Left to Right: Mike Leal, Steve Brewer, Carlos Galindo, Joey Sermino (captain), Sam Martinez, Jorge Salinas (captain), Gabe Elizondo, David Lopez

Harlingen HEB Represents at Texas Championships
By: Jorge Salinas
Photos Courtesy: Irene Salinas

The drive was long and tiring, lasting almost ten hours. The drone of the woman on the GPS would be almost hypnotic if it weren't for how rude she sounded. Eventually; however, nine of the thirteen RGV champion combatants would arrive in Dallas one day before the competition. Just enough time for a shower, dinner with the team (and last minute strategy), and prepare their weapons for battle. I had the honor of being one of those warriors.

Steve Brewer would take charge of the conversation several times and suggested that Carlos play doubles with Sam and for me to play singles, in the absence of our two main singles guys not being able to make it. Most agreed, except for Sam Martinez who had a winning season with me. Israel Trevino and David Lopez would step up to that plate, allowing Jorge and Sam to remain a team throughout the championships.

I give the keys to the valet at the Omini Hotel in Dallas and go up to the 5th floor. The USTA really went all out, booking us into a luxury hotel. There are tennis players all around the lobby and on every floor. We eye each other peripherally. I contemplate being cordial, but how would that affect me? Will that deter my killer instinct on the court? I decide to keep to myself and think, "don't fire unless fired upon" is the best strategy in this case. "Bunch of old guys", I think to myself. "Is that how I look to them???", I wonder. Inside myself, I'm seventeen...at least I like to play like I am. My feet sink deep into the carpet as I walk to the room. My wife and I comment on how tiring it is.

Inside the room, I look over my rackets and decide which ones I am going to use. Three are prepared with Luxilon Big Banger strings and I choose the two that feel the best to me. My wife helps me with the overgrips; and we plan out my nutrition, hydration and strategy on the court. She tells me I can no longer hold back and encourages me to leave it all on the court. "You owe it to your team and you owe it to yourself", she says. She's right. The team starts texting and I send my partner, Sam Martinez, the text I have sent him before every match this season: "Tomorrow we take Dallas for a ride..........DOWNTOWN!!!" It has become a superstition thing with me now, but I don't want to take any chances. I hit the lights and make sure I am well rested. Sleep overtakes me.....eventually.

We wake at 5:45 a.m. in order to get some nutrition in my system and to begin hydrating myself for the tournament. We arrive at the Lyndon B. Johnson Tennis Center at 7:25 and begin warming up. I look over and see Gabe and his girlfriend Lisa and am glad that my wife has someone to hang out with. We all give each other very genuine handshakes, palm slaps and fist pounds. "Let's do its!" and "Bring its!" fill the air. We hear the same from all the other teams warming up around us. Then we hear the call: "Valley captains!". Joey and I lead the team to where we are supposed to play. No one admits to nervousness, but I see fear in some of our faces. "Just do what got us here, guys", I say. "That's right", agrees Gabe. And some of us take the courts and step into battle. I would have to wait an additional two hours until the singles match that was on our court was over. That match lasted almost three hours. All of my matches would fair about the same.

The Match Against Houston

Our first match was against the Houston team. According to our strategy, our lineup was as follows: David Lopez would take care of #1 singles. Taking on Houston's best player. #2 Singles was Carlos Galindo (our player from Brownsville). We decided to flip flop our doubles around in case the other teams did the same. #1 Doubles was Mike Leal and Steve Brewer, #2 Doubles was Jorge Salinas and Sam Martinez, and #3 Doubles was Joey Sermino and Gabe Elizondo. This would be our lineup throughout the tournament with the exception of switching out David Lopez and Israel Trevino every other match since they were facing some of the best singles players in Texas.

In our Houston match, we won all the courts with the exception of the #1 singles. The doubles match that Sam and I played went beyond the normal distance and we split sets. We were down love - 3 in the second set, after having taken the first, when our captain said we had won the match already. "If you guys wanna go ahead and default, it's alright", he said. Sam and I looked at each other not knowing what to do. I looked at Sam and said, "I didn't drive ten hours to tank, man. Come on! I want my first championship win!". Sam and I played together all season and we realized we both had too much pride to just quit. We wound up losing the second set 6 - 3 and took it to a tie breaker. We found ourselves down 6 - 9 with our opponents having match point and serving to me. "It's on your racket", Sam tells me. "Just the way I like it", I reply. Our opponent serves and I blast a forehand straight up the middle between them for a winner. Somehow that seemed to discourage them. We wound up at 9 all and would face two more match points against us. Finally, it was 12 - 11 our favor.....our match point.....serving to me. They serve to my backhand (big mistake!) and I pound it back to their feet, they hit it to Sam who slices a forehand at their feet.....they pop it up high on my backhand side.....Sam runs to cover, but winners always want the ball.....I jump and hit a backhand overhead smash as hard as I can and aim right in front of the net guy.....it bounces hard and hits him in the chest.....we watch the ball die. Sam and I raise both our arms in victory. We had won our first championship match, as a doubles duo and as a team. The score was Valley 4 - Houston 1.

Walking back to where the rest of the team was waiting and cheering us on, Gabe gives me a victory hug. Bleaugh! We're both sweaty. My wife refuses to hug me in my condition. Funny how my team mates hugged me, but my wife wouldn't. We take a short break, eat some pasta, hydrate, take a shower and get ready for the next match.

The Match Against Waco

Sam gets on court #4 before I do. I was running a bit late cause I was mixing up my electrolytes in water and eating bananas. When I looked at our opponents, I saw we were clearly playing ringers. I couldn't believe Waco would do that...then again...maybe I could. I just couldn't believe they would do that to ME!!! We tried to warm up with them, but they hit every ball at a hundred miles an hour.....literally! Bryce Dornak was first to serve. Oh.....my.....god!!!!! I have never in my life seen such a powerful serve. When it is my turn to recieve, I back up almost to the fence. They win the first game. Bryce and his partner, Joshua Harvey go over to the fence where both teams' families and friends were sitting and say (mostly for Sams and my benefit): "This will be over soon. We'll take care of these old guys quick!". Old guys?.......OLD GUYS??!!!?? OH HELL No!!! "This 'Old Guy' will send you to the next world, punk!", I think to myself. I proceed to POUND my backhand at them as hard as I could. Sam commenced to sliding his forehand behind them on the return of serves. I served with furious abandon and grunted as I gave my absolute best on every shot. We won the first set 7-5. Now the wunderkids have to go to the fence and read their report card to their team. "Not so cocky now, huh?", I thought. Sam and I are pumped! David Lopez cheers me on and says, "Awesome!" My wife exhorts me to play my game. Can't lose in front of the wife! I think there's a law against that in Dallas! We begin the second set.

"These guys are dangerous", Sam says. "A 7-5 set victory is nothing", he continues. "Don't let em breathe!", I say. We fist pump and proceed to set each other up at the net. "Boom" goes my backhand. Their team would come to comment quite a bit on it as the tournament went on. "Crack" went Sam's forehand up the middle. "Down Town!", we yell! In the end, I was holding the smoking gun as I hit a forehand with all the top spin I could muster to mess up Bryce's timing. His shot goes into the net. They were clearly the hardest hitters and some of the best players in Texas and now they were nothing but prey to the swords from the Valley. The final score was 7-5, 6-4. More hugs from the team!

Carlos Galindo and Israel Trevino fought valiantly but went down nonetheless in the singles competition, I was told. We had won the toughest doubles match. Mike Leal and Steve Brewer defeated Waco's team in a nail-biting marathon, winning in split sets: 7-5, 4-6, 1-0 in a third set tie breaker. The deciding match was Gabe and Joey's.....we didn't tell them though. No sense adding to the pressure. The Valley had lost the first set 2-6, then Gabe would play out of his mind and we won the second set 6-2. We all stood around the fence and yelled and cheered as the Valley pulled it out in a tie breaker. The final score was: 2-6, 6-2, 1-0. We had finished the first day's battle and had survived undefeated. I look at my team and say: "We came here to pass out lollipops and ass whoopins...........and we're all out of lollipops!". Everyone adopts my saying. It was our battle cry. We all go back to the hotels for a shower, rest and we join together for a quick steak dinner. Then our separate ways.

Some went out for drinks and late night fun. Others of us just needed more rest and an early night. Irene and I hit the pool then the hot tub. We ran into the ladies Harlingen Country Club team, who were also undefeated. We swapped war stories and discussed technique and strategy. Then off to bed. A storm interruped my sleep just past midnight. "It's gonna be a humid day tomorrow", I thought. Then, I gave in to sleep.

Another 5:30 in the "a.m." start with hydration, breakfast, more hydration, stretching, warm up, arrive at the tennis center and greet my team mates. "You're back on court #4 guys! Same court you were on yesterday.", says David Lopez, my friend and fellow Raymondville representative. "You playing singles?", I ask him. David replies with his usual, "Yeah, man.". That's David for you; focused and all business. "Play your game, bro", I exhort and give him a fist pump as Sam and I head to court #4.

The Match Against Wild San Antonio

My doubles match against Wild SanAntonio started out uneventful. Sam and I went up two to nothing right away. Then it got a bit cloudy and cool and we lost the next game. Suddenly Sam was serving at deuce and it began to pour down rain. All the teams ran for cover and we headed back to the hotel for a shower, then a nap, then another shower. We would resume our match at noon sharp, according to the USTA officials.

When noon rolled around, and we were back on the courts, our opponents did not want to spend much time warming up. We began play almost immediately. "What's the big hurry?", I wondered to myself. Then they began with the lobs.

They had spent the last couple of hours forming a strategy while I slept. Lo and behold, every time that Sam was at the net, they would lob him. This forced me to have to run all over the court to cover. Before we knew it, we were down 4 - 2. One of my opponents, Nolan Kuhen, began giving me "stare downs" every time I made a mistake. That was all I needed. Next lob they hit, I went for an overhead and gave it a wicked slice for an impossible to return angle. My team mate, Steve Brewer (who was playing on the court next to me) yelled: "Good shot, Jorge! Perfect angle!", for the benefit of my opponents. Then it was my turn to recieve serve. William Sparks' first serve went way long. I prepared for his second serve and decided I was going to end the obnoxious lobs once and for all. When the second serve spun over the net high, I ran around my backhand and slammed a forehand. This time; however, instead of hitting it back cross court and readying myself for the lob, I hit a devastatingly flat forehand straight at Kuhen at the net. I hit him in the chest and he gave a nice yell: "Uuuugghhh!!!". I could almost see the words coming out of him like an old television episode of Batman. "No more lobs!", I told Sam.....again.....for the opponent's benefit. We broke their confidence and won the match: 7-5, 6-2.

On the court next to me, Steve Brewer and Mike Leal had lost in split sets. It was a valiant effort, but the sun would prove to be our enemy in that battle. I saw David sitting on his ice chest under a large tree with his head down. "That doesn't look good", I say to my wife. "He won", she says. But, it took it out of him. David Lopez, my Raymondville brother, had played #1 singles and defeated one of the best players in the state. He won his singles match: 6-2, 6-3. Ed Olmstead, his opponent was still acting a bit cocky after the match saying that he could have outlasted David if he had not beaten him so quickly. "What difference does it make?", I said. Sounds like sour grapes or milk or rotten cheese or whatever the saying is about sore losers, to me. All I knew is that we needed one more victory to win the match.

Carlos Galindo would also win his singles match to clench the victory for us over San Antonio. Carlos was in a fierce running battle in the mid day sun for several hours until he finally pulled it out in split sets, winning it 11-9 in the third set tie breaker. With the pressure off, Gabe Elizondo and Joey Sermino were finally able to pull out their victory in a grueling battle for #3 doubles. Gabe would hit second serves almost as hard as his first and helped gain the victory with a final score of: 7-5, 6-4.

With a 4-1 victory, we headed to Nino's Pasta for some Fettucini. Over lunch, Steve Brewer still insisted that I play singles if Carlos was injured or too tired. Carlos finally was able to reply that he thought he was ok. I commented that I could play singles or doubles, but that I thought we should stick with the lineups that got us to the championships. Brewer continued to insist on me playing singles and what he thought we should do. I left early in order to get some rest at the hotel.

The Match Against San Angelo

Upon returning to the tennis center at 5p.m., Carlos had no problems playing singles. Just as well since Sam and I would be facing Cauley and Wilcox from San Angelo. Codey Cauley and Brent Wilcox have been the #1 ranked doubles team in Texas for the past two years in a row. They were undefeated when Sam and I faced off against them in the finals of our flight. It was a good thing we didn't know about their ranking before-hand. Actually, I don't think it would have made much of a difference in the beginning. Sam and I came out blazing yet we lost the first set 6-2 in about ten minutes. It seemed like they were going to roll over us. I was frustrated and it seemed like I couldn't get myself "pumped". Sam and everyone kept telling me to calm down, but this was not the time to calm down. It was a time for the opposite, in fact. It was a time to rise up and focus!

Sam and I had disagreed on how to face off against them, and we let each other know. "Just hit it to the guy in the blue shorts, Sam", I almost demanded. "The guy in the red is way too strong at the net", I thought. We needed to work the points. Our strategizing was interrupted by a fierce argument on court #1 between Steve Brewer and his opponents. I wasn't sure what the argument was about. All I knew was that Steve had crossed over onto the opponents side of the net and was squaring off against a much smaller opponent. Although that argument was an ugly thing to behold, it helped calm Sam and I down. We went on to win the second set with a very tight 7-5 score. We settled into the third set tie-breaker and were down 6-9. They had match point against us and it was my serve. I served two aces back to back to get the score back to 8-9. Still match point. Their serve. First serve was a fault. They serve hard to my backhand and I blast it back at their feet. They pop it up and Sam rushes in and puts it away. We would face two more match points against us. We got the score to 12-11...our favor. "It's on your racket", Sam says. "They're serving to you", he continues. "Just the way I like it", I reply with a smile. "We've been here a dozen times this season, patnah", Sam says; trying to instill confidence in me. They serve to my backhand again.....I run around it.....I hit an inside out forehand to the server's backhand side (his weaker side).....he returns it to Sam.....Sam fires it back cross court.....he blasts it to my forehand.....I roll a forehand at their feet as they attack the net.....it has as much spin as I can muster.....the ball jumps hard towards them.....it messes up their timing.....they hit it into the net. We win the point and the match 13-11, just as we had won the first match of the tournament.

As we walked off the court, they tell us we just beat the team that has been ranked #1 in Texas for the last two years in a row. "You should be proud of yourselves", San Angelo's team tells us. We walk over to where everyone else is sitting. "They already won 3 matches", Mike Leal says. "It's over for us". Sam and I sit down. The joy of beating such a great team is still there.....somewhere. But, it has been replaced by the sadness of knowing that we lost. I remember Sam's words from years ago, "We win as a team and we lose as a team". I had done my best, hit my backhand as hard as I could, gone undefeated in the championships, beat the #1 ranked team in Texas; yet none of that mattered anymore. We had become a team. And, we had just lost. We all felt it.

"We'll get em next year!", someone said. Sam and I 'high fived', reminded each other that we finished the championships undefeated and took out the best that Texas had to offer. Sam has injuries to his left knee, right elbow and left heel. While I will be playing the next higher level, he will probably remain at the 3.5 level. "We made a heck of a team, patnah.", I said to him. Joey, this season's captain said how proud he was of all of us and how we made it further than he thought we would. One thing was for certain. We represented the Rio Grande Valley well; and, no matter what, we were still the 2009 RGV Championship team.

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