Volume 6  Number 4                                                                                                                                          February 1, 2017

2017 got off to a fast start as players of all ages travelled to Washington, Chicago and Australia to compete.
 
As a testament to our growing junior program, eighteen juniors participated in the U.S. Junior Handicap tournament in Washington. After an active weekend of round robin play in four age divisions, the final match-ups were determined. Congratulations to the winners - Jakob Bregenhoj (U13), Lydia Danas (U15), Keawe Johnson (U17) and Dawson Chisholm (U19).
 
Meanwhile, as Dawson Chisholm was competing in Washington, another Chisholm -Tim - was capturing the 2017 Australian Open Doubles title with Camden Riviere over Steve Virgona and Chris Chapman. It was a good month for the Chisholm family! Camden Riviere won the Australian Open Singles defeating Steve Virgona in front of a packed Melbourne house. Claire Fahey won the Ladies Open Singles and partnering with Saskia Bollerman, the doubles. A special shout out to Kim Kilgore from Tuxedo for her participation in both events.
 
Fifteen U.S. players participated in the biennial Masters World Team and Individual Championships - for players over the age of 50 - in Melbourne and Hobart.  Team matches were played for the Danby Cup (70s), Bostwick Cup (60s) and Cockram Cup (50s). Team USA had a respectable showing in all three cups. Individual championships were also played for singles and doubles. Congratulations to 50s Doubles Finalist Bill Barker and 70s Singles Finalist Dick Tanfield. The U.S. will host the event in 2019.
 
Back in the USA, Chicago hosted the Etchebaster singles for newer players in the game. John Beam defeated Billy Fetridge in a good final.
 
Results, photos and wrap-ups of each tournament can be found in this month's Chase the First.
 
The super bowl of tennis happens this weekend as five level national championships will be played in Chicago, Philadelphia, Tuxedo, Newport and Washington. Sixty-eight players will be participating - who will be the lucky winners? Stay tuned!
 
Tuxedo will host the 115th Gold Racquets weekend on February 17-20. This is always a spectacular weekend of tennis, rackets and great parties!
 
The month ends with the U.S. Open Singles and Doubles Championships in Philadelphia. Thirteen of the top sixteen players in the world will be competing for the top titles in the U.S. Hopefully you can attend in person, but if not, we will be live-streaming the event. Information on streaming will be sent out later in the month.
 
National League continues this month with matches being played in Chicago on February 2 and New York on February 8. Georgian Court will host their first Open Play day on February 22. If you haven't been to the court, now's your chance!
 
Finally, it's early, but the 2017 Plimpton Award has been awarded to Michael P. Garnett of Australia. The award was presented to Garnett by Howard McMorris in Melbourne during the World Masters last month. Congratulations to Michael! 

Until next month....

Sincerely,
U.S. Court Tennis Association
2017 WORLD MASTERS CHAMPIONSHIPS

By Jeremy Wintersteen
 
15 U.S. players travelled to Australia to compete in the 2017 Masters Team and Individual tournaments.  These international competitions are held every two years and are for players 50 years and older.
 
On behalf of the USCTA, thank you to all those who made the trip down under to represent your country and compete in the individuals.  Below is a list of our players, their home clubs, and the tournaments they played in.
 
Bill Barker (ITCW) - Cockram, 50's singles, 50's doubles (finalist)
Dick Brickley (T&R) - Danby
Vern Cassin (Radley) - Danby
Anders Cohen (GCU) - Cockram, 50's singles, 50's doubles
Max Drake (RCC) - Cockram, 50's singles, 50's doubles
Arthur Drane (T&R) - Bostwick
Steve Hufford (ITCW) - Cockram, Bostwick, 60's singles, 60's doubles
Alan McHugh (TUX) - Cockram
Howard McMorris (R&T) - Danby, 65's doubles, 70's doubles
Jonathan Pardee (NTC) - Danby, 70's singles, 70's doubles
Tom Rowe (NTC) - Danby, 70's doubles
Dick Tanfield (RCOP) - Danby, 65's singles, 65's doubles, 70's singles (finalist), 70's doubles
Peter Vogt (RCOP) - Cockram, Bostwick, 60's singles, 60's doubles
Alex Walsh (NTC) - Danby, 70's doubles
Arthur Whitcomb (R&T) - Cockram, 50's singles, 50's doubles
 
by Henry Turnbull
 
The 2017 World Championships were held at the Royal Melbourne Tennis club between the 16th and 29th January.  The events are singles and doubles for players over the age 50, 55, 60, 65, 70 & 75.  All matches are best of three sets off scratch.
 
Overall, 68 players from Great Britain, US, Australia and France participated with a total of 162 entries.  Best placed US representative was Dick Tanfield (Racquet Club of Philadelphia) who was runner-up in the 70 singles in a hard fought match with John East from Great Britain.  (Full results will be available shortly on the National Associations' web sites.)
 
The location at the Melbourne Club, a purpose built court tennis club with two courts, provided a fantastic venue for the tournament with freely flowing hospitality and camaraderie.  In addition, the Club is situated near to Rod Laver Arena so many players took advantage of the ready access to the Australian Lawn Tennis Open.  An excellent time was had by all. 
 
The next World Masters is scheduled to be played in the USA in 2019.


Danby Cup Team (Pardee, Walsh, McMorris, Brickley, Tanfield, Rowe)

DANBY CUP
USA lost to GB 2-1
USA lost to Australia 2-1
Australia def. GB 2-1
FINAL ORDER:  1. Australia  2. GB  3. USA

 
Bostwick Cup "World" Team

BOSTWICK CUP 
The World def. GB 3-2
Australia def. The World 5-0
Australia def. GB 3-2
FINAL ORDER:  1. Australia  2. The World  3. GB


Cockram Trophy Team (McHugh, Whitcomb, Vogt, Barker. Hufford, Drake, Cohen)

COCKRAM TROPHY
USA lost to Australia 4-1
USA lost to Great Britain 5-0
USA def. France 5-0
GB beat Australia 4-1 (and retain the Cockram Trophy)
FINAL ORDER: 1. GB  2. Australia  3. USA  4. France
 
 
INDIVIDUAL MASTERS
Eddie and Keawe Johnson
U.S. JUNIOR HANDICAP 

There were eighteen entries in this year's event at Prince's Court. Newport's Jakob Bregenhoj took the U13 final in a nail biter, 10/9 against Avi Fruman despite losing 6/1 when they played in the round robin two days earlier.  In the U15s, the group tiebreakers came down to game difference and a Prince's Court final in which Lydia Danas overcame her 6/1 loss the night before to Robert Chitic by dominating the service end for a 10/4 victory. Theo Yanuzzi and Caio Rodolfo from Tuxedo both won a round robin match each but it wasn't enough to stop the two brothers, Eddie and Keawe Johnson storming through to the final. Eddie didn't quite know how to handle Keawe's never ending barrage of Caterpillars and the final went 10/7 to Keawe. Philadelphia's rising star, Michael Haley put up a valiant effort in the U19s but the rapidly improving Dawson Chisholm had clearly been spending some time improving on his dad's game. Not often do we see cut volley's like that from handicap 50 players. Dawson won the U19 final 10/5. A special thank you to Temple and Ellie Grassi for their fantastic support of the event and the USCTA junior program. A wonderful time was had by all.


2017 AUSTRALIAN OPEN RECAP
by Anders Cohen
 
This year's Australian Open featured the deepest field in recent memory. Buoyed by the strong turnout at the British Open and this being the start of the final race point season for the eliminator qualifications, 11 of the top 12 men made the voyage Down Under.  Only the enigmatic James Stout was a no-show. The Royal Melbourne Tennis Club does an excellent job when hosting any tournament.  I experienced this 1st hand back in 2014 at the World Championship.  This time, the weather was optimal as this is the beginning of the summer season in Australia.

The Round of 16 had one featured match between John Lumley and Nikki Howell.  Nick came out strong and consistent.  He extracted a bit of revenge from his defeat the National Open final last year and won in 4 sets.  The quarter final round was full of intrigue and did not disappoint.  Cam Riviere won comfortably against Nick Howell.  The other quarter final match in the upper half pitted Chris Chapman against Ben Matthews.  These two are neck and neck in the rankings.  Chris was coming off an excellent run at the British Open in which he made it to the finals.  Unfortunately for Chris, he started very slow and had lost the 1st set quickly.  Matthews was sharp and continued his dominance and the 2nd set.  Chapman was able to turn it around in the 3rd set and continued to raise his play and took the 4 set and jumped out to a big lead in the 5th set.  Most of the crowd, who was pro-Aussie, figured that home product Chapman was in the driver's seat, but then fate took another turn and Matthews came roaring back and won the match!!

The bottom half of the draw quarter finals featured a rematch battle of the World Championships from 2002-2006 with Tim Chisholm and Rob Fahey.  The dedans was abuzz with anticipation, and Fahey fans were well aware of how well Tim was playing at the British Open.  Unfortunately, Tim left his cut volley back in Tuxedo.  He was never able to get his timing right and Fahey won in straight sets.  The last match pitted Steve Virgona against Kieren Booth.  On paper, this was not supposed to be a tight encounter, but Booth ignored the pundits and played fantastic tennis. Virgona saved 6 match points including defending a force that was behind him that he somehow blocked back for a winner. Steve eeked out a 5 set victory.

In the semis, Camden won in straight sets against Ben Matthews.  In the other, Rob Fahey started strong and was up to 6-1 against Steve Virgona.  Steve improved his play and Rob appeared to fatigue. Virgona swung the momentum and was victorious in 5 sets.

The Final match featuring Riviere and Virgona had a packed house. The level of play was consistent. Cam won the first 2 sets, but Steve raced out to a 5-0 lead in the third. He had a set point for 6-0 and the crowd was in disbelief that the World Champ was a point away from being bageled! Suddenly Cam hit the afterburners and clawed back to 4-5, but Steve shut the door and won the 3rd set 6-4. Cam was able to reassert his game and won the 4th set & the match.

In the Doubles Final, Chisholm and Riviere fought off a fast start from Chapman & Virgona and won in straight sets.

The Ladies Open saw Claire Fahey continue her dominance of the field with a quick run through the draw. The best match was the semifinal encounter between Penny Lumley and Kate Leeming which went the distance. At 5-5 in the 3rd set, Penny was down 40-0, but came all the way back for the victory. Claire and Saskia Bollerman defeated Penny and Kate in the doubles finals.



John Beam, Steve Virgona, Billy Fetridge

BEAM WINS THE ETCHEBASTER

The Etchebaster trophy was keenly contested at the Racquet Club of Chicago from January 20th - 22nd 2017.   Unseasonably warm weather greeted the players as visitors from six U.S. clubs made the trip.   Many also competed in the Kendrick Cup for new rackets players.   There were some tremendous matches throughout the tournament as John Beam made amends for last year's finals defeat with a victory over Chicago's Billy Fetridge 6/0 6/3.   John had earlier saved a match point in his semifinal holding off local hopeful Ally Fornengo 4/6 6/5 6/5.  The back draw was won by Joe Lawler over Rob Isham III 8/5.

Thank you to the Racquet Club and the athletic committee for their support and also to John Cashman, Conor Medlow and Ed Hyde for their help throughout the weekend.
 
CLICK HERE FOR FULL RESULTS AND PHOTOS
2017 PLIMPTON PRIZE AWARDED

The 2017 George Plimpton Prize was given out in January 2017 to Michael P. Garnett.

Howard McMorris, representing the USCTA, gave the award to Garnett during the World Masters in Melbourne. 

Mike Garnett is the author of five books on tennis:  A History of Royal Tennis in Australia (1983); A Chase Down Under: A History of Royal Tennis in Australia (1999) the definitive, five-hundred-page history of tennis in Australia; and a trilogy of essays on the history of the game: A Tennis Miscellany (2004), Tennis Anecdotes and Sketches (2010) and Tennis: Reflections in Time (2014). He also published the 2004 translated edition of the 1783 Treatise on the Royal Game of Tennis by Monsieur de Manevieux.

The Plimpton Prize is named after George Ames Plimpton. An avid tennis player in New York, Plimpton beautifully combined playing the game and writing and giving speeches about it. He edited Pierre's Book, the famous 1971 manual by and about Pierre Etchebaster. The Prize was created by the USCTA after his death in 2003 to honor literary and artistic achievement in the game. Previous winners include James Zug (2003), Michael Do (2007), Ed Hughes (2009), Freddy Adam (2011), James Bruce (2014), Graham Hyland (2015) and Charles Johnstone (2016). 

GEORGIAN COURT OPEN PLAY DAY

Hello USCTA Members! We are very excited to announce that we have scheduled our first Georgian Court Open Play Day on Wednesday February 22nd! The day is an opportunity for anyone to come see the amazing GCU campus, as well as have a hit on the court. The schedule for the event will be sent out in the next few days, but if you are interested in attending please contact Camden Riviere at courttennis@georgian.edu
 
The day will feature a tour of the campus, lunch, a round robin tournament, as well as a clinic with World Champion Camden Riviere. On the following day, Thursday February 23rd, we will have Ladies World Champion Claire Fahey in giving a clinic to GCU students followed by the first annual Battle of the World Champions, with an exhibition match between Camden Riviere and Claire Fahey. If you have any interest in coming to watch on the Thursday please say so when you contact Camden!
 
We are looking forward to having you all out to the home of Jay Gould, and don't worry if you can't make it this time because we will be offering many more Open Court days over the semester.
 
Thanks
Camden

2017 U.S. OPEN

The 2017 U.S. Open will be held at The Racquet Club of Philadelphia from February 25th - March 6th.  Please find schedule and ticket information below.




4TH ANNUAL U.S. JUNIOR COURT TENNIS ACADEMY
JULY 17th - 21st, 2017
   
The U.S. Court Tennis Preservation Foundation (USCTPF) and the United States Court Tennis Association (USCTA) have once again selected The Tuxedo Club for a one of a kind junior court tennis academy. Court Tennis Champion Tim Chisholm will head up the USCTPF and USCTA sponsored Court Tennis Academy for one week this summer at The Tuxedo Club. This academy was a hit last year and we look to build on the momentum!  The week is designed for juniors ages 11-17. Beginner and experienced players from The Tuxedo Club as well as from Clubs throughout the US are invited to participate.
 
In collaboration with the USCTA/USCTPF Player Development Fund, we can offer this camp for $500 per camper. This fee includes the following:
  • 5 Days of Court Tennis Academy run by Tim Chisholm
  • All meals for July 17th - 21st   
  • Housing for 4 evenings (Monday-Thursday)...those playing in the Junior Nationals will be housed for the weekend as well.
Also, a reminder that the U.S. Junior Nationals will be held at The Tuxedo Club on July 21st - 23rd .... what a great way to prepare for the National Championships!
 
Contact Tim Chisholm, tchisholm@thetuxedoclub.org for more information, and to reserve your spot.
FEBRUARY
2
NATIONAL LEAGUE
CHI/PHL VS. NEW YORK
CHICAGO

3-5
USCTA LEVEL CHAMPIONSHIPS
SINGLES
 
GREEVY CUP (HDCP 20-29) 
CHICAGO  
 
NOLL CUP (HDCP 30-39)
PHILADELPHIA
 
BURKE CUP (HDCP 40-49) 
TUXEDO

WHARTON CUP (H
DCP 50-59)
NEWPORT
 
HICKEY CUP (HDCP 60+)
WASHINGTON
 
8
NATIONAL LEAGUE 
NEW YORK VS. TUXEDO 
NEW YORK

17-20
TUXEDO
Top level amateur singles and club level doubles

25 - MARCH 6
PHILADELPHIA
Singles and doubles championships

MARCH
3-5
WASHINGTON
Singles and doubles for U.S. based amateurs

10-12
PERCY CUP
PHILADELPHIA
Invitational inter-club team doubles

17-19
U.S. AMATEUR DOUBLES
CHICAGO
Doubles national championship

24-26
U.S. 50s
PHILADELPHIA
Singles and doubles championships for amateurs ages 50 years and over

31- APRIL 2
ANNE BOLEYN
BOSTON
Ladies handicap singles


2016-17
NATIONAL LEAGUE


CURRENT STANDINGS
New England  - 10
Tuxedo - 7
New York - 2
Chicago/Philly - 2

For full match reports, photos  and videos of the matches,
 
TIPS FROM THE PROFESSIONAL

by Tony Hollins


Find yourself out of position at contact? Over reaching or too close and flicking the ball from inside of your stance? The problem could be your feet.

In most cases this isn't a problem of speed but actually mis-timing your steps. If you set too early all of your adjustments will have to come from the waist up creating some strange body angles turning you into an amateur contortionist.

As a simple rule of thumb, do not let your front foot set until after the ball has left its final surface.

Let's use a shot off the back wall as an example: using your knowledge of the game you will want to prepare early, turning the shoulders and hips, getting the racquet up, and moving behind the area you predict the ball will end up. Once you get into this position, wait in an athletic stance ready to pounce, then as the ball starts to leave the back wall make your final move onto your front foot.

What this will do is naturally cause any adjustments to happen from the waist down; your feet. If the ball skips further off the back wall than expected you will naturally extend your final step. The inverse if the ball does not travel as far off the back wall as expected.

This same theory can be applied to any shot: Ball off penthouse - final surface is the floor; A ball hurtling into the forehand corner - final surface may be the main wall.

Prepare early but don't over commit.
RTO STATS
Matches recorded in 
Real Tennis Online in the last 30 days.  Remember, it's important to record match scores to have an accurate handicap!

(as of 2/1/17)

WASHINGTON  134
NEW YORK   111
CHICAGO  80 
NEWPORT  74
BOSTON  67
PHILADELPHIA  59 
AIKEN  30
TUXEDO  12
GEORGIAN COURT  0
 
Compared to:
RADLEY   208
MELBOURNE  376
HAMPTON COURT  271
CAMBRIDGE  155