Tribler, Maatta back for more

Jan Tribler and Mikael Maatta finally won the Blue Moon Men’s Night Doubles last year in their fifth trip to the finals.

Next mission: Defend.

Tribler, 34, and Maatta, 36, open defense of their Blue Moon Men’s Night Doubles championship today at Kailua Racquet Club.

The two Scandinavians, who came here more than 10 years ago to play tennis at Hawaii Pacific, have played in five of the past six Night Doubles finals. Winning the 2011 title brought utter elation, and relief.

"It’s the only time of year that we play when it means something," Maatta says about the KRC event, now in its 42nd year. "There are people around. There are a few other tournaments, but there you sense this fun feeling so you want to perform better. It’s tough to motivate yourself otherwise."

"And," interjects Tribler, "we knew we had to win sometime."

The amiable teammates, who have worked for Wealth Strategy Partners’ comprehensive financial planning the past five years, have been celebrating all year. They don’t exactly train. Two weeks of practice together, combined with dedicated workouts, a diet that grows more nutritious by the year and lots of squash — the sport not the vegetable — have taken them to all those finals. There are better tennis players here, but there may not have been a better team over the past seven years.

The popularity of Blue Moon Night Doubles — more than 50 teams play and KRC draws some 7,000 spectators over the two weeks — inspired the USTA Hawaii section last year to start what is now called the Mann Mortgage Triple Crown of Tennis Men’s Doubles Series.

Tribler and Maatta won all three stops last year, and the wild card into the $50,000 Honolulu Challenger that came with it.

They won the first stop this year, at the University of Hawaii. Their monopoly was broken up when Tribler took a work trip during this month’s Oahu Club Men’s Night Doubles. Maatta was fourth with Gregg Takata.

HPU coach Hendrik Bode and UH volunteer coach Ikaika Jobe — now studying for his bar exam — won at Oahu Club and took second at UH. They are seeded third this week, with Wei-Yu Su and Minh Le second. Su and Le beat Tribler and Maatta in the 2006, ’07 and ’08 Blue Moon finals.

The following year, Jobe and Dennis Lajola outlasted Tribler and Maatta in a third-set tiebreaker. Maatta had knee surgery in 2010 and didn’t play, as Lajola and Jobe successfully defended against Su and Le.

There is something about the style of Tribler, the terminator from Copenhagen, and Maatta, the Swedish set-up artist, that simply works. They don’t see their success ending any time soon.

"There’s too many distractions for the younger kids," Maatta says. "Kids that are 16, 17, 18 should be breathing down our necks. We’re happy that they don’t, though."

Both offer reasons their partnership has worked so seamlessly. They know each other’s games instinctively now, after playing together since their last two college seasons. They also are still among the best at simply getting to the ball. When they do, they know precisely where to put it, and where the other guy will put it.

"Mika has his (service) returns and makes opponents keep hitting," Tribler says. "He makes a lot of awkward shots … when you see him play it doesn’t look good, but it’s very difficult to play against because you can’t predict where the ball is going. He lobs, hits it at your feet. It’s better than just banging the ball."

Tribler terminates, but with unusual precision.

"He finishes the ball," Maatta says. "I like to set up the points and watch him finish. When he doesn’t, I go ‘What?’ "

The final is Saturday and matches are played every night from 6. Thursday is saved as a rain date.