New England Duo Reaches NTRP National Finals
SURPRISE, AZ - Just one week removed from an NTRP National Singles Title courtesy of New Hampshire’s Juana Luneau, New England boasted another near-perfect performance at NTRP Nationals. This time, the duo of John Holschlag and TJ Ostrander reached the finals at the Men’s 18 & Over 4.5 NTRP National Championships in Surprise, AZ from April 16-18.
Holschlag, of Rocky Hill, CT and Ostrander, who currently resides in North Providence, RI, have been best friends since high school.
“John and I work pretty well together because we’ve been best friends for so long that we can give each other the truth on the court without offending the other person,” Ostrander said. “We work well together because of John’s power from anywhere on the court and my play up at net.”
The former No. 1 and No. 2 singles players respectively at Bristol Central High School in Bristol, CT, Holschlag and Ostrander have found plenty of opportunities to compete together since graduating. They’ve played tournaments all across the country together, but NTRP Nationals was arguably their tallest task yet.
“This was probably the biggest stage we’ve had together. We just focused on each match, each point and sticking to our game plan,” Holschlag said.
The confident 28-year-olds approached the championship with a shared mindset - to win it all.
They battled at every juncture and faced each challenge head on, including recording a 4-0 record in tiebreaker sets.
The duo finished 2-0 to win their three-team flight and earn a trip to the Gold Bracket Playoffs.
“When we got down a break or into a tiebreak, we just reminded each other to play aggressive, high-percentage tennis. I was able to get a high-percentage of first serves in until the finals and both of us, especially TJ, did a very good job of closing the net once we had our opponents moving back on defense,” Holschlag said.
Following their impressive flight play, Holschlag and Ostrander received a quarterfinal bye to open the playoffs. They kept loose for the semis and rolled with a straight-set win (4-3, 4-2) against Chris Cato and Nadim Sultani of San Antonio, TX.
In good position for much of the finals match, their run finally came to an end after falling 2-4, 2-4 to the team of Matt Stevenson (San Antonio, TX) and Alan Trubow (Austin, TX).
John Holschlag and TJ Ostrander reached the finals at the Men’s 18 & Over 4.5 NTRP National Championships.
John Holschlag and TJ Ostrander reached the finals at the Men’s 18 & Over 4.5 NTRP National Championships.
TJ Ostrander hits a backhand at the NTRP National Championships.
John Holschlag connects on a return NTRP National Championships.
- John Holschlag and TJ Ostrander reached the finals at the Men’s 18 & Over 4.5 NTRP National Championships.
- John Holschlag and TJ Ostrander reached the finals at the Men’s 18 & Over 4.5 NTRP National Championships.
- TJ Ostrander hits a backhand at the NTRP National Championships.
- John Holschlag
“We were pretty confident that we would win the championship and we felt like that was in the cards even through most of the final,” Holschlag said. “We had a few too many loose points and unlucky environmental effects, but that’s just how the dominos fell.”
“John and I were pleased with how we competed. We always came away from a match saying we as a team hadn’t played our best tennis yet,” Ostrander said. “We expected to win the championship when showing up and knew if we played to our top level we could win it. We are happy to have made it to the final, but we expected to win. We left a little disappointed and are hoping to finish the job next year.”
When Ostrander and Holschlag aren’t competing together, they both happen to work in tennis. Ostrander is currently the Boys’ Varsity Coach at Foxborough High School in Foxborough, MA and just started a position teaching at Agawam Hunt Country Club in East Providence, RI. He previously worked at Wimbledon 109 in Walpole, MA for the past four years.
Holschlag is a PTR-certified professional who has taught at a number of clubs and resorts. He recently transitioned to a career in accounting but still works with junior tournament players on the side.
New England also sent four other doubles teams to the NTRP National Championships both in Surprise and in San Diego, CA for the 50 & Over championship.
Anees Ghosh (Shrewsbury, MA) and Nicholas Petmezis (Worcester, MA) finished 3-0 in Men’s 18 & Over 3.5 flight play to advance to the Gold Bracket Playoffs. They fell in the quarterfinals, 1-4, 4-0, 3-4.
Juana Luneau (New Boston, NH) and Lisa Linder (Brookline, NH), finished 2-1 in flight play and in 8th place overall in the Women’s 18 & Over 4.0 division.
Andre Cristopher (Salem, NH) and Ravi Lakshmikanthan (Nashua, NH) went 1-2 in flight play in the Men’s 18 & OVer 4.0 division.
Lisa Foley (Peterborough, NH) and Sandra Harrington (Sharon, NH) finished 0-3 in flight play in the Women’s 50 & Over 4.0 division.
For complete NTRP Championship results, click below:
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