next »

[cypher]

Cypher congrats but don't work to hard because we're old already hindi kapa makapalo dahil masakit ang elbow mo di bah! matanda na tayo advice nalang tayo wag ng pumalo hah!

hi sir slp
   

      sorry sir, SLP im not that old pa po. im jst in my mid 20's if your referring to coach manny tecson, im absolutely not him. im just posting his emails on the forum for everyone to read and to be informed. best of luck to you po..


cypher

[Tennis King]

Found an article about this tournament.


http://www.theintelligencer.com/local_sports/article_1f46ef8e-c213-11e0-92d5-001cc4c03286.html

[luxilionwave]

proud of the pinoy team! keep it up guys! well done Jeson, Marc and Mico! future looks good for the philippine team...stay positive and stay away from negative people and know it all...eyes on the prize!

[thetuan]

Camoy

I know Cypher well and he is a great kid trying to learn to be a great coach like Manny.  He will be an asset in the future to help elevate Philippines tennis to world class level. 

Jeson has an interesting first round match - another college kid who has a good doubles ranking on the tour.  Looks like a good serve and volley player and that should play perfectly into Jeson's capable hands.

Tuan

[cypher]

Camoy

I know Cypher well and he is a great kid trying to learn to be a great coach like Manny.  He will be an asset in the future to help elevate Philippines tennis to world class level. 

Jeson has an interesting first round match - another college kid who has a good doubles ranking on the tour.  Looks like a good serve and volley player and that should play perfectly into Jeson's capable hands.

Tuan

Hi thetuan.

Sorry, Im not learning to be like coach manny. As i have said i always receive his emails and i find it very inspirational to read, it is very specific on what happens on tour. Very informative in a lot of ways and its my only way to share these words to pto, and to what is happening to these players he's handling. Im just a club player here in the philippines that knows coach manny personally. we are very good friends, because we used to see him a lot in our club, and he gives free advices to everybody even the kids, a very kind hearted and unselfish person he is, we truly wish to see him again maybe one of these days ill try to call him and get him to teach the kids in our club new basics. Thanks to all who are following this thread. hope you guys enjoy it.

Cypher

[smiley]

Found an article about this tournament.
http://www.theintelligencer.com/local_sports/article_1f46ef8e-c213-11e0-92d5-001cc4c03286.html

nice article!

also, i once played against panav jha during his teens at the cayman islands. during those time, they (including robbie cribb)are being trained and they are given a chance to play abroad for exposure. i just don't know if the club pays for the expenses.
i also played club doubles games w/ his dad (dr.jha) back then.

cypher, thanks for forwarding Manny's  emails. It's very inspiring from a coach's point-of-view. and i'm learning! keep it up!

[cypher]

no problem sir..

Cypher

[Tennis King]

Reyes/Patrombon lost their doubles match in straight sets today.

Jeson to play first round singles tomorrow! Good Luck!

[tennisfan]

Good luck to Jeson!

[cypher]

JESON EARNS 3RD ATP POINT THE HARD WAY HERE IN EDWARDSVILLE

Dear Everybody,

Jeson earns his 3rd ATP point of his young PRO tennis career here in Edwardsville Illinois the hard way going through a 128 tough qualifying draw just to get in the main tournament and defeating former Texas Longhorns standout Josh Zabala of the United States 6-3, 6-1 in the 1st round. Zabala is a doubles specialist with an ATP ranking of 400 plus and a singles ranking of 993 in the world. He stands six feet two inches tall and is very quick at the net with a serve that is so hard to read because he is a smart server with a very high 1st serve percentage to constantly attack you with his serve and volley style. Last week Josh won the Decatur ITF Futures in doubles with his partner Andersen from South Africa and Zabala also had an outstanding college tennis career with the University of Texas who was ranked 3rd in the Nation last year 2010 in Division 1 NCAA. Yesterday Jeson and I talked about our strategy against Zabala since he is the type of player that can blow you off the court immediately if you do not hang tough with him in the early games. Zabala is constantly attacking you at the net serving and volleying and at times chipping and charging to crowd the net to force you to hit passing shots after passing shots which is tough to do. So our strategy was to take the net game out of him and pin him down the baseline to force him in a situation where he is uncomfortable. Don’t get me wrong Zabala has also big groundstrokes from the back of the court but I believed we could take him there and reverse the situation by forcing him to hit the tough passing shots on the important points. Also I made some adjustments in Jeson’s serve and it is turning to be one of his more reliable weapons, bailing him out in so many tight situations that could turn the match around in his favor. He has learned to trust his serve and use it to his advantage to set up his forehand and net game. As I have expected the first six games are going to be the toughest and if we could hang in there and hold our own serve at some point one player will give due to the pressure building up. This is what happened in the first set at 3 all with Jeson serving at deuce Zabala wanted to attack the net but couldn’t because Jeson was sticking to our strategy of pinning him down at the baseline. Jeson served very smartly and was putting Josh under heavy pressure by serving and volleying which forced him again to hit the tough passing shots on the run. Jeson was able to hold his serve to take the lead at 4-3 and shift the pressure back to Zabala to hold on to his serve. This time Jeson started finding the range of his returns and passing shots and now Zabala is now in survival mode staying at the baseline and trying to rally with Jeson. This is the opportunity we have been looking for and we have talked about this many times. Jeson rallied with Zabala but constantly putting

[cypher]

pressure on his opponent with well timed approaches at the net to break Zabala for a 5-3 lead. Now comes the tough part of closing the set with Jeson’s serve. The other day when Jeson played the (6/7) six feet and seven inches tall player from Ohio State, Jeson was in the same predicament and was leading 5-3 in the 1st set serving but lost the set 7-6. This is the reason why after his match with this player we went back to the courts to fine tune his serve and also his volleys to combine it with his groundstrokes. I told Jeson the reason why he lost the first set to the Ohio State player was that he became complacent and just waited for things to happen instead of putting more pressure on his opponent by attacking and creating his own opportunities. You must expect at this level these players will not just give the set or the match to you. You must take it away from them by forcing them to commit the errors or else they will turn the tables against you and they will start being more aggressive to put you in a defensive position where 90 percent of the time you will loose the points. Today was a different story and Jeson never backed down on his attacking game. Little by little you can see the body language of Zabala turning negative and now you hear more shouting out of frustration. Jeson served very well and he kept pounding on his groundstokes and kept on attacking the net to win the set at 6-3. The second set was all Jeson and he has learned a valuable lesson not to give his opponent any chance of coming back. In my years of coaching Jeson I have never seen him play like this and with so much intensity. He is learning fast and developing his skills here in the US. Jeson and Marc are competing hard with the competition and they now believe anything is possible through hard work. It was the right decision to bring the boys here in this tough US circuit and now I have seen a glimpse of what we can do and what our capabilities are. The Philippine Flag is flying high here in the USTA Pro Circuits and WE just want to shout out that WE are very proud to be Pinoys and holding our ground against extremely talented, big, strong and tough competitions here in America. Until next time and God bless to all. Yours truly,


Coach Manny Tecson .

[tommyfr]

Congrats to very good win.

Clearly Jesons good volley (a stroke that many youngsters don't have and seems not interested to practice diligently in order to master,)and figthing spirit was most instrumental for this win.
And Manny's wise coaching.

[tennisfan]

Wow, a big win for Manny and Jeson and filipinos nonetheless!

Keep our flag flying high and keep the faith!

Good luck on your next match. Win or lose we will always rally behind you!

[Tennis King]

Jeson lost a tough 3-setter 6-4;3-6;7-6 (3) against his american oponent.  Great effort though!

[luxilionwave]

Mousheg grew up in Southern Cal, played junior tennis in this area, and plays college tennis at Pepperdine, that was a good effort by Jeson. Impressive run by our young kids Jeson 18, Marc 22?? years old,and 17 year old Mico. Way to go guys!

[cypher]

A FIGHT TO THE FINISH TODAY IN EDWARDSVILLE

Dear Everybody,

It was a fight to the finish today when Jeson lost a tough battle to Hovhannisyan of Pepperdine University who was the semifinalist in singles and doubles at the US Nationals in Kalamazoo 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-3). Hovhannisyan the other day upset the no. 7 seed Krajicek of the US 6-4, 1-6, 6-1 in his first round match and this is why Jeson and I are aware of his capabilities. But we were ready for him and we have a game plan for this match.

This player from Pepperdine one of the top Division 1 Colleges in the US is rock solid with no obvious weaknesses from the back court and he is physically in great shape running down balls tirelessly. He defends well and can hit the ball all the day. He grinds his opponents down with heavy groundstrokes and attacks very smartly at the proper time which makes him a very tough player to beat.

Our game plan was to move Hovhannisyan from side to side to open up the court and be aggressive on him even if we loose some points at times. We have to establish early that we can stick with him from the baseline and rally 20 times or more but also we will not hesitate on any opportunity to attack our groundstrokes and at the net to slowly build pressure on Hovannisyan and force him out of his comfort zone. I also told Jeson that he has to be strong mentally because this is going to be a fight and there won’t be any free points, all the points in this match will be earned the hard way.  Jeson agreed to the plan and if there is one department in Jeson’s game that has improved dramatically it is his mental game and his patience, which use to be his down side.

As soon as the match started immediately it became a slugfest with both players trying to establish and impose their games on each other and as expected every point was a fight. This went on for 3 hours and Jeson was sticking to our plan and it was working. In the third set Jeson broke serve at 4 all for 5-4 lead and serving for the match. Hovhannisyan broke back immediately with some aggressive returning and also some luck because 2 important points hit the top of the net and the ball just died over the side of Jeson. Jeson tried to run for it but it was just out of reach and it was a killer for us. Hovannissyan held serve and Jeson held serve to bring it to a tie-break. In the tie-break Jeson broke serve for a 1-0 lead, the next point was just brutal for both players and it came to more than 20 rallies moving each other around the court. Hovannissyan hit a ball that clipped the line to tie it at 1 all. Now Hovannisyan called for an injury time-out which was later determined by the trainer to be cramps so the match has to continue. But already he got the needed rest and went on the match more recovered. I hate this when players does this either intentionally or none intentional. Some use this as a way to destroy his opponent’s momentum and it becomes more of gamesmanship just to win the match.



Before in our time you cannot even get a time-out for cramping, it’s either you continue or you get defaulted. This time out completely threw off Jeson’s momentum and Hovannissyan after the time out seems to have gotten stronger. Jeson lost the tie breaker 7-3 but I am so proud of him and he was just so disappointed after the lost. We had a long talk after he had rested and he is back in high spirits looking forward to the next challenge in Mexico. Jeson has improved tremendously in this second week of the Tour and he showed his opponents that he is indeed capable to compete and win here in this tough US PRO Circuit.

The dept of this tournament is so strong that the qualifiers ousted almost all the seeded players in the tournament, this is because majority of these players are coming from the top Universities and Colleges in the United States. You have players from USC, UCLA, OHIO STATE, PEPPERDINE, TEXAS, FLORIDA STATE and other tough conferences all over the United States competing here since it is summer time. The top seed Reix Clement of France who is ranked in the top 200 plus in the ATP rankings got beaten badly 6-1, 6-2 in the first round to Roy Kalmanovich the qualifier from the University of Illinois who beat Jeson in the 1st leg in Decatur last week. Kalmanovich also reached the semis in singles in the main draw. Another qualifier John Patrick Smith upset the no. 6 seed Cepaldi of Italy also in straight sets today. Jeson at only 18 is hanging tough here and I just know he will accomplish big things in the near future.

Until Next time God bless to all.

Yours truly,
Coach Manny Tecson

[thetuan]

Joseph,

I would hold off the enthusiasm until Jeson can prove himself on the pro tour.  I am a HUGE Jeson's fan because I, personally, see how hard he works and how I know he is capable of being a top 100 ATP tour pro.  However, the loss to Mousheg Hovhannisyan is telling me that Jeson has to learn how to win with a different game plan.  I see Jeson and Marc hitting full out in practice and I know that this will not work in the pro game.  You can not out hit a big, tall ATP tour pro and if you are a small person, you have to out fox your opponent a la Santoro, Simon, and Tulane (just ask the French tennis federation).  These guys are smaller by nature and they play a smart but effective game to win.  Mousheg is not even ranked in the top 125 NCAA singles ranking for 2010 and he plays mostly at the 5th position for Pepperdine.  If Jeson executes a better game plan, he should be able to take out this lower level NCAA player in straights.  I know Jeson wil figure this out in time and he will be very successful once he understands how to win - it's no longer about his strokes and it is all about the hitting strategy he takes to the tour.

Tuan

[Tennis King]

Joseph,

I would hold off the enthusiasm until Jeson can prove himself on the pro tour.  I am a HUGE Jeson's fan because I, personally, see how hard he works and how I know he is capable of being a top 100 ATP tour pro.  However, the loss to Mousheg Hovhannisyan is telling me that Jeson has to learn how to win with a different game plan.  I see Jeson and Marc hitting full out in practice and I know that this will not work in the pro game.  You can not out hit a big, tall ATP tour pro and if you are a small person, you have to out fox your opponent a la Santoro, Simon, and Tulane (just ask the French tennis federation).  These guys are smaller by nature and they play a smart but effective game to win.  Mousheg is not even ranked in the top 125 NCAA singles ranking for 2010 and he plays mostly at the 5th position for Pepperdine.  If Jeson executes a better game plan, he should be able to take out this lower level NCAA player in straights.  I know Jeson wil figure this out in time and he will be very successful once he understands how to win - it's no longer about his strokes and it is all about the hitting strategy he takes to the tour.

Tuan

very good point!

[tennisfan]

Joseph,

I would hold off the enthusiasm until Jeson can prove himself on the pro tour.  I am a HUGE Jeson's fan because I, personally, see how hard he works and how I know he is capable of being a top 100 ATP tour pro.  However, the loss to Mousheg Hovhannisyan is telling me that Jeson has to learn how to win with a different game plan.  I see Jeson and Marc hitting full out in practice and I know that this will not work in the pro game.  You can not out hit a big, tall ATP tour pro and if you are a small person, you have to out fox your opponent a la Santoro, Simon, and Tulane (just ask the French tennis federation).  These guys are smaller by nature and they play a smart but effective game to win.  Mousheg is not even ranked in the top 125 NCAA singles ranking for 2010 and he plays mostly at the 5th position for Pepperdine.  If Jeson executes a better game plan, he should be able to take out this lower level NCAA player in straights.  I know Jeson wil figure this out in time and he will be very successful once he understands how to win - it's no longer about his strokes and it is all about the hitting strategy he takes to the tour.

Tuan

Yes indeed, it is a very good point, one that would make Jeson realize to continue working harder and smarter in the court. And we all know we can’t just celebrate too much no matter how big the feat is as long as it is not the ultimate prize that we set in our eyes.

But still, you got to give it to the kid, as he was still in the learning curve, as this is just his first year playing against a field so deep, where anybody including the qualifiers who will have a good day or week can win in the tournament. While Hovhannisyan may not be ranked in the top 125 NCAA singles ranking for 2010, you cannot disregard his experiences having played in the NCAA division I, and you know sometimes, styles makes fight and Jeson being a little inexperience was probably caught on that in the first set, but was obviously able to recover and be on top by winning the second set and continuing the momentum to serve for the match at 5-4. A very good indication that there strategy is working. But unluckily, even as strong as Nadal mentally, having lost 2 important points that could decide the match in a manner you don’t even have the chance to defend and ultimately lost your chance, could easily feel disheartened and bring your shoulder down. Although I don’t really know what’s in Jeson’s mind at that time, but in situations like this, most likely, all the pressures and fatigue physically and mentally that you were able to hold off for so long can easily sink in.

And by the way, rankings may, at some point are not an accurate indicator on how well a player will succeed, as Coach Manny have mentioned, Hovhannisyan just upset the no.7 seed. Just like how Nadal was beaten by the ranked 41 Ivan Dodig yesterday.

Good luck to Jeson, Marc and Mico on their next tournaments, and to all other pinoys out there who are out to battle and try to bring honor to our country.

Just keep the faith!

[tommyfr]

As to Jeson's loss against this college player.

Well, first, this guy he lost to is anyway now in the semis.

Further, the results in this tournamnet is a bit confusing. Lets start with the no 1 seed, from France. He is ranked 250 in the world! That is strong Challenger player. Just the weeks before this tournament he played Challenger in Los Angeles, CA and Vancouver, Canada. He won many matches there, including against players ranked 250, 350, and one ranked even 150 in the world.

Then this no 1 ranked frenchman comes here to this tournament is Edwardsville and loses first round to Kalmanovic  1-6, 2-6!!!....(the same guy that barely bet Patrombon in the previous tournament, F21, and later reached the semi there).

I dont understand. Usually  A player ranked 300 beat a player ranked 900 6-2, 6-2 - consistently.

As to Jesons game, I dont think it is mainly tactics for him to reach next level. I think it is general technique and competency. I saw him last April in Manila (Mitsubishi). Also discussed my observations with an international coach.

Presently (at that time) he lookd far from an ATP player, or even top 500 player. Not even top 1000.

a) Consistency was weak. The forehand is a bit heavy with good topspin but still not consistent. For ex, at the start of semifinal he loses first 2 games. 0-8 or 1-8 in winning points. 6 of those losing points unforced error by forehand. And not small error, ball go out 1-4 foot, even sideways. He is overhitting.

b) Backhand ok but not much of a weapon.

c) Strange serve. Very deep kneebend , and extremes sideturn, very low toss. From my angle seemed to have good placement, spin, certain variety. Not much power though, maybe 100 miles/hour (160 km /hr). Some of the other juniors could hit 180-190 km/hr serves easily.

SUMMARY strong parts: fighting heart, very good volley and good transition game, winning many matches in third set. Weakness: consistency, patience. the serve.

[thetuan]

tommyfr

I looked up Clement Reix, the Frenchman, and he is not very good.  Yes his ranking is 253 but he has played 21 (count em') challenger events in 2011.  Basically, this challenger lifer plays practically every week and that's how he got his points.  Most of his tournaments, he goes one or two rounds and out.  If you play enough tournaments, you will get a few where your stars are all in align and you get three rounds in.

I am going to disagree with you on Jeson's techniques - this kid is as sound as a top tour pro.  I taped his strokes and when you look at the strokes frame by frame, he is in the same power positions and the same contact point as the top tour pros.  That is why Jeson can hit the ball the way he can.  He just need to learn how to win on tour and, in time, he will.  There is no doubt in my mind that Jeson is going to represent Philippines on the tennis world biggest stages and do it well.

Tuan

[Tennis King]

tommyfr....

Jeson was probably a little jaded in the Mitsubishi tournament as he was playing for the 3rd straight week and reached the finals of all 3 tournaments, even for the pros it is hard to play your best week after week so the Mitsubishi tournament is not a good barometer of his capabilities.

Also, What round did your see Jeson play? The semis and the finals is not a good indication of the level of his play, he was cramping for most of the semis and in the finals he was ending points quickly because he knows he won't be able to go 3 hours.

Jeson is kind of player who is good in everything but has no particular exceptional shot. He hits hard from the baseline consistently and is not afraid to go to the net (although not a natural volleyer). But his real strength lies in his mental toughness and his never give up attitude and unlike the more celebrated (and actually more naturally talented) pinoy junior player before him... Jeson finds ways to win!



   

[tommyfr]

To TennisKing

I actually had the opportunity to watch Jeson play in 3 matches last Mitsubishi; round of 16, QF, SF. Plus one practice session some 45 minutes.

Although i have some 15 years experience of tennis at different levels, incl very closely observed at 10 ATP tournaments, some 10 matches each tournament, besides observed a lot of ATP players in training, I am a bit stronger in stroke analysis and error detection today than last April.

I have among other things lately taken a coaching certification at MTM (Modern tennis methodology, founded by Oscar Wegner). My ambition is to upgrade my competence and become a tennis coach expert, international elite level in the future.

Maybe Jesons game has changed a bit since last April? It would be interesting to see him again. Will he play in PCA or other local tournament do you think?

[Tennis King]

Hopefully he'll play locally... it would be nice to see him match up against our best guys.

[pytda]

tommyfr

I looked up Clement Reix, the Frenchman, and he is not very good.  Yes his ranking is 253 but he has played 21 (count em') challenger events in 2011.  Basically, this challenger lifer plays practically every week and that's how he got his points.  Most of his tournaments, he goes one or two rounds and out.  If you play enough tournaments, you will get a few where your stars are all in align and you get three rounds in.

I am going to disagree with you on Jeson's techniques - this kid is as sound as a top tour pro.  I taped his strokes and when you look at the strokes frame by frame, he is in the same power positions and the same contact point as the top tour pros.  That is why Jeson can hit the ball the way he can.  He just need to learn how to win on tour and, in time, he will.  There is no doubt in my mind that Jeson is going to represent Philippines on the tennis world biggest stages and do it well.

Tuan

are u crazy, ranked 253 is not good? get out of the cave man..even if he plays that amount of tournaments, to be ranked that high is pretty impressive...a lot of players play that much amount in the futures and barely get points...

[tommyfr]

I tend to agree with Pytda. Correction, FULLY agree.

First, you get no ranking points just bu participating in many tournaments, you need to win at least one match in order to earn a point.

If we take a look not only at the number of tournaments Reix played, but also his results and the ranking of his opponents, we get a fuller picture.

He has beaten numerous times players ranked around 300, even 200s and played close matches against players ranked in the 100-200s. Last September he even beat Turkeys number one player, ranked 108 in the world.  And lost  a challenger match , 6-4 in third set to Gilles Muller, Luxembourg, ranket 68 in the world.

And he has won two Futures last year, that is winning 5 matches in a row.

If we are gonna reach something in Philippine tennis we need correct data and facts, open minds, a lot of voices, high standards, self criticism also at times. Of course never lose the dream and vision....

[luxilionwave]

amen to that

[Tennis King]

Marc Reyes is in the final qualifying round of a Mexico Futures tournament. Jeson is not in the qualifying so hopefully he is in the main draw proper.

Huey is also in the finals of the US$50,000.00 challenger event in the US, doubles that is, and paired this time with Frederik Neilsen of Denmark. I think its high time Huey gets a regular and full time partner if he wants to improve his ranking and penetrate the elite.   

[thetuan]

tommyfr

You have what you think is your opinion and I have mine - I don't know why we are talking about Reix but since you want facts - he lost 10 times in the first round of the lowest of the future tournaments this year and he lost 7 times in the second round.  That is 17 out of 21 that he lost very early and that does not make him a solid top 200 player.  Let's see how he finish out this year and how high he is ranked in 2012.

He might be a world beater like you said but my opinion is different.  If he moves up and get inside the top 200 or higher, then you are correct and I will FULLY agree with you that he is a good professional tennis player.

Let's see

Tuan

[tommyfr]

tommyfr

I looked up Clement Reix, the Frenchman, and he is not very good.  Yes his ranking is 253 but he has played 21 (count em') challenger events in 2011.  Basically, this challenger lifer plays practically every week and that's how he got his points.  Most of his tournaments, he goes one or two rounds and out.  .

Tuan

Hi Tuan,

this is a thread about Marc and Jeson s tour in the US. Jeson have played 4 tournaments this year, and have earned 2 ranking points. That is about 0.5 per tournament. Marc Reyes has participated in 8 tournaments and earned 0 ranking points. Jeson ranked 1396, Marc no ranking at all.

Further, According to some here they are on equal level, the practice match recently ended in a tie break. According to people in this thread they are both, or at least Jeson, "ATP tour material" ( ie top 120 or 200 in the world) "now" or  "within 2-3 years".

Then I expressed surprise that the #1 ranked in this tournament lost in first round. then you said the things i quoted above.

Someone called your response crazy. I wouldnt like to use that kind of word, but basically I agreee. Then you kind of twist what you said before and try to make it he is no good because he is not within top 200....

This is from ATP web site. Reix have now 193 points out of his 18 best tournaments, including Challenger qualifications. I enclose this also for information purposes for other readers so they can see how you can earn points at different tournaments. Also I learned that in Challengers you earn a few point if you qualify to main tournament, and also if you lose at first round if you are direct admitted.

u]DATE       Tournament  Res   Points earned[/u]
18.10.2010 France F19   W     35 
20.09.2010 France F15   W     35
13.09.2010 France F14   W     35
01.08.2011 Vancouver CH Q     18

06.11.2010 ATP World Tour Masters 1000 Paris Q Q2 16

11.07.2011 Granby CH    R16    8
03.01.2011 Noumea CH    R16    8
23.07.2011 Los Angeles Q Q3    6 
25.04.2011 Leon CH       R16   6 
07.02.2011 Quimper CH    R16   6
11.10.2010 Tashkent CH   R32   5 
20.06.2011 France F9     Q     3 
31.01.2011 Courmayeur CH R32   3 
25.10.2010 France F20     Q    3 
23.08.2010 Geneva CH     R32   3
23.05.2011 Morocco F3    R16   1 
04.04.2011 U.S.A. F9     R16   1
27.09.2010 France F16    R16   1

Non-Countable Tournaments

[tommyfr]

I hope the best for Jeson and other filipino talents, so we one day can have a player, man or woman, within the top 100 in the world. (How many go to US college is less interesting for me as a tennis fan.) As far as i know, the best local filipino player in the open area is Felix Barrientos, and he was best ranked # 180.

But the coaches, sponsors, trainers, parents and others significant around in academies or similar and the tennis community (I dont care to even mention Philta as a relevant party, a totally incompetent organisation, sadly to say; example still without updating their web site since last 2 years!, messy tournament calendar, even worse as to Rankings) needs to be brutally honest with all facts, also those that sound less optimistic and points to another direction.

Not be defensive. Debate, discuss, critisize. Learn from the best.

[tennisfan]

Jeson is kind of player who is good in everything but has no particular exceptional shot. He hits hard from the baseline consistently and is not afraid to go to the net (although not a natural volleyer). But his real strength lies in his mental toughness and his never give up attitude and unlike the more celebrated (and actually more naturally talented) pinoy junior player before him... Jeson finds ways to win!

  

Tennis King

When you mentioned the more celebrated junior player before him (Patrombon), I hope it is safe to assume that you mean Alcantara. I have only seen Nino played 1 game in a doubles match and Jeson, 1 set in a singles match, and those were quite a while ago, so I am not really very familiar with their games.

When you write that Jeson is not a natural volleyer, I’m a little confuse and not really sure what do you mean, and can anyone develop themselves to become a natural volleyer as of course being good and natural is much better than just good ? Also you mentioned that the more celebrated junior player before Jeson is a more naturally talented. How would you determine whether a player is a naturally talented or not, and is it possible a player can evolve into a more natural talent if ever they have one to begin with?

I hope you (or anybody) would be so kind to elaborate on the questions I have just raised. I am a student of the game so I would like to learn and know what to do or how to make adjustment if I meet kids that fall to this same categories

Thank you.

[Tennis King]

Naturally talented players? Well these are people born to play tennis. Players who even at a young age seem to possess all the shots and has the courtsense and natural feel for the ball.  Players who can hit the most amazing shot with ease at the most crucial moments. Players who learn quicly and can adopt to tricky situations with little coaching.

But again, in the grand scheme of things talent is a little overated. If you are less talented...that just means you have to practice more, developing and honing what you have is what matters.  Besides, talent can sometimes be the downfall of some players... since things come easy for them they have a tendency to become lazy and as a result become stagnant and just refuse to improve.   

Also, modern day tennis is not about talent (unlike decades ago)...physicality, mental toughness and great motivation to win is what is more important.     

 

[cypher]

JESON MAINDRAW AND MARC IN FINAL QUALIFYING OF MEXICO

Dear Congressman and Everybody,

We had our first training day yesterday here in Leon Mexico, the air is thin and the tournament is using pressure less balls. It was a weird feeling for all of us hitting with these balls but everybody has to adjust to it plus the new environment were into.

Tennis is such a tough sport to compete in and you must have the mental strength to keep going on and the sanity to keep doing it day in and day out. At times you are playing your best tennis and still you can loose a match. I saw this personally happened to Federer in Wimbledon, Federer was dominating Tsonga in the first two sets and all the players and coaches in the locker room were already looking past Tsonga and was talking about Federer’s match with Djokovic. To all our surprise Tsonga came back and won the best match of his life beating Federer in the 5th set.

Jeson will be in the main draw of the tournament here in Leon and Marc won today in his 2nd round match beating a Mexican player 6-2, 6-3 in the qualifying and will play in the finals tomorrow. Marc has been playing well and he has a good chance here in entering his first main draw of the Tour.

Jeson was given a slot in the main draw due to his solid performance last week at Edwardsville. Jeson only lost in three tough sets to the player from Pepperdine who reached the semifinals of Edwardsville after beating Chase Buchanan the no. 1 player of Ohio State University which is ranked 3rd in the US NCAA Division 1. Buchanan is no ordinary college player; he was the former top junior player of the US and was the 2008 US Open Junior finalist loosing only to Bernard Tomic of Australia. He was also in the singles and doubles main draw of the men’s US Open and a top performer in the NCAA division 1. This goes to show how deep and strong these tournaments are and anybody can beat anyone and win the championships including Jeson and Marc. I have all the respect to Hovhannishan who has been hanging tough since the qualifying rounds and his match with Jeson was the toughest for him.

Jeson’s tough loses only came from two of the best in form players of this Pro tour, Roy Kalmanovich who reached the semis of Decatur after beating University of Michigan Evan King the finalist now at Edwardsville and handily beating the top seed Reix from France 6-2, 6-1 ranked 200 plus in the ATP in the 1st round at Edwardsville, the other player is Hovhannishan who reached the semis of Edwardsville after going through the qualifying and almost loosing in the final round. That is why even if Jeson lost a heart breaker to Hovhannishan 6-4, 3-6, 7-6  I was not at all disappointed because of the way he performed and the way he is developing as a player.





Some of the top college coaches here in the US have been talking to me and they are very impress with the way Jeson has been playing and competing here in America. They said this tournament in Edwardsville is one of the strongest in the USTA Pro circuit because most of the top collegiate players are out of school and playing these events to keep honing their skills. By making it to the main draw through the qualifying is already an achievement in itself for the young man as what they told me.

When these coaches saw Jeson for the first time and beat Kobelt of Ohio State who is 6/7 and Zabala of University of Texas who is a seasoned player in straight sets they knew he is a player to watch and has the game to do it. With more coaching, competitions and training Jeson will keep maturing as a player

Jeson is positively improving in this circuit and he will continue to improve as the Tour progresses. His mental, physical and technical game is more solid now than when he reached the quarters of the Australian Open juniors last January which we have been working hard on continuously. You cannot win at the level of this competition if your game has obvious weaknesses. The competition will easily spot that and attack it relentlessly.

Jeson and Marc still have a long way to go and we have only just begun in our quest of someday hitting it big in the ATP Pro Tour but we are moving towards the right direction. The most important first step that we took this year is to believe and follow our dream of playing in the ATP/ITF Pro Circuits and we are committed. Hopefully because of all the sacrifices and the things were trying to accomplish in tennis for our country we could inspire and spark more corporate/individual sponsors, clubs, coaches and our friends from the media to support the sport of tennis in the country and our young Filipino talents starts picking up more tennis rackets and begin dreaming big.

Let’s keep the faith.

Yours truly,
Coach Manny Tecson

[Tennis King]

Marc is also in the main draw after dispatching his greek oponent 6-2;6-3.

First round match ups:

Jeson will play mexican wildcard Jaime Clarke while Marc will play 6th seed Chris Letcher of Australia.

Good Luck!

[tennisfan]

Naturally talented players? Well these are people born to play tennis. Players who even at a young age seem to possess all the shots and has the courtsense and natural feel for the ball.  Players who can hit the most amazing shot with ease at the most crucial moments. Players who learn quicly and can adopt to tricky situations with little coaching.

But again, in the grand scheme of things talent is a little overated. If you are less talented...that just means you have to practice more, developing and honing what you have is what matters.  Besides, talent can sometimes be the downfall of some players... since things come easy for them they have a tendency to become lazy and as a result become stagnant and just refuse to improve.   

Also, modern day tennis is not about talent (unlike decades ago)...physicality, mental toughness and great motivation to win is what is more important.     

 

Tennis king

Thank you so much for that very informative and nice thought and I fully agree with you, hardwork and of course being smart too beats talent!

[tennisfan]

Good luck to Jeson and Marc! What happened to Mico?

Tough much pala kaagad ang kay Marc against a seeded player, pero kaya yan.

Just keep the faith.

[Tennis King]

Kaya ni Marc yan... well makikita natin bukas, both of them will play in Court 1: Jeson first match, Marc third.

[Tennis_Guy]

Hopefully all their hard work pays off.  Go Jeson and Marc wish you guys all the best 

[luxilionwave]

Good luck to Jeson and Marc! What happened to Mico?

Tough much pala kaagad ang kay Marc against a seeded player, pero kaya yan.

Just keep the faith.

spoke to the aunt in  Los Angeles, Mico is finishing his high school this month a year earlier, apparently a bright kid,too ,...

[cypher]

MARC ENTERS HIS FIRST MAIN DRAW OF THE TOUR

 Dear Congressman and Everybody,


     Marc won today in his final qualifying beating Mavropoulos Stoliarenco of Greece who is seeded no.7 or 8 in the qualifying and who is rank 1800 plus in the ATP 6-2, 6-3 to enter his first main draw of the Tour. The first few games of the 1st set where a big test for Marc even if he won it 6-2. In the first game of the set Marc was so tentative because he was thinking so much on how important this match was to him that he immediately lost his serve at love. His opponent saw this tentativeness and started imposing his game on him. During the second game of the set a long argument broke loose between Marc and his opponent. It was such a heated argument that 2 umpires came into the court to stop it. This match was turning out to be ugly since Marc’s opponent this time was trying to intimidate him early in the set. I just told him to stand firm and fight for his right. Last week Marc played an American player who did the same thing at the start of the match and that opponent got into Marc’s head which affected his game especially on the important points. We talked about this last week and how he should handle these types of opponents and today was a different story. Instead of Marc falling into the same trap it was his opponent who blew up and Marc got into his head because he never backed down. From 1-0 down Marc racked up 5 games in a row to go up 5-1. His opponent was just screaming at himself and throwing his racket every change court. Marc started stepping up his game to put more pressure on his Greek opponent which worked really well to take the first set at 6-2. The second set was the same story and Marc never let his opponent recover from his tantrums and kept attacking his groundstrokes. Marc immediately went up 3-0 in the second set and he was in control all through out. At 5-3 with Marc serving for the match, his opponent started becoming more aggressive on his ground game and he took the first 2 points for a 0-30 lead. But Marc came back with 3 good serves to bring it at match point 40-30. This time he served wide to the backhand side of Stoliarenco to set up his forehand for the winner to the open court to qualify for his first main draw of the tour 6-2, 6-3. Tomorrow Jeson and Marc will be in the main draw of Leon and the boys are looking forward to their matches. Until next time God bless to all. Yours truly,

Coach Manny Tecson

[Ace]

Congrats to Marc... that is a major accomplishment.  Pag tournaments talga hindi lang forehands, backhands ipre-prepare mo... pati bad attitudes ng opponents kelangan paghandaan mo.

[cypher]

A GREAT DAY FOR TAPF TEAM PHILIPPINES


Dear Congressman and Everybody,


 All the coaching, training and hard work is paying off when both our boys Jeson and Marc won their matches and earned them precious ATP men’s world ranking points. Jeson earned his 4th ATP point and will definitely move up the men’s ranking when he beat Jaime Clarke of Mexico 4-6, 6-2, 6-0. In the first set Jeson was trying so hard to end the points quickly and fell into a string of errors against his Mexican opponent. Jeson was just forcing everything and was rushing his shots instead of setting things up and rallying a bit longer. I believe he was just too over confident in this match that he thought it was just going to be a piece of cake because his opponent is a wild card entry. But at this level you cannot take anyone for granted because everybody are solid and can play. This is a professional ITF men’s tournament and not just any local tournament in Mexico. You have to expect that Mexico will not just give their wildcards to anyone who is not worth it of the chance or capable of winning in the main draw. In the second set Jeson started settling down and his real game started picking up. Immediately Jeson was up 4-0 and his opponent was looking helpless with a barrage of winners coming from Jeson’s serve, groundstrokes and net game. Jeson won the second set handily at 6-2 and was now in command of the match. In the third set Jeson’s confidence kept growing even further and he was just hitting flawlessly with not much errors on both wings of his ground game. Jeson also started serving more consistently with his first serve and it was finding the corners for several aces plus it was setting up his forehand to dictate the rallies. J
eson never let his opponent recover and he finished the match with a down the line winner to move to the next round of this tournament. After the match I called the boys for a meeting to reassess Jeson’s game. I believe in a system of coaching where Marc and Jeson can always learn from each other that is why when I am coaching either one of them the other player is there to listen. Jeson understood his mistake today in the 1st set and admitted that he took his opponent lightly and didn’t give much thought about how he will approach this match which is a mental lapse in the part of Jeson and could have easily turned against him. A good lesson for Jeson but it turned out to be a good mental preparation for Marc before his match against a seeded opponent from Australia. Marc came out firing from start to finish and was very mentally prepared in his match with hardly any lapses of concentration. Marc earned his first ATP point after beating the no. 6 seed Chris Letcher from Australia rank 657 in the ATP 6-4, 6-4. Before the match started Marc and I had a long talk because he was a little jittery and tense knowing he will play a seeded player. What I told him is to focus on his own game 100% and execute

[cypher]

the things we have been practicing instead of thinking too much off his opponent. The other day when we were practicing before his final qualifying match, Marc had a dressing down with me because he was acting up so negatively and was always focusing on his errors, the pressure less balls, his backhand, his forehand etc. etc. I told him before at Decatur I will not tolerate this kind of behavior anymore and he got the message and started focusing on our practice. What I like about Marc is that he readily admits his mistakes and he is not onion skinned or sensitive about these things. He likes it more when you tell him his mistakes and he shows appreciation in the things you have done for him. Today Marc executed our game plan perfectly and he never backed down even under pressure. He has learned from his mistakes at Edwardsville and he made sure it won’t happen again today in spite of his opponent being a seeded player. Marc was 4-1 down in the second set but he kept on fighting and looking at me for encouragement and reassurance that he is doing the right things in his match. I just supported him all the way and little by little he tied the second set at 4 all and broke his opponent at love. Here comes the big test for Marc and this is the closing out of the match at 5-4 serving. There where so many things that was going on his mind as he told me later after his match. But he remembered what I coached him earlier especially when he was down several break points at 5-4. He told me…coach I remember what you said, to take my time when serving and bounce the ball several times to make the receiver start thinking more of his returns, this is what I did and it worked and my opponent missed several times on his returns and my first serve percentage went up. I just told Marc great job and to keep up the good work. Well got to go for now and until next time God bless to all. Keep the faith.

Yours truly,

Coach Manny Tecson

[smiley]

indeed, a great day for for us!

keep it up!

[tommyfr]

Congrats!

What a breakthrough for Marc!

After 7 attempts last year to qualify into a Futures main draw, he finally succeeded. Not only that, he won the first round and earned his first ATP point.

And the win were against a solid ranked player in the 6-700s in the world, in good forma apparently as he recently won 3 rounds in the maindraw at a tournament in Canada, only to be stopped in the semifinal by canadian Pospisil, ranked 155 in the world

And thanks for the fantastic field reports by coach Manny.

[Tennis King]

Good Wins!!!

Question though, just saw the drawsheet why is Marc representing Italy?

[tennisfan]

Good luck to Jeson and Marc! What happened to Mico?

Tough much pala kaagad ang kay Marc against a seeded player, pero kaya yan.

Just keep the faith.

spoke to the aunt in  Los Angeles, Mico is finishing his high school this month a year earlier, apparently a bright kid,too ,...

Thanks for the info and congrats to coach Manny, Jeson and Marc.

[LA Magaway]

Hey Cypher!

Great reporting, how come you also get emails from him? are you a former player of coach manny?? anyway great info straight from coach himself. Ill be on standby on all the reports and hopefully everyone likes this thread.. i love reading coach's letters myself, super helpful..

Cheers!

Laurence Magaway

[SLP888]

Good Wins!!!

Question though, just saw the drawsheet why is Marc representing Italy?

He's Italian???