International Tennis League (ITL)

Dryan wrote:Country/Dependency: Federal Republic of Nuevo Rico (Formerly Starfishland )
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Player: Keene Sweet ,Red Valas

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Country/Dependency: Republic of Karasem
National flag (optional, but preferred): Avatar
Player: Agus Saifudin, Tahirudin Kasim

William White wrote:

Here we are, on this bright sunny 1st of May, in the capital. Today, the first season of the International Tennis League kicked off with the match between Alessandro Monnaci, from the United Kingdom of Cattala, and Fernando Salazar, from the Republic of Insulo. Monnaci quickly got a head start, rapidly gaining point after point, while Salazar was only able to get in 2 points inbetween. The first game ended with a Win-30 score.
The second game started with Salazar serving. Salazar played better this time, and despite an unlucky net-hit during the game, the score had soon reached 40-40. But Monnaci wasn't going to give up easily, and he soon had Advantage over Salazar. He then capitalized on his advantage, and won the game.
By the third game, Monnaci was getting pretty confident of winning, while Salazar was getting desperate, knowing that if he lost this game, he would be out of the competition completely. A ball from Monnaci that landed outside the boundaries early in the game served to encourage him, and he soon beat Monnaci 30-Win.
Because Salazar had just won the third game, a fourth game was in order, because of the requirement that in order to win a match, one has to be two games ahead. Salazar again defeated Monnaci, after gaining Advantage over Monnaci, and then pressing home his advantage, requiring a fifth and sixth game to decide the winner.
The fifth game played out much like the fourth, except that one of the points Monnaci gained during the match was due to a net ball caused by Salazar aiming too low. The sixth game started with a serve by Salazar, which landed on the line, counting it as an "Out". Monnaci went on the offensive and quickly wore out Salazar. The game ended with a 15-Win, in favor of Monnaci. He thus avoided being kicked out of the competition, for the time being.
The seventh game kicked off with a serve from Monnaci that was quickly returned to him, but as it was returning, it grazed the net, giving the point to Monnaci. Monnaci played well, but so did Salazar, and soon the score was 40-40. The ball soon was passing back and forth so quickly that it was difficult for the spectators to see where it was going, but soon it was announced that the Advantage was Salazar's. Monnaci served, but in a reverse of what happened at the beginning of the game, the ball grazed the net, giving the decisive point to Salazar.
The eighth game was played well by both sides, but it was getting apparent that both players were getting exhausted. However, victory was in sight, and it wasn't too long before Fernando Salazar had defeated Alessandro Monnaci Win-30, meaning that Salazar won the match 5 games out of 8, ending the Battle of Powerhouses, and the first match of the ITL.

That's all for now. Come back in a few hours to see the Kingdom of Waterbridge battle the Republic of Syldavia. This is William White, signing off, and thank you for watching.

William White wrote: Ok, so now that you're all back, we can start our report of what occured during the match between Ross Carmichael, of the Kingdom of Waterbridge, and Mikhael Salt, of the Republic of Syldavia. The game began, and a flurry of points were added to each side, and after a few minutes, the score was 40-40. Carmichael started playing only a couple of feet from the net, surprising Salt, who hadn't anticipated this. Carmichael pressed home his subsequent advantage, and the game concluded Win-40 in favor of Carmichael.
The second game wasn't as lucky for Carmichael, as when he returned Salt's serve, the ball passed along the net, giving the first point to Salt. After this, Carmichael started trying to play close to the net again, but Salt was ready for this tactic, and he subsequently gained two more points, putting the score at 40-love in favor of Salt. Carmichael desperately tried to reach 40 himself, and he was able to reach 30, but Salt then served a decisive serve, winning the game.
The third game was a disaster for Carmichael. He missed ball after ball, and although he was able to return one ball, he missed the ball when it returned. He finally was able to get a point through, but it was only because it grazed Salt's racket as it passed on it's way to the outzone. Salt then returned a fast ball, which Carmichael again missed, causing the game to conclude 15-Win in favor of Salt.
In the next game, the match game, Carmichael did relatively better, but still, Salt characteristically out-played him, and the game ended after only 10 minutes, with a score of Win-30 in favor of Mikhael Salt, resulting in him winning the match 3 games out of 4, dropping Ross Carmichael out of the contest, and thus providing the opponent for Salazar in the next round of the International Tennis League.

That's all for now. Come back tomorrow morning to see the Republican Kingdom of Grand and Belluterra play the Federal Republic of Nuevo Rico. This is William White, signing off, and thank you for watching.

William White wrote:Here we are back again, to see what happened when our great Republican Kingdom of Grand and Belluterra took on the Federal Republic of Nuevo Rico. The two contestants were Russian-born Michael Strogoff, from Grand, and Red Valas, from Nuevo Rico. The match started with an awesome serve by Strogoff, which Red completely missed. He was luckier on subsequent tries, however, and they were soon tied 40-40. However, Strogoff quickly gained the advantage and defeated Valas.
Strogoff continued his luck with the subsequent game, and he totally wiped out Valas Win-15. Valas only got that point because one of Strogoff's returns touched the net as it passed.
However, his luck seemed like it had been worn out on the last game, because in the third game, Valas beat him Love-Win, in the fourth game Win-15, and in the fifth game, he, after a long battle with Strogoff which saw them Deuce 4-4 and 5-5 at different points, got the advantage over him and defeated him 5-Win.
Strogoff was getting desperate to win the next game, and so he did, after a game which resulted in a score of 30-Win. He also won the next game, which would've resulted in his opponent getting only one point, had he not foolishly decided to raise his racket to try to return a ball which was obviously going out. The ball only grazed the racket, and proceeded on its way out. The game ended minutes afterwards, Win-30. His victory in the next game, after a heavy battle which included in net-grazers on both sides, not to mention a tie at 40, which forced Strogoff to get the advantage over Valas and defeat him 40-Win, securing victory in the first set.

The second set began with a bang, as Valas gained point after point, and the score was soon Love-40. Strogoff was not to give up without a fight, however, and he soon evened the score to Deuce, 5-5, partially thanks to a netball from Valas. But Valas then surprised him with some fast balls, and he quickly gained advantage, and he pressed it home. 5-Win.
Strogoff decided to win the next game, and so he did, 15-Win. It would have been Love-Win, but he accidentally returned one ball a little too fast and too high. The ball flew to the reporter's box high in the grandstands, hitting my assistant in the head, and of course, the referee counted that as an OUT, giving the point to Valas.
Despite his decision to win the third game as well, he did not, as his opponent defeated him Win-15. He did win the fourth game, however, after a long game that resulted in him winning with an advantage, 40-Win.
He wasn't lucky at all in the rest of the games that set, with him hitting the net every other time on the next game, thus losing Win-40, and while Valas hit the net the next game, he still won 40-Win again, thus securing the second set for himself.

The match set began as a disaster for Strogoff, as he, despite playing extremely well, even going ahead of Valas at one point, and deucing him 4-4 at another, while his opponent seemed to have a chronic problem with faults and even a netball, lost to Valas Win-4.
He did even worse the next game, as he lost 15-Win, and he would have gotten love points in that game, had it not been for a netball from Valas.
Red Valas secured victory in the match in the final game, with a score of Win-30, partly aided by an out and two netballs from Strogoff. Michael Strogoff therefore became the first USNW citizen to drop out of the competition, while Red Valas advanced to the second round.

That's all for now. Come back tomorrow morning to see Linktoria play Andover. This is William White, and as I sign off, observe a minute of silence for my assistant. Thank you for watching.

William White wrote:...back to Tennis. Here we go. Good morning everyone. I'm sure all of you, especially the Linktorians and Andoverites, been wondering how the match between Eric Owens, from Linktoria, and John Van Ruit, from Andover, turned out. So, without further ado, here we go:
The first set of the match started out as expected. Owens quickly gained the upper hand, not surprising considering he comes from a country that is officialy nicknamed "The Athletic Country". Van Ruit played well against his opponent, but nevertheless lost Win-30 to his opponent.
Van Ruit fared even worse in the second game, despite being the server, and lost 15-Win to Owens. He also lost the third game of the set, again Win-30, ending the shortest set in ITL history, having lasted only 40 minutes, with a Linktorian win.

Eric continued his winning streak in the next set, with yet another Win-30 game. He did lose Win-40 to Van Ruit, however, in the second game of the set, after a heated battle that saw two faults, one netball, and an advantage by Van Ruit.
Eric avenged his loss in the subsequent game, and won yet ANOTHER Win-30 game, thanks to three netballs by Van Ruit, and despite a netball and an out of his own.
In the fourth and final game of the second set, Owens, characteristically won another 30-Win game, after a relatively long game which included an out on both sides and a netball by himself, securing victory in the second set as well.

Eric Owens seemed to be unstoppable as he breezed his way to yet another victory, uncharacteristically, a Win-15 game. He again won his fourth game in a row, after a long fight which resulted in a score of 40-Win, after his advantage was secured by Van Ruit's netball.
Van Ruit, knowing that he had tired out Owens in the previous game, played aggressively in the third game. He won, 15-Win. He again won in the subsequent game, despite two netballs from his side, Win-30. He yet again in the next game, although it was a heated and extremely long game, lasting 25 minutes, with deuces at 4-4, 5-5, 6-6, and 7-7, not to mention multiple advantages on both sides, and an out by Owens which cost him the game. The game concluded 7-Win in favor of Van Ruit, concluding the longest game in ITL history.
The game apparently exhausted Van Ruit just as the second game of the set had exhausted Owens, for Owens got another characteristic victory, 30-Win, despite two netballs, and partially thanks to an out by Van Ruit. It would be his last victory this set, as Van Ruit won two the subsequent games, 40-Win and Win-30, respectively.
Despite these victories, which secured the set for himself, John Van Ruit hadn't won the majority of the sets required to win the match. That distinction went to Eric Owens, who thus won the match, advancing him into the next round, where he will play Red Valas from Nuevo Rico.

That's all for now. Come back tomorrow to see the Kingdom of Waterbridge play the Republic of Karasem. This is William White, signing off, and thank you for watching.