I played my final tournament match in Barcelona last night. I had the “early” start time of 6pm, and we started right on time. I played Carmen Chilleda-Belzunce and played well to win. I played on a sunny day on an East/West facing court and it was tough to see on the side facing West!
After winning the singles, I watches several matches and had dinner. I watched a few games of the 60 singles final between American Veronica Lima De Angelis and Giovanna Tortorella of Italy. Tortorella is a very good player…smooth, accurate strokes and good anticipation. That match went pretty quickly, in contrast to the one between 55s players Sophie Orsini (FRA) and Elisabetta Morici (ITA). Orsini was the more expressive of the two, and she started the match very frustrated, losing the opening set 60…Orsini though found her range on drop shots and steadied her shots from the baseline to finish the mach 64 63. Both players have loopy western forehands, but Orsini has both a slice and two-handed backhand; Morici has a very good one-hander.
I finished the evening watching Lisa play mixed…it was a good match though tough to see the ball, especially high balls, under the lights…both guys had great forehands; the opposing woman had good court sense and cutaway volleys, and there were far more winners than errors. I finally tried one of the crepes being sold at a food truck and it was very good (goat cheese, spinach and walnuts in case you were wondering). The match finished within 30 minutes of the end time for sporting events due to the curfew. Susana Amelia Diaz and Ramzi Shuaibi-Morales won 64 63 over Lisa and Martin. I ran for the tram after the match finished (and made it).
No Ad for doubles (not that anyone paid attention!)
Last night we were scheduled for doubles at 9pm but our match went on about 15 minutes early.. I was scouting my singles opponent for tonight…their (not before) 7:30 pm match started around 8:30, so I didn’t get to see much before doubles. Kim Reed and I played a decent team, the #1 seed in 60 singles and her partner. We had some nice points but won 62 61. Playing under the lights was a bit challenging, though the lights are decent. As we were warming up an official came out to tell us the scoring for doubles had changed to no-ad and a 10 point Match Tiebreak for a third set due to the new curfew (of 1am).
Kim is to my right above and our opponents are on either side of us. Kim just switched racquets and as it turns out we play with the same Volkl model, the V Cell 4. We play rather similarly so that makes sense.
After we finished and took photos, it turns out the match I was scouting (which was on an adjacent court) was till ongoing. Carmen Chillidea-Belzunce, who I play tonight, won the first set 60 before it got dark, but the second set was turning into quite a battle. She was playing Mireia de Gispert Talavera who I played Monday night. Mireia was playing a lot of high topspin balls and coming to net behind some of them, pretty successfully, and pounding some two-handed backhands to good effect. She held off some match points at 5-6 and got the match into a tiebreak, which was even to 3-3…then Mireia stopped hitting high balls and lost four straight points and the match. Carmen stayed pretty calm to finish out the win.
This morning I practiced again with Lisa for about an hour, then took the tram back to the hotel. Just before we started the club had all the kids from the camp on our court to take a photo…there are a lot of them of all ages, from about 3 years to teenagers. She plays mixed not before 10pm. It’s not bad playing at 6 and even 8:45 wasn’t terrible, at least it was light during warm up, but 10pm is tough!
I had a pretty easy semi today. The woman I played, Corrine Franoux (France) had a three hour semi yesterday and a two hour match the day before and fit as she was, it slowed her down a bit. I won 60 60. Her running was good but her technique let her down. I play Jutta Boekmann in the final. She had a two hour match with the #3 seed, Sylvia Lievers-Kronenburg. I warmed up with Sylvia this morning and did think they would have a good match. It was punch (Sylvia)/counterpunch (Jutta), and Jutta in particular made very good use of the drop shot, and anticipated Sylvia’s responses well.
Corrine and Carolyn
The weather looks iffy tomorrow…hopefully we’ll get to play on clay and not indoors on carpet (or I will have to get carpet shoes, which have smooth soles).
Jutta and I also will play doubles tomorrow, assuming out opponents get their match in later this afternoon…the forecast apparently is dire.
Heide Orth lost her final today to Barbara Von Ende 62 63…my warmup must not have been good enough today. Von Ende though gets a lot of balls back and is very fit (as is Heide).
I ran errands early, grocery stores and picked up my newly strung racquet.
I went to a Rewe, a supermarket chain here. I found more of the colored German eggs. I read about them yesterday and found out they are boiled eggs “Brotzeit Eier”. They used to be available only at Easter but now are available year round. I also found more chocolate and some water, with and without bubbles. I also got some German rolls. I know France is famous for its baguettes but to me, the bread in Germany is unsurpassed. There’s lots of whole grain rolls with nuts and seeds, and they are reasonably priced and delicious.
Next I went to Aldi. Aldi also owns Trader Joe’s, and had several items sold under the Trader Joe’s name, including peanut butter and pistachios. I found pfifferlings (a type of mushroom, chanterelles in the USA) there (they will make an excellent addition to a pasta dish.)
At both Aldi and Rewe they had a sign “Kundenparkplatz” and either 1 or 1.5 std. “maximal parkdauer”. It means you have to display this device on your dashboard (every car comes with one), with the time set to hour you left the car, or you can be towed.
After picking up my racquet and a can of balls (12.5 euros for 4 balls…about $15 a can!), I had lunch. Of course I had to try one of the colored eggs (which of course were not refrigerated). It was surprisingly delicious, perfectly cooked.
I practiced a bit in the afternoon with Dagy Spernader for an hour or so, and it was raining most of the time. After that Heide Orth and Heidi Eisterlehner arrived and we joined Dagy and Sabine and a few others to catch up. I think I am warming up both Heide and Heidi tomorrow and also hitting with Dagy and Sabine!
Saturday was the calm after the storm…and it was a big one last night, complete with thunder, lightning, pouring rain, downed trees and power outages. I was lucky…we had flickering lights a few times but no power outages…but other parts of Austin are still without power. And it was hot today…upper 80s but feeling like low 90s with the humidity. But the predicted thunderstorms and rain bypassed Austin today and we had sunshine, scattered clouds and lots of tennis.
I finally started my tournament, winning my 65 singles match (I am into the final against Mary Morgan, who took out Pam Simmons, the #2 seed in two close sets), and with Jenny Klitch, winning the 50 doubles semis, putting us into the final.
Jenny also won her singles, doubles and mixed today, dropping only a pair of games in mixed and none in singles. Her brother Tim is in the 60 singles semis as are the other top 4 seeds, including #1 Peter Markes. In doubles Tim Klitch and J Trammel lost an entertaining match to the very good #2 seeds, Schultz/Weiner in three sets; the winners face Scott Works/Kelly Ward in the final.
Tomorrow promises to be a really busy day, especially for Jenny…we both have singles finals, followed by 50 doubles, then 55 doubles, then for Jenny, mixed.
Kaysie Smashey, W40 and Nancy Hilliard, W50, were off to winning starts today. There are a couple of excellent players in the W35, Karoukina and Alina Mihailescu. They play the final tomorrow. Smashey/Julie Thu play the W35 doubles final too.
In men’s 50, Gary Nadebaum (2) and Eoin Collins (1) are in the semis and on a collision course. Other familiar names are Hugh Burris (M70), and Jerry Thomas (M75); Hugh Thompson and Thomas are also in the 75 doubles.
Julie Thu (with TD Frank Kelly) with her 2020 and 2021 Winners plates (dinner for 2) for winning the 45 singles; Kelly and Kaysie Smashey; Shelly Works/Rainy Miller (photo by Julie Thu); Jenny Klitch and me (photo by Julie Thu) and Klitch/Smashey
Today the Women’s 50-80 Hard Courts , the first seniors Level 1 of 2021 began on a cool day in La Jolla, CA. (The accompanying Men’s Level 5 began yesterday).
No singles seeds played today in the 50/70/80 divisions but there were four seeds in action in the 60s. #5 seed Jennifer Shorr fought off a determined Ann Young (Pellow), winning a pair of tiebreaks to advance to the round of 16 where she faces Tina Karwasky, her doubles partner this week, for the 2nd time in a month.
In 50 doubles, Amy Alcini/Christen Bartelt upset #5 seeded Shelly Works/Rainy Miller in a round robin match. #5 seeds Julie Silveira/Mary Beth Williams just got by Lisa Crisafulli/Brianna Sullivan 2-6 60 1/0 (12). [Match tiebreaks are being played in lieu of 3rd sets in doubles due to the number of matches in the round robins.] Jodi Rea/Christine Paulsen upset #5 seeded Lisa Taylor/Krista Oconnor. However the 1-4 seeds advanced without incident.
In the 60s, Sue Pendo/Julie Juliani beat #5 Cindy Abel/Kim Dean in a match tiebreak. Kathy May made a sterling return to tournament play, combining with Carolyn Lane to oust Fiona Taylor/Sue Sprague with the loss of only a game.
There were no upsets in the 70 doubles.
And that’s a wrap for today. I play singles tomorrow morning…
On another 100 degree day I played a long singles match against Jennifer Shorr…whom I have played several times in NorCal tournaments but not for about 20 years or so. She still has a big serve (and I still do not), but I put a lot of balls back in play and managed to overcome a set point in the first set and win 76 (3) 62. We finished just before 1pm…out doubles final was scheduled at 12:45…but after about a 75 minute break Robin Harris and I took on Tina Karwasky and her third doubles partner of the week, Ann Stanley (Una Davis (back) and DeeWillams-Horne (heat) recused themselves). Ann played well; she’s had a couple of hip surgeries (that’s senior tennis for you) and is moving better and out of pain. We came back from 3-5 down in the first to win 75 60. It was around 100 when we finished.
103! Temperature after we finished doubles.
Yes, it was hot when we finished! 103
Carolyn, Shorr, Tournament DirectorCarolyn, Robin, Tina, Ann
Kathy Barnes won the 70 singles over her doubles partner, Carol Gay. Then they played Kathy Bennett/Liane Bryson in the doubles final. Bennett/Bryson won in three sets. Bryson is also in the mixed final with Frank Zebot. They will take on William-Horne/Tom Rettenmaier in the final. The latter team had a long 3-set battle with Brent Abel/Ann Stanley to reach the final.
Susan Wright beat Terri Thyssen in the 60 singles final 62 63. The second set was a tussle; Susan led 3/0 but Thyssen, a quick mover with a very good backhand kept fighting. Susan has a great backhand of her own though and makes few errors…she closed out the match and added the singles title to the doubles title she earned on Thursday. She was going for the trifecta (singles/doubles/mixed) with Kurt Chan against Jonathon Fears/Shannon Gordon Carney, but the latter team were too tough in the final and took the gold ball in straight sets. Cindy Abel/Joseph Kennedy won the bronze.
In men’s 60s, Bill Moss edged local star Mike Fedderly, 64 75 to win the title in a repeat of the Pacific SW final they played in September. Ross Hessler/Glenn Petrovic, (5) continued their fine run, beating Mike Tammen/Mike Megale (4) in straight sets to win the 60 doubles title.
Wendell Pierce, unseeded (what a great comeback story!) will face Toby Crabel (1) in the men’s 65 final. Crabel beat Bruce Nichols to reach the final while Pierce advanced by default over Andrew Stanley. In doubles, it will be #1 vs #2, as Crabel/Tim Garcia (1) take on Doug Ditmer/Stanley (2) today (Saturday).
The men’s 70s semis were both excellent battles. Paul Wulf (1) took on Bob Litwin (3)…it was just a great match. The accuracy of each player’s shots was amazing as the ball seemed to nestle inside just inside a line on each shot and points were won, not lost. Wulf prevailed 76 57 64 in over three hours. Wulf’s doubles partner Lenny Wofford (4) beat Phil Landauer (unseeded) in three sets. Wofford won the title when Wulf withdrew from the final. In doubles, Wofford/Wulf (1) beat Litwin/Brian Cheney (3) in straight sets as did Mike Talmadge/Zebot (4) over Bill Hahn/Rettenmaier (5). The doubles final is this morning.
In men’s 75, Don Clark (9) edged Roger North (5) in a match tiebreak (10-1) and Felix Ponte (5) beat #2 MichaelStewart in straight sets. Clark has an unusual style but moves great and the ball keeps coming back. In doubles, Ken Robinson/Chuck White (3) edged Dean Corley/Stewart (1) 76 76. Dave Van den Berg/Les Buck (2) beat Gary Doi/Tad Yukawa 75 61. In mixed, it will be #1 vs #2, with Corley/Suella Steel (1) taking on Andi Polisky/John Popplewell (2).
In men’s 80s, William Wolff (1) advanced to play Randy Mellinger (unseeded); Mellinger edged L Hill Griffin 62 67 10(4) while Wolff beat #3 Wilbur Jones in straight sets. In doubles, both semis were decided by match tiebreaks; Wolff/Jones (1) beat Robert Jones/Stephen Rothenberg while Thomas Brunkow/Dick Landenberger upset Bob Quall/Bennet Serkin (2).
In men’s 85, Herm Ahlers (1) will face unseeded Walter Steige this morning in the final Steige beat Jack Sanders (2) in the semis in straight sets.
We’ll start with women’s 65s today. I won my match against Andrea Barnes. We had not played singles in a tournament for decades; it was a very pleasant match, I played well and won in straight sets. Tina Karwasky, who I don’t think has ever lost a singles match in the Desert in her age division, took on Jennifer Shorr who has the biggest serve in the 65s, a fluid easy motion with lots of power (first serve) and lots of spin (2nd serve) plus nice touch to go with groundstroke power. She edged Tina 64 76 (5). Both players used power plus drop shots throughout the match. I take on Shorr at 9:45 tomorrow morning.
In doubles, Ann Stanley, Tina’s third doubles partner since the draw was initially made, and Tina won their doubles semis decisively; Robin Harris and I struggled against and inspired team, Julie David and Betsy and rallied from 41 down in the first and a break down in the 2nd to win 76 (3) 64. We played around 2pm and it was mighty warm…the match lasted about 2.5 hours.
In the 60s, Susan Wright edged Tracey Thompson in the first set 76, and then played a flawless 2nd set, winning 62. She plays #4 seed Terri Thyssen who overcame cramps to win 61 in the third. Susan with Shannon Gordon Carney, won the doubles over Shelley Goodson/Kellie Jacquez. Susan teamed with Kurt Chan to reach the mixed final against Shannon and Jonathon Fears.
Carol Gay and Kathy Barnes will vie for the W70s singles title tomorrow; Barnes/Gay reached the doubles final in an upset over the #2 seeds and take on Liane Bryson/Kathy Bennett in the final. Both semis were 3 sets.
In men’s action: 60s: Bill Moss will take on Mike Fedderly, #1 vs #2. Fedderly fought off a determined Peter Markes in the semis 64 64. It was a long, fierce battle. In doubles, Tammen/Megale take on Hessler/Petrovic in the final.
Bill Moss
In the 65s, the 1, 3 & 4 seeds are joined by Wendell Pierce, who again beat a seed to reach the semis. He’ll take on Andrew Stanley in the semis, while #1 Tony Crabel takes on Nichols (no relation). In doubles, the top 2 seeds advanced and each plays and unseeded team in the semis.
Wendell Pierce
In the 70s, Dave Sivertson got injured against his doubles partner, Phil Landauer at 5-4 for Dave in the first set and retired; they also had to default their doubles. so Phil plays Lenny Wofford (4) while Bob Litwin (3) takes on Paul Wulf (2); Wulf played flawlessly to beat Wesley Jackson 60 60.
In 70 doubles, the 1, 3 & 4 seeds advanced with Hahn/Rettenmeier advancing when Landauer/Sivertson had to default.
In men’s 75s, the #1 (Les Buck) and #3 (Dave Van Den Berg) seeds retired down a set yesterday; Michael Stewart (2) will face Felix Ponte (5) in one semi while Donald Clark (9) takes on Roger North (5). In contrast to the singles, the 1-4 seeded teams all reached their predicted spots in the draw.
Starting today with Men’s 65: Wendell Pierce, who went from a top 45s and 55s player as a righty, and and a decent but not world beating player after an injury required him to play lefty, is back playing right handed. He best a #9 seeded player yesterday but today took on the #2 seed, Tim Garcia and edged him 63 57 75. He’ll take on #9 Dane Petchul tomorrow..Petchull took out #5 Rollin Rhone today. Mike Lamble (9) advanced when Larry Loeb retired with an injury, 46 1:0. The remaining seeds advanced to their predicted spots.
It was another hot day in the Desert, upper 90s and sunny most of the day and calm. The heat combined with the long gap between tournaments led to several retirements due to illness. However, given the draw sizes, that was to be expected.
I played at the Palm Valley Country Club at 8am when it was still pretty cool and it was calm. I played Natasha Volovik from Marin County and won; I play Andrea Barnes who also won convincingly. She’s an excellent player, it should be a good battle tomorrow. Tina Karwasky plays Jennifer Shorr on the other side of the draw. This tournament apparently trusts the players a lot…there are no referees of any sort at the ancillary sites, no one to measure the nets and no singles sticks (yes, of course I had some in my tennis bag…and used them).
Men’s Singles Results
Jeff Greenwald won men’s 50 in straights over Dana Gill.
Peter Smith (2) won the 55s in 3 sets over Dan Goldie.
In the 60s, Alex Piers, unseeded, advanced to the semis. Fedderly (2) dropped the first set, won the 2nd when his opponent retired.
The Jenkins , Gary and Logan (I have no idea if they are related) had different fates today in M70s. Logan (5) fell to Phil Landauer (a sleeper for sure) in 3 sets while Gary (9) took out Brian Cheney (5) in 2 close sets.
In M75, Hans Weber beat #3 Dave Van Den Berg 75 retired.
Women’s Singles
In the 60s, #2 seed Shannon Gordon Carney was up by a set and 1:0 against Dorian Sailer when she had to retire due to illness. She recovered sufficotonplsy and win in 60 doubles with Susan Wright.
Kathy Barnes and Carol Gay, the top seeds in the 70s, advanced to the semis.
Caroline Vis and Oren Motevassel beat Tracie Currie and Pat Crow in three sets to win the gold ball in 50 mixed. The Settles, Paul and Kathy, took bronze by default over the McBrides.
Many of the doubles results haven’t posted yet. Check the link above for later results. I did watch one match in M70s, my cousin Don Beer played and won a marathon 75 in the third (coming back from 3/0 down in the third) over at Palm Valley. They play Wulf/Wofford in the quarter; Brent Abel won too in doubles.
I ran into Mai Ichikawa Abel who was watching Brent play. Always nice to see old friends.
The first Level 2/ITF S700 and Level 1 Mixed since early last March began Thursday in Palm Desert (just east of Palm Springs) in the California Desert. Summer landed as well…it was over 100 today (about 38 Celsius) with bright sunny skies.
The tournament began with the 35s, 40s and 45s, moving on to the 50s yesterday and the 55s today.
The main venue is at Shadow Mountain Resort in Palm Desert but there are several other venues in the area being used.
I practiced in the morning (I don’t play till Wednesday) before visiting my parents and cooking Easter lunch (happy Easter everyone!). It was nice at 8:30, but noticeably warmer, in the 90s by 10. It’s a dry heat but once it hits 100, it’s hot, especially on hard courts where the concrete absorbs and reflects the heat upwards.
I went over to check in for the tournament and ran into most of my recent practice partners, who had mostly had a successful day on court.
Lisa Traylor/Krista Oconnor Jenny Rens Keller, Christina Kaus, Maria NunezMen’s Doubles at Shadow Mountain
Despite issues with the USTA website, the seeders did a great job seeding this event, with very few upsets. Below is a quick overview of the action to date.
In the mixed 50, which is a Level 1, Bozeman/Mills took out #5 seeded Carruth/Heroux in 3 sets to reach the quarter; the other 7 seeds advanced in straight sets.
In 35 mixed O’Neil/Robertson took out the #1 and #2 seeds, both in close matches to win the tournament.
Men’s Singles
The top two seeds, Trent Aaron/Hiromi Sasano (2)will take on Henry/Pang (1) in the 40 mixed final.
Stephen Robertson (1) beat SanadRasheed (2) to win the 35 singles
In the 40 singles, Rob Condiotty edged #4 Marin Parker’s to reach the semis along with JR Chidley, Shibu Lal and Jesse Schouten.
In the 45s, Nicolas Chasseray beat #2 Ryan Pang to reach the semis along with William Casas (3), Leon Bax (4) and Jesse Walter (1)
In the 50s, Oren Motevassel (1) withdrew before the start of play with an injury, as did #4 seeded Julien Heine. Kevin Smith upset #5 Pontus Swenson and Steve Heroux took out #5 Esteban Altuna, leaving only 4 seeds in the final 8.
In contrast to the 50s, the final 8 in the men’s 55s are the 8 seeds, led by Dan Goldie (2) and Peter Smith (1) .
The huge men’s 60 draw (128) is out to the round of 32 without any upsets; Bill Moss and Mike Fedderly are the top 2 seeds.
Women’s Singles
In women’s singles, there was no 35s division (a few players entered but withdrew).
Christen Bartelt (1)played down but won the 40s convincingly, beating #2 seeded Christine Lee in the final.
In the 45s, the top half was all upsets, with Pernilla Putnick beating top seeded Farrah Northcott 4,5 and then Yoko Tanko (0,6); Tanko beat the #4 seed, Kimberly Allen. Putnick takes on #2 seeded Tanya O’Neil in the final; she beat the #3 seed Michele Mouttapa-Matek in the other semi.
The 50s final is between Marlo Carruth (1) and unseeded Michele Rudi. The two took far different paths to the final; Carruth winning her semi 61 ret (inj) while Rudi edged #2 seeded Mariko Atoji 76 in the third.
The two seeded players in the 55s, Judy Newman (1) and Jenny Keller (2) are in the semis without hitting a ball (bye for Newman, default for Keller).
Men’s Doubles
Cohen/Sablan won the 35 RR doubles.
Condiotty/Richards beat the top 2 seeds to win the 40 doubles.
Mike Brown/Rodolfo Rodriguez won the 45 doubles, taking out Bax/Chasseray (2) in the semis and unseededJeff Schlotterback/Jesse Walter in the final.
The Men’s 50 are only out to the quarters with no upsets.
Women’s Doubles
Julianna Gates/Lauren Lancaster (2)won the 35 doubles upsetting Tarrin Dougherty/Caroline Vis 76 67 64 in the final.
Lauren Lancaster
Pernilla Putnick/Chotika Wannachinda won the round ronin 40 doubles over Angela Henry/Amy Rogers (76 in the third)
Shannon DeVall and Tanya O’Neil won the 45 round robin doubles with Susie Duffy/Brahma Pastorini finishing 2nd.
Krista Oconnor /Lisa Traylor beat top seeded Trina Eggers/Wendy Elliott in 3 sets and face Julie Silverado/Mary Beth Williams in the final; they beat the #2 seeds Nancy Daly/Rochelle Whelan in straight sets.
The forecast for today was for rain and the prediction was correct…it poured most of the morning in Fort Lauderdale. An hour north it also rained hard but stopped an hour or two earlier. All the rain meant no matches started till 3:30pm.
I warmed up in Palm Beach Gardens and then drove down, arriving just as the tournament decided to postpone the 65 singles till tomorrow, which, given that we were in the semis and the tournament ends on Friday was a good decision. It did mean I drove about 2.5 hours unnecessarily, but it wasn’t rush hour either way, it happens. The 85s final was also postponed, as were (I believe) the 55 semis.
But there was tennis. The 55 singles quarters were all played and in a “Groundhog Day” match, Jenny Klitch beat Susan Love 64 62 in a match that was very similar to their second round encounter from last week. Same opponents, same score. All four seeds advanced, Klitch to play Yvette Kruger and Shelly Works to play Simone Vasconcellas of Brazil.
The 75s did play their semis, with Betty Wachob beating Sheila Weinstock and Carolann Castell upsetting #2 seeded Sue Kimball.
In 2020 the USTA scheduled the Palm Beach Gardens (for even age divisions) and Fort Lauderdale (for odd age divisions) back to back. The Fort Lauderdale tournament began today at the Lauderdale Tennis Club, an old fashioned, tennis-centric club surrounded by condominium buildings named for historic tennis players (Lenglen, Tildon etc.).
This week I’m playing my first 65s tournament. Last year I played the 55s, so I keep looking for my name in the 55s…it’s not there this year, though Shelly Works, the woman I played in the final is the second seed again this year. (Jenny Klitch is the top seed.)
I played Miriam Morey from North Carolina. She’s a professor at Duke in NC ( From the Duke website: “The general focus of Dr. Morey’s work is exercise and aging. All of her research examines how physical activity, exercise training, or physical fitness influence”). Miram plays at the same club where Wendy McColskey, the #2 seed here is a member. She’s a quick counterpuncher, and after adjusting to the wind we had some good rallies but I came out ahead. I play Helga Immerfall next in the quarters.
There were no close matches in the 65s and all the seeds won. The seeds in other singles divisions had byes and in doubles, the seeds are playing tomorrow for the most part.
The 85s draw, though only 6 players, is quite strong with Burnett Herrick, Judy Smith, Lucille Kyvallos, Margaret Canby, Esther Williams and Laurie Leach all playing. Smith beat Canby and Williams beat Leach today. All are enthusiastic about the thought of the ITF holding the Women’s 85 Cup in Mallorca this fall.
The ITF Seniors World Team Championships begins on Sunday morning. Yesterday I met Jenny Cerff from So Africa and Susan Wright, one of my Alice Marble Cup teammates, at the Lisbon Airport. I took the metro to the airport, easy without luggage, then waited for them to arrive. I’d messaged both a photo of a meeting spot, because it was chaotic as passengers emerged from baggage claim. It was very busy as all flights emerge from one exit, regardless of the airline.
Jenny’s flight landed early and she was coming from Turkey so passed Customs quickly. Susan’s flight from JFK was late and she went left and we waited right at exit. We sorted things out quickly, ubered to our AirBnb (the Uber pickup at Lisbon is a bit confusing, but I’d done it the day before so we successfully found our driver first time). We left our bags and went in search of water and food. The hotel I stayed in last night as it turns out (ok, I did plan it) was just around the corner, so we went to the same grocery store I’d visited the day before. And I took them up to the rooftop bar for a look over Lisbon.
Jenny, Carolyn & Susan, from the rooftop bar (there’s a nice view behind us…)
View from the rooftop bar
After lunch we practiced at one of the clubs used for the World Championships, with Luisa Guivia, returned to our flat, got some dinner and crashed.
Luisa, Jenny, Carolyn & Susan
Today we have a practice in the afternoon, with Diane Barker our top player, and then pick up our final team member, Robin Harris at the airport. Tomorrow practice begins early, Saturday we have practice and captains’ meetings and the opening ceremonies, then our first matches on Sunday.
It was another lovely day in Bordeaux. Sue Bartlett and I were rescheduled to the 6th match after 8:30 (not before 2pm)…we got on around 5pm. We played two Spaniards, Encarnacion Gomiz and Carmen Lang and won 60 60, (and there were 3 no-ad games we played). We played on Court 7, which is basically concrete with a bit of red clay on top, painted lines, dangerously slippery.
Sue and I play the singles final tomorrow 4th match after 9am, not before 1:30pm but on Court 1, the first time either of us has played a match on the main bank of courts. It’s unlikely I’ll see much if anything of Bordeaux this trip but I’ve seen a lot of Villa Primrose, which is a lovely old club.
Don’t forget to sweep the court after play!
Ross Persons finds himself in three finals; he won the mixed 55 with Luisa Gouveia of Portugal; and he’s in the 60 men’s final vs Belgian Pierre Godfroid and the men’s doubles final with Fritz from the Netherlands.
Darren Price from USA and Andrew Moraghan GBR are into the QF of the men’s 45 doubles, beating two Brits to reach the semis.
And that’s a wrap on today’s action. Final tomorrow then on to the next stop Sunday morning.
Today was a pretty relaxing one since I only had one doubles match, 2nd match on court 9 after 2pm. We started around 3:30 or so I think and played Sylvia Shipley and Fiona Walker, whom we’d played in singles yesterday. We won 60 61. Here the format is no ad and a match tiebreak in lieu of a third set. We forgot about the no ad on our first deuce and won the point (and game; we asked the referee and he said points played in good faith stood); we remembered it the second time and lost the point.
Sue won her round robin group today while I still have to play my second round robin match tomorrow. I play fourth match on court 7, 2nd match after 11am. So maybe around 1, 2 or3pm. It depends on the length of matches earlier in the day.
Here’s a photo of Sue Bartlett and me. She’s playing the deuce side and when she comes to net for some reason our opponents lobbed me. Hmmmmm. We don’t have doubles tomorrow so she has an off day to tour a bit. My touring day will be on Saturday.
Bordeaux, France, Wednesday (WiFi was down Tuesday….)
After a long weekend watching my nephew getting married (The Carmel Mission Church is beautiful as was the wedding), I drove to SFO. I had a stop in Scott’s Valley (bear Santa Cruz) for a tennis match. We interrupted the match several times to listen to Wimbledon Radio as the men’s final kept going…
I flew Tap Airlines to Lisbon. It arrived late but I made my connection. Neither flight left from a gate. We were bused to the terminal a long way. There were only stairs, not ramps.
I cleared passport control and security and made my flight where we waited for quite a while, 20-30 minutes outside on steps for a bus, then once again were driven to the plane.
The flight to Bordeaux was smooth and my bags came pretty quickly. I arrived at my lodgings on time. After a walk to the market I went to the club, only 10 minutes away by foot and hit some balls with Sue Bartlett, with whom I am playing doubles this week. The courts, red clay of course, are very very dry and quite fast for red clay.
I won my first round on Tuesday over Sylvia Shipley from Great Britain. Sue had a tough match with Fiona Walker, winning 75 64. The second set was pretty topsy-turvy. Sue led 30- 40-15, Fiona leveled at 4-4, redlining her ground strokes. Sue was up 5-4 but down 40-0 with Fiona serving and won five points on the trot to finish the match. Sylvia is shown below.
I play the #1 Spanish player tomorrow, Thursday, but we play Fiona and Shirley today in doubles.
Ross Persons from the USA, a member of the men’s 60 Cup team is here, one of the few Americans in the draw.
Today I had a chance to hit with King Van Nostrand. King is aptly named…he’s a king of senior tennis, and is true tennis royalty. From Vero Beach, Florida, he’s been honored by the ITF with a seniors lifetime achievement award, having won more than 10 Individual World Championships and more than 10 team championships.
King is playing in the 85s, but his ball is so heavy and his dropshot so short and spinny. There are several good players in the 85s, but I can’t see King and his titanium knees having too much of a problem winning this event.
There are a few San Diego area players here, and I watched a bit of Dave Van Den Berg. He was playing an Italian player with two pretty hefty knee braces and cruised to a win. He now however has to play Peter Pokorny of Austria, the top seed and like King, a legend whose won more than 10 individual ITF titles and team events. A couple of other Americans, Karl Placek (seeded 7) and Robert Anderman (faces the #4 seed) are playing 75 singles here.
I just practiced a couple of hours today, hit the grocery store and drug store and watched more French Open tennis (and listened to it on Radio Roland Garros which is excellent).
Photos aren’t loading right now….wifi in Europe tends to be dreadfully slow at least in hotels.
Jane Lutz, 90, played six sets of tennis today to win the USTA 90 hard court singles & doubles titles. Rita Price also played six sets of tennis today and came away with a singles silver and doubles gold for her efforts.
Jane won the singles 26 75 64 over Price and Jane and Rita won the doubles 75 46 63 over Janet Hubbard/Pat Wiedenmann.
I repeat…Jane is 90, Rita is 92 and they played for over four hours on hard courts no less.
The 40-80 Clay Courts continued at the Palm Beach Gardens Tennis Center Thursday. It was warm, breezy and SUNNY…no clouds at all for the afternoon matches, which made serving a challenge at times.
In the 60s, the seeds all prevailed. I played Sally Smith from Charleston and won 62 62, but the second set in particular was much closer, just a couple of points and in the last game, just a couple of shots out and in by inches, in my favor. The sun was tough on one side for serving too. Diane Barker, Susan Wright and Kathy Vick all won in straight sets. I play Susan, my doubles partner, tomorrow and Diane plays Kathy.
There were only consolation doubles matches today in all but the 80s (which is a round robin).
In the 50s, the top four seeds all advanced to the semis in straight sets; Vesna McKenna will face Jenny Klitch while Julie Cass takes on Andrea Rice.
Gwenda Ward continued her fine play in the 70s, upsetting another seed, Sue Kimball, in a tightly contested three-setter. She faces Toni Novack who bested Betty Wachob; Wachob commented that Toni played great and had improved her play…and of course, that dropshot… Judy Dixon faces Brenda Winstead in the other semi.
In the 80s, Dori DeVries blew past Burnett Herrick and Inge Weber also won easily; Lola O’Sullivan won by default over Roz King (leg injury); the match of the day was between Carol Wood and Dorothy Wasser. Carol is from Maryland and Wasser from Palm Beach Gardens…which may have been the difference, because it was hot! Carol won the first set and had a match point or two according to O’Sullivan; once Wasser fended those off, Carol wilted, Wasser didn’t and she won in three sets; she takes on her doubles partner Weber in the semis while DeVries plays O’Sullivan.
