Simona Bruetting (Highlands Ranch) and Susan Wright (Grand Junction) have been selected to represent the USA in the 34th ITF (International Tennis Federation) Senior World Team Championships in Boca Raton and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida. This prestigious international team event will be held April 21-26 and will be played on green clay. This event is the senior equivalent of Davis Cup and Fed Cup for players age 35, 40, 45, 50, and 55 and over.
Each Cup team consists of four players selected from the entire country, based on their USTA senior tournament results in 2013. There will be teams from around the globe, representing six continents. In 2013 the USA won the Maureen Connolly Cup (women 55+) and Maria Bueno Cup (women 50+). The USA finished second in the Austria Cup (men 55+), and Dubler Cup (men 45+) and third in the Suzanne Lenglen Cup (women 35+). The USA did not medal but finished 6th in the Margaret Court Cup (women 45+), 8th in the Young Cup (40+), 12th in the Italia Cup (men 35+), 13th in the Tony Trabert Cup (men 40+) and 7th in the Fred Perry Cup (men 50+). This event was held on red clay in Turkey in 2013.
Bruetting has been named to the Lenglen Cup team and has been selected as the playing captain. She will be playing on a Cup team for the first time. She won the 2013 35 Clay doubles with Lenglen Cup teammate Gee Gee Garvin (Carlsbad, CA) and the 2013 35 Hard singles and doubles titles. She was a singles finalist at the 2013 35 Clay and Indoors and a doubles finalist at the 2014 35 Clay. The Slovakian native was the Slovakian national champion in the 14, 16 and 18 and under divisions. She played college tennis at Louisiana University. Her teammates will be Garvin, Fanny Gamble (San Rafael, CA) and Yulia Bolotova (Philadelphia, PA). The Lenglen Cup will be played at Boca West Country Club in Boca Raton.
Wright was a junior star, and after a long hiatus, is now a senior star, ranking #1 in the world in 2013 in 55 doubles for the second straight year, and #1 in singles and doubles in the USA. She has begun 2014 in stellar fashion, winning the 55 Clay singles for the first time and the 55 doubles (with teammate Carolyn Nichols, Rancho Santa Fe, CA). Last year she won the 55 Clay (with Nichols), Hard and Grass doubles (with teammate Tina Karwasky, Glendale, CA) and the ITF World Championships (with Karwasky). In singles she was a finalist at the 2013 Clay and Grass and won the Hard. She found time to play Father/Daughter with Enver Mehmedbasich, winning the 80+ Clay in that division in 2013 and the 2014 Indoors in March. She will be inducted into the NorCal Tennis Hall of Fame in July. Wright was a member of the victorious Connolly Cup team in 2013. Her teammates are Nichols (playing captain), Karwasky and Diane Barker (Daniel Island, SC). The Connolly Cup will take place at the BallenIsles Country Club in Palm Beach Gardens.
Click here to see all USA players participating in the team events in Florida.
