USIC Tennis Presidents’ Cup

The International Club (IC) is a tennis organization originally founded by the United States and Great Britain…today it consists of about 30 countries. It’s a way for mostly high level players to get together in a more casual competition than tournaments.

The Presidents’ Cup is a biannual competition between France and the United States for men and women who have played for their country in the past or who have won national titles. In 2016 it was held in La Jolla, California at the La Jolla Beach and Tennis Club. This year, the 7th iteration of the event, it was held in Normandy France, at two different clubs, the Garden Club in Cabourg and at the Villiers Sur Mer Club. The French Captain was Bruno Renoult and the US Co-Captains were Charlie Hoeveler and Erika Smith.

This competition is named for Robert “Bobby” Abdesselam and Eugene “Gene” Scott, who were long-time presidents of the French IC and USIC, respectively.

The two teams first got together on Thursday evening at the City Hall in Cabourg for wine and then walked to the beach to a creperie for dinner which the French IC hosted. (I had moules frites…mussels and French fries..and a salade verte (green salad)..very good!).

On Friday the French IC arranged for the teams to go to the Beaches in Normandy where DDay took place and to see the DDay memorial and cemeteries. Needless to say it was very moving and hard to fathom the carnage of that day. The beaches are so long and the the cliffs so steep.

On Saturday we had our first round of matches, singles in the morning and early afternoon followed by doubles. I played Bridgette Simon, who played on tour in the 70s and was a very good player, though she said now she plays mostly golf. In the afternoon Mai Ichikawa-Abel and I played doubles against Brigette Cadoret and Nicole Hesse. In between the French treated us to a delicious buffet…just the bread and cheese were fantastic, and then there was carrot salad and apple torte…I do love French food!

Here’s a photo of the USA players (thanks Cheri Wulf for taking the photo!)

It was a good thing we played tennis because we had another nice dinner, in Deauville, which is on the beach, featuring hake (fish), and an ice cream and Madeline desert which was superb.

Today, Sunday, was all doubles. Paul Wulf and I played Bridgette Cadoret and Clive, which was fun. Then Armistead Neely and I took on Geoff Cykman and Sylvie (they whomped us). Overall though the USA retained the Cup till 2020 anyway, when the 8th iteration will be held in the USA.