Eastern 4.0 team reaches final at 2025 USTA League National Championships

After Jon Ciangiulli's 18 & Over 4.0 men’s team lost 1-4 to USTA Florida in their second round robin match at the 2025 USTA National League Championships—held October 10-12 in San Diego—he went to bed and had a nightmare. In the dream, Ciangiulli was floating aimlessly down a toxic river in a canoe. To save himself from a deadly outcome, he needed to reach over and ‘grab the chin’ of a sumo wrestler who was also drifting down the river. 

“The dream made absolutely no sense,” said Ahmad Amin, the team’s captain. “But for the rest of the weekend, any time someone was in trouble [in a match], the rallying cry became ‘Grab 'em by the chin!’”

As far as rallying cries go, this one was pretty effective. Post-Florida defeat, the Eastern squad put on a clinic, claiming nine of their next ten courts to notch match wins over contingents from USTA Northern and USTA Southwest. (The 18 & Over 4.0 division plays two singles courts and three doubles courts per match.) The only court they subsequently surrendered extended to a third-set match tiebreak.

“Florida was a tough match, just as we expected, and their players were amazing,” Amin said, explaining how he and his teammates were able to regroup. “But we felt like a few key points could've changed the outcome. Because of the draw, we also knew the loss to Florida didn't mean we were out. So we focused on taking as many courts as possible in our remaining matches. That helped us process the loss and refocus quickly.”

It was perhaps that intensity of competition at the local level that helped them eventually lift the finalist trophy on the national stage. They were well-prepared in moments of adversity to, one might say, grab ‘em by the chin.

“It all feels unreal,” Amin said. “Coming in, I believed we had a great chance to make it to Sunday because I know how hard these guys have worked to get here and how good they are. I wasn't surprised by the result as much as I was impressed by how well everyone performed. Everyone showed up and raised their level. Now that we're home, we're proud of how far we made it.”