Today Dad and I played the semis of the father/daughter in the 80+ division (the dads have to be 80 by Dec 31st). Dad is 89 so he qualifies. 🙂 We are playing on hard courts.
We played Jodi Neuman-Rea and Don Neuman. They are good and we actually played them years ago in the 70+ division (super seniors) in the final when we won our first father/daughter title, in three sets.
Today we won again, this time 64 62. The first set was very tight; they won two epic games after we went up 2/0 and we were tied at 4-4 but down 15-40 on Jodi’s serve. We managed to dig out of that hole and I served out the set. We were down 2/1 in the second set and Dad thought we were up 2/1. He was serving next so he decided we needed to win that game. We did and rolled on from there. Dad volleyed like a 60 year old today, hitting winners (and lines) right and left. I think I could have gotten out a rocking chair and taken a nap and no one would have noticed!
Tomorrow we have another tough one, Susan Wright and Enver Mehmedbasich. They had a tussle today but won in straight sets.
Watching the different age divisions in the father/daughter is really interesting; in the open the fathers are generally the stronger players and really cover the court and it’s a lot like traditional mixed doubles with a family component thrown in. Usually the teams with a college age daughter and a good father are the top contenders.
In the seniors the fathers and daughters tend to be more equal, and those seem to be the best teams.
Roles start to reverse in the super seniors, where the daughters have the better mobility but the better dads are really good doubles players.
In the 80s, the daughters are the better movers and stronger players in general.
There are no age divisions in the mother/son, only open. The teams in the final both have college age sons and the mothers are excellent players too.
Carolyn Dadian Bernhardt and her son play Lisa Namu (Seeman) and her son Miles Seeman for the mother/son final; the Dadians upset the #2 seeded Stanleys (Ann and her son) in three sets.
In Senior father/daughter, the Morse Karzens advanced to the final against Hannah and John Holliday from La Jolla. The Martins upset last years’ champions Bill and Tiffany Kellogg in a hard fought three-setter.
The Super Senior Father/Daughter pits the defending champs, Herm Ahlers/Krista O’Connor against the Ouwendijks, who upset the #2 seeds today.
The open father/daughter Greg/Jessica Failla will take on the top seeds Greg and Shene Disbergen from Fort Lauderdale in the final. The Disbergens had to go to a third set tiebreak to take out the Changs, while the Faillas have rolled so far.
Draws: https://m.tennislink.usta.com/TournamentHome/tournament.aspx?t=141759