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Wake Forest Tennis 2023-2024: Men #3

Great win for the men at #2 UNC. Wake was focused in doubles and got the win there - Wake has looked good in doubles this year, especially compared to the past 2 years. Really solid straight set wins by Squire, Nava, and Sid. Squire with a really impressive win against Blumberg. Nava is playing awesome and that continued today, and Sid is really tough at 6. Baadi was down 1-5 in the third set and came back to win 7-6, which was an incredible comeback for him. UNC will point out they were without their #2 player Rinky Hijikata, but it is worth noting that Wake is without our #1 Botzer (though he won't be coming back...). Wake plays at Duke and Elon on Sunday.

The women lost 2-5 to #12 UVA. The women are right at the cutoff for making the NCAAs. Hopefully they can get their full team back and win a few at the end to make it in. The Wake women are solid when they have their full lineup.
 
I had the impression we’d been struggling this year in doubles, glad we’re not or not now as case may be.
 
Huge win!
Rafi - thanks for your continuing commentary and insights.
 
The #9 men beat #37 Duke yesterday in the ACC quarterfinals 4-0. Wake plays #4 UNC at 2 pm today in the semis. Wake’s lineup has been pretty consistent at doubles and 1-4 singles, but 5-6 singles has fluctuated some. I’d like to see Banthia at 5 singles and Melios at 6, but we’ll see what Wake comes up with today.

The women beat #42 Syracuse and then lost to #1 UNC. The women will be close to the cut off for the NCAA tournament, but I think they’ll make it in.
 
Deacs were up 3-1 and end up losing 4-3. Squire and Cungu lost in tie breaks in the third. Rumor on Twitter that Nava was defaulted because of a bathroom break between second and third set. No idea what that means.
 
There’s gotta be more to this story, because you can jump to an automatic default only in really extreme circumstances—like, say, you punched the opposing player or used a racial slur. If you misuse a bathroom break, thats against the rules and you’ll get a penalty, but the first penalty you get is only one point, not a default.
 
To put it in perspective, I’ve watched probably upwards of 300 college tennis matches and I can only recall one time where someone was defaulted. And in that case, they were defaulted for getting three code violations. I’ve never seen the officials jump straight to an immediate default.
 
Pardon my ignorance, but how do you “misuse” a bathroom break?
 
The most common way would be that you take a bathroom break but instead of going to the bathroom quickly, you sit in the bathroom for awhile to rest (or don’t use the bathroom at all). Bathroom breaks are frequently abused by people who just need a break and it’s very hard to police that because obviously, nobody is in the stall with you). So it’s pretty remarkable that the officials felt confident enough to say for certain that he misused the bathroom break, and then I’m guessing something else must have happened to escalate things to a default. Most likely would be that he severely cursed out the officials, but that’s just speculation.
 
The most common way would be that you take a bathroom break but instead of going to the bathroom quickly, you sit in the bathroom for awhile to rest (or don’t use the bathroom at all). Bathroom breaks are frequently abused by people who just need a break and it’s very hard to police that because obviously, nobody is in the stall with you). So it’s pretty remarkable that the officials felt confident enough to say for certain that he misused the bathroom break, and then I’m guessing something else must have happened to escalate things to a default. Most likely would be that he severely cursed out the officials, but that’s just speculation.

I have no idea what happened in this specific situation, but in college tennis, bathroom breaks are timed so they can't be abused (injury time outs are also timed in tennis, even at junior levels, so they can't be used just to rest up). But taking too much time should result in a warning, then point, then game, and then match penalty. I have never heard of someone defaulted for taking too long during a bathroom break.
 
They’re timed—you get up to 5 minutes—but that doesn’t mean you are entitled to take the whole 5 minutes if it doesn’t actually take you that long to use the bathroom. Also you have to actually use the bathroom, you can’t just take a seat on the toilet and chill for five minutes. So it’s harder to abuse them, but they can still be abused.
 
They’re timed—you get up to 5 minutes—but that doesn’t mean you are entitled to take the whole 5 minutes if it doesn’t actually take you that long to use the bathroom. Also you have to actually use the bathroom, you can’t just take a seat on the toilet and chill for five minutes. So it’s harder to abuse them, but they can still be abused.

Do they have a bathroom monitor to make sure you’re not just sitting there?
 
Do they have a bathroom monitor to make sure you’re not just sitting there?

No. You get 5 min to go to the bathroom, and what you do in there is your business. The word on Twitter is that Nava went to a room with AC and fans, instead of the bathroom, and someone reported that to the head ref.
 
Well, if so, that was dumb. Wasn't even that hot. I grew up, as most kids do, playing tennis in 90+ degree summer days, at least in NC.

Wouldn't the restrooms have AC? Why were fans on in a room? Who else would use them?
 
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Probably not going to happen, but I'd love to hear Bresky weigh in on what actually happened. I watched UVA-UNC yesterday and I think we definitely could have won. I did get a report from a UNC fan who was texting with people on site, and his version was that Nava took a bathroom break but didn't go to the bathroom, he just wanted to cool his opponent down. Now, I'd love to know what he actually did, and how he got caught, unless he didn't know the rule. I'm also shocked that is an auto default and not a game penalty. Ben S. has been playing terrible, so I gotta feel like we would have won the 3rd but who knows. We still had so many chances. Henri and Rezi up breaks in the 3rd. Henri with 3 mps in a row on Rinky's serve at 5-6. Henri serving 5-3 in TB. Rezi with 2 mps in TB after being up 3-1. Gotta find a way to win 1 of those.
 
Probably not going to happen, but I'd love to hear Bresky weigh in on what actually happened. I watched UVA-UNC yesterday and I think we definitely could have won. I did get a report from a UNC fan who was texting with people on site, and his version was that Nava took a bathroom break but didn't go to the bathroom, he just wanted to cool his opponent down. Now, I'd love to know what he actually did, and how he got caught, unless he didn't know the rule. I'm also shocked that is an auto default and not a game penalty. Ben S. has been playing terrible, so I gotta feel like we would have won the 3rd but who knows. We still had so many chances. Henri and Rezi up breaks in the 3rd. Henri with 3 mps in a row on Rinky's serve at 5-6. Henri serving 5-3 in TB. Rezi with 2 mps in TB after being up 3-1. Gotta find a way to win 1 of those.

So true. We had so many chances to win that match.
 
So true. We had so many chances to win that match.

Just saw two tweets from Nava - he said he went and sat in a chair 20 feet from his court and that was it. If true, it was a misunderstanding of the rule and not an egregious breaking of the rule as was articulated to me. I am sure bresky went nuts. Would love to know full story.
 
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