 2nd year in a row. Can Santosh do it again at 4.0 next year?
Kristen achieved a 10-4 record in her 2 seasons at 3.5, improving over the course of the summer. She started the playoffs against Debbie Li in the semifinals. Debbie had defeated her during the regular season, but Kristen was able to prevail in this match and advance to the finals against last year's 3.5 champ, Laurie Burke. Kristen defeated Laurie 6-1,6-3 for the title.
Kristen's Story: I started playing tennis when I was 9 years old using my father’s old wooden tennis racket. I remember attending my first tennis clinic and the instructor took my racket and was amazed that I was using such an antique to play! That instructor ended up coaching me for the next several years, and both he and my parents are the reasons why I love tennis to this day. I had the opportunity to play in both high school and my first year of college, and I recently got back into the sport within the past few months. My good friend introduced me to Gladiator, and now it is a shared interest of ours. I’m so grateful to have found Gladiator Tennis because I get to meet so many new people and play matches at parks and courts I have never been to before. It was very exciting to win this division this year and really boosted my confidence! I will be sure to play in the upcoming seasons!
After a relatively humble 3-2 regular season record, Alex stormed through the playoffs, with his closest match in the finals against Mahesh Kumar, 6-3, 6-2. Alex actually lost more games in the final, then he did in the first 4 rounds of the tournament! Congratulations Alex!
Alex's Story: I played high school and college tennis. After graduating from college, I switched to racketball. I continued playing racketball for 35 years until recently retiring. One of my goals in retirement was to get back into playing tennis. Jim at Racketman suggested joining Gladiator Tennis. I’m glad I did. Thanks to the 3.5 level Gladiators this year for helping me find my game once again. I’ve enjoyed meeting new people and getting back out on the court playing the game I love. I’m excited to play Gladiator tennis in 2023 and continue improving my game!
Over the past 2 years, Nicholas has achieved the rare feat of finishing as Playoff Champion at 2 different skill levels. Nicholas entered the playoffs with a 14-6 regular season record, but had a challenging draw ahead. His 1st match was against Jerell Wilson who he had to outlast in a 3 setter earlier in the year. Nicholas was able to improve on that with a straight set playoff victory, and moved on to what would be his biggest test, a semifinal match vs. Srikanth Tatipaka. Nicholas was knocked down 6-1 in the first set, but got back up and finished 6-2,6-3 in the last 2 sets to advance to the finals. He defeated Cooper Schneider in the finals for his 2nd consecutive playoff title.
Nicholas' Story: What got me into competitive tennis itself had to be my best friend Guillermo Herrera. I liked playing tennis before and we'd just hit around initially, but then he signed up for Gladiator 5 years ago and got me into it a year later. Guillermo moved away to San Fran towards the end of the year with his bf so just a big shot out to him for always being the best rival and hitting partner I could ever ask for. So Guillermo and watching a lot of tennis instructional videos and tennis pro atp highlights on YouTube is what really made me love the sport thoroughly.
Winning last year's playoff tournament in the 3.0's of Gladiator was a great accomplishment, so it feels pretty awesome to do it again this year in the 3.25's. It show's that I've really improved my game and I'm honestly still thirsty for more and want to get even better. I'm excited to be playing in the 3.5's next year and ready to improve my tennis game even more!
What I like most about Gladiator Tennis is meeting new people and making friends because there's honestly a lot of really cool, down to earth people in this league. It's always fun and exciting for me especially because I'm always interested in seeing how my game style compares to others, then playing the tennis mind game of what we can do to exploit each other's game. I find tennis very fascinating for those reasons in particular and it's awesome that Gladiator tennis really helps with that in general.
Katie started the year with a 3-3 regular season record in the Spring Season, improved to a 5-1 record in the Summer Season, then ran through the playoffs without dropping a set. After 5 seasons playing at the 3.0 level, 3.5 players need to watch out for Katie next year!
Katie's Story: I started playing with my dad when I was in college and I immediately fell in love with tennis and wanted to play all the time! If I couldn’t play recreationally, I was watching it! Then I came across Gladiator and wanted to try to improve my skills and meet new people. I have enjoyed each match, and I'm learning from each time I play. I now play USTA as well. I love our tennis community and look forward to many more matches!
Congratulations to Abish for finishing as 2.5 Champion in her first year of the league! She was able to win the semis and finals without dropping a set.
“Tennis uses the language of life. Advantage, service, fault, break, love – the basic elements of tennis are those of everyday existence, because every match is a life in miniature.” - Andre Agassi
Abish's Story: I am a Mexican/ American woman. I’ve had the opportunity to play doubles for few years recreationally, but playing singles was something that I never really had the interest to explore. I always said, “if you ever see me running, you should be running too.”
My life changed forever in 2021 when the love of my life, who also happened to be my tennis partner, died suddenly. I couldn’t really commit to a league, but I wanted to keep playing and came across Gladiator Tennis. I decided to sign up for the singles season. It has been a very rewarding experience as, playing as a single, you are 100% responsible for your strategy and effort.
Growing up as a lefty felt like a disadvantage, and to be honest, even to this day I have hard time using scissors or using a can opener. LOL However, in tennis it feels like an advantage when it comes to topspin-forehand during righty vs lefty matchups.
My daughter (Sayge) has been my source of inspiration as tennis keeps me active, healthy and fashionable at the same time. I appreciate that Tennis brings a community together and creates a sense of belonging, and sometimes I even find one or two players who speak Spanish!
My goal is to continue working on my serve and topspin-forehand and play 3.0 next season. Thank you to Gladiator Tennis for creating this flexible platform to play and meet up an amazing group of people that motivate you and challenge you to bring out your best at the courts.
Favorite Player – Rafael Nadal (lefties have to stick together)
Matt steadily improved over each of the 3 regular seasons, and began the playoffs as the #1 seed. But after a 1st round bye, he had to overcome 2 stiff challenges on the way to the title. His semifinal match was against Phillip Conrad who had beaten hiim once before and stretched him to 3 sets in their last encounter. It took 3 sets again, but Matt prevailed 6-3,5-7,6-0. In the final, Matt faced off against longtime gladiator Chris Umstead and outlasted him for the win 6-2,3-6,6-3.
Matthew's Story: I started playing tennis in middle school forever ago.. clinics, a few private lessons, hitting against a wall a lot as an only child half the time.. I played a season freshman year in high school but then didn't pick up a racket for 27 years until the summer of 2021. In that span I had a sudden heart transplant at the age of 21 ( I usually mention that after the match) , married, 3 kids, divorced.. and now half of my time to myself. I knew I wanted to get back into tennis since I suck at running or keeping a regular workout routine. I did need some regular cardio. I came across a drop in clinic that Brian Kirk and Mark Zollman had started up. I was a little rusty but found out quickly that I was faster and stronger than way back. Things progressed and I worked my way to their next level classes. Brian mentioned gladiator so I gave it a try last summer.. and got killed by a guy who was in diapers last time I played a match against anyone. But each season I got better and the last 2.5 season I played I only dropped 1 set and a tiebreak. I've joined a USTA league recently and am working my way through that as well. I feel fortunate they needed "a warm body" to get enough people to show up at matches.
