NYBT Hosts Battle on the Beach

July 25, 2017 | By Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff

Coming off an extremely successful June tournament (The NYBT Open), New York Beach Tennis had a lot to live up to with its second tournament of the Summer. On July 15, at The Battle on the Beach, NYBT delivered yet again. 

"What a great day of fun, exercise, competition, and socializing with old and new friends. I love events that are pool play/round robins and are bundled into a 4 hour or so time frame with timely breaks to snack, take a swim and chat with friends between games. David goes out of his way to ensure everyone has a great time. The event is well organized, starts and finishes on time and provides lots of amenities and treats for all participants" said Whitney Kraft aka The Sandman (Director of Tennis for the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center)

On this beautiful Saturday at Crest Hollow CC, NYBT surrounded the courts with beach games such as Cornhole, Spikeball, and Kan Jam, had DJ CMNY getting the crowd going, and was joined by Jamba Juice who gave out free smoothies to players courtesy of the tournament. When players needed to cool off they jumped in the pool and waiters were available so players could order food and eat courtside. 

On the sand and inside the lines the action was fierce. With a young draw, filled with up and coming players, the level was clearly on the rise as local players quickly are falling in love with the sport. "It's great to see so many different players at each event. It used to be the same group over and over again. Now, as the word spreads on how much fun the NYBT scene is, we have a much larger base of players to pick from." said Alex Pop Moldovan

 

 

 

 

 

In the Mens Doubles Draw, the finals came down to four friends who regularly train together and are familiar with each others games as David Sickmen and Alex Pop Moldovan took on Roey Heymann and Mikey Nelson. Sickmen and Moldovan advanced to the final by defeating Brad Berger and Whitney Kraft in straight sets, while Heymann and Nelson got there after knocking off Jason Quintana and Harris Durkovic in matchup of four college tennis players. In a tough battle, Sickmen and Pop Moldovan were able to prevail 7-6, 7-5 in the final to win another NYBT championship.  

The Womens Doubles Draw was filled with high school and college tennis players but in the end it was the Beach Tennis veterans who advanced to the final as Jennifer Peterson and Basia Drozdnik took on Marcia Balbinot and Kiki Nico. Earlier in the day, Peterson and Drozdnik had won a matchup between these teams during pool play but in the final it was the opposite result. Balbinot and Nico were able to learn from their previous mistakes and win their first NYBT title. 

"This Summer has been one of the best we have had for Beach Tennis in the Northeast. The main reason is that our group gets along very well. There's no egos, in-fighting, politics, or anything else. We all play hard on the court and have a great time together off the court as well. We had a large amount of new players join us this Summer from the Tennis world and they loved playing. We are finally going in the right direction with the sport here in NY. I hope everyone realizes that and continues to stay the course and enjoy what we've grown." said David Sickmen 

Next up on the NYBT Summer Series is a stop in the Hamptons for the NYBT Invitational. Players will head East for a day in the sun and will be joined on the beach by pro tennis players looking to give the sport a try. 

 

Long Island Tennis Magazine Staff
Centercourt
Century

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