Sigonella’s Charlize Caro serves during a girls singles semifinal match against Vicenza’s Delia Gordon during the DODEA European tennis championships on Oct. 20, 2023, at T2 Sports Health Club in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)
WIESBADEN, Germany – Jace Martin couldn’t believe how long his semifinal match against Vicenza’s Sam Grady lasted.
The second seed out of Kaiserslautern and the fourth seed went nearly three hours on the court at T2 Sports Health Club during the second day of the DODEA European tennis championships on Friday afternoon. Martin and Grady were one of the first singles semifinals boys or girls to start and kept playing hours after the others had ended.
By the end of the grueling match, Martin came out on top, 7-5, 3-6, 6-2, to advance to Saturday’s boys singles title.
“Most happy I’ve ever been playing tennis, really,” Martin said of the match. “I definitely had to fight for it. My opponent was good, but happy I came out on top.”
It had it all: long rallies, contentious calls, injury timeouts, games that lasted forever – you name it. The drama started from the start and didn’t seem to let up until the end, even after Martin pulled away.
The duo threw everything they had at each other. One rally included them hitting the ball back and forth at the net without the ball hitting the ground until Martin managed to smack it past Grady.
“It was pretty evenly matched,” Grady said. “We had a lot of tight points, rallies that seemed to go on forever. It was a fun match playing him.”
The Vicenza ace, who took third at last year’s European championships in doubles, was coming off a match against top-seeded Tristan Chandler, taking the first game of the tourney against the Ramstein star.
And he seemed like he might be on the road to a rematch early in the third set, taking the first game. Martin responded by winning the next game on his serve and then broke Grady’s serve to take a 2-1 lead, which he didn’t relinquish.
Not that he pulled away easily. In fact, Grady led the sixth game 40-15 while trailing 3-2. Martin turned it around, however, forcing deuce before serving himself a two-game advantage.
He didn’t lose another game after that.
“It was definitely very, very intense,” Martin said. “I’ve never really had to play so engaged before. Really, it was tough.”
Kaiserslautern’s Jace Martin serves during a boys singles semifinal match against Vicenza’s Sam Grady during the DODEA European tennis championships on Oct. 20, 2023, at T2 Sports Health Club in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)
Vicenza’s Sam Grady goes low to get a ball in a boys singles semifinal match against Kaiserslautern’s Jace Martin during the DODEA European tennis championships on Oct. 20, 2023, at T2 Sports Health Club in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)
Ramstein’s Tristan Chandler watches his serve as it crosses the net in a boys semifinal match against SHAPE’s Alejandro Cuesta during the DODEA European tennis championships on Oct. 20, 2023, at T2 Sports Health Club in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)
SHAPE’s Alejandro Cuesta hits the the ball back to Ramstein’s Tristan Chandler in a boys singles semifinal match during the DODEA European tennis championships on Oct. 20, 2023, at T2 Sports Health Club in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)
Grady had to tough out a cramp that sprang up during the second set and stopped the match multiple times for him to get treatment. He received plenty of fluids, bananas and even was massaged to finish out the match.
The Cougar said he will be making sure to take care of his body before Saturday’s third-place match vs. SHAPE’s Alejandro Cuesta.
“I’m going to eat a burger, get some sleep and come back hungry tomorrow,” Grady said.
Another player fighting through an injury was Sigonella’s Charlize Caro.
The junior Jaguar, who was a semifinalist last fall and made the finals in the South split of the European championships her freshman campaign, has struggled with a blister on her dominant right hand. The pain was so much she shied away from using her forehand on the first day of action.
“This entire tournament, I can’t really play to my full potential,” Caro said. “I’ve just been wrapping and putting a bunch of antibiotics and stuff on it.”
If getting the finals after going undefeated in pool play and beating fourth-seed Delia Gordon of Vicenza 6-0, 6-1 in the semifinals isn’t her full potential, that could be a scary thought for most of DODEA-Europe.
In the match with Gordon, Caro used her serve to her advantage, and she showed a willingness to attack using both the forehand and backhand, although she still favored the latter. She almost pulled off a clean sweep, as Gordon managed to take the penultimate game of the match.
Caro’s win continued the business-as-usual feel to the girls tournament. The top four seeds – Kaiserslautern’s Stella Schmitz, Caro, Stuttgart’s Isabel Williams and Gordon – reached the semis and the top two in Schmitz and Caro advanced to Saturday’s final.
“In the end, we all fought hard to get to where we are,” Caro said.
In the final, Caro faces a tall task against Schmitz, who has not lost in either doubles (as a freshman) or in singles (the past two seasons). Not that Caro will enter the match thinking it’s over.
“Hopefully, I won’t make another blister,” Caro said. “But I’ll play how I usually play and put my whole heart into it.”
It’s a mentality Martin is taking into his final with Chandler. The two know each other well, and Chandler is the two-time defending boys singles winner. So Martin said he understands the tall task he faces.
“It’s Tristan,” Martin said. “He’s the reining champ. It’s going to be a really hard match, but I think I can do it.”
Kaiserslautern’s Stella Schmitz prepares to hit a ball during her girls singles semifinal match against Stuttgart’s Isabel Williams during the DODEA European tennis championships on Oct. 20, 2023, at T2 Sports Health Club in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)
Vicenza’s Sarah Gordon prepares to hit the ball during her girls singles semifinal match against Sigonella’s Charlize Caro during the DODEA European tennis championships on Oct. 20, 2023, at T2 Sports Health Club in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)
DODEA-Europe Tennis Championships
Friday at Wiesbaden, Germany
Boys
Singles
Pool A
Tristan Chandler (Ramstein) def. Cameron Holloway (Vilseck) 8-0; Sam Grady (Vicenza) def. Ethan Na (Wiesbaden), Na def. Owen Watts (Spangdahlem); Chandler def. Sam Grady (Vicenza) 8-1; Ja’Cori Thomas (Bahrain) def. Elham Aziri (Brussels) 8-1; Cameron Holloway (Vilseck def. Owen Watts (Spangdahlem) 8-1.
Pool B
Jace Martin (Kaiserslautern) def. Elham Aziri (Brussels) 8-3; Alejandro Cuesta (SHAPE) def. Hudson Hulet (Spangdahlem) 8-0; Ja’Cori Thomas (Bahrain) def. Hulet 8-1; Martin def. Cuesta 8-3; Thomas (Bahrain) def. Aziri 8-1.
Semifinals
Chandler def. Cuesta 6-0, 6-0, Martin def. Grady 7-5, 3-6, 6-2
Championship (Saturday)
Chandler vs. Martin
Girls
Singles
Pool A
Emma Singletary (Ramstein) def. Riley Thomas (Brussels) 8-1; Stella Schmitz (Kaiserslautern) def. Delia Gordon (Vicenza) 8-0; Meredith Maxwell (Ansbach) def. Singletary 8-0.
Pool B
Zoe Crawford (Vilseck) def. Georgia Bourzi (SHAPE) 8-4; Charlize Caro (Sigonella) def. Isabel Williams (Stuttgart) 8-5; Liliana Stutzman (Naples) def. Bourzi 8-1.
Semifinals
Schmitz def. Williams 6-0, 6-0, Caro def. Gordon 6-0, 6-1.
Championship (Saturday)
Schmitz vs. Caro.
Bahrain’s Ja’Cori Thomas stretches out for a ball during a pool-play match against Brussels’ Elham Aziri during the DODEA European tennis championships on Oct. 20, 2023, at T2 Sports Health Club in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)
Ansbach’s Meredith Maxwell serves during pool-play action against Ramstein’s Emma Singletary during the DODEA European tennis championships on Oct. 20, 2023, at T2 Sports Health Club in Wiesbaden, Germany. (Matt Wagner/Stars and Stripes)