Over President’s Day weekend, The Tuxedo Club hosted the 116th Gold Racquets as well at the US Pro Singles Rackets Championship. Event Chairs Kim Kilgore and Laura Tillsley pulled out all the stops for the Saturday night dinner by bringing in a first class band named Rhythm Collective which had all 180+ guests dancing into the early hours. A much more casual Pub Night on Sunday night featuring a kids’ game room and Southern comfort food was also well attended with over 100 guests.
Peter Cipriano, Josh Scherer & Zach Sacks
On the Court Tennis court, 54 players competed in the singles Gold Racquet (non-handicapped) as well as the Cuspidor Doubles. A strong contingent from New York’s Racquet & Tennis Club (R&T) descended on Tuxedo to compete in the 16 person draw for the 116th Gold Racquet, ultimately setting up an all-American, all-R&T final between Peter Cipriano and Zach Sachs. The highly competitive final featured high-quality tennis with Peter in the end prevailing over his friend and fellow club-mate in 3 sets (6/4, 6/4, 6/4). For the Cuspidor Doubles, the round robin format lead to finals in three separate flights (based on handicaps): In Flight I, Dan Laukitis & Charlie Michele (both of Tuxedo) defeated John Beam & Arthur Whitcomb; in Flight II, Will Fantini & John Dawson defeated Sewall Hodges & Marc Lewinstein; and in Flight III, Dave Christensen & Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh defeated Houston Stebbins & Ben Riley in an all Tuxedo final.
Peter Cipriano
On the Rackets court, in addition to the US Pro Singles, we had 20 players competing in a singles event, as well as a Spittoon doubles and Pro-Am event. Once again, Peter Cipriano prevailed over a strong field to win the singles draw. It is worth noting that the final was not played as Chicago fellow Ben Castow pulled out due to injury. For the same reason, Ben had also pulled out of the Gold Racquet semi-final (also against Peter). This was a disappointing outcome, as everyone was looking forward to watching Ben’s impressive speed and skills matched up against Peter’s precision and experience. Maybe next year?
In the final of the Spittoon Doubles, Dan Laukitis and his partner Archie Green (Detroit fellow) prevailed over Josh Scherer and Jono Jamieson-Black (Philadelphia fellow). Dan Laukitis was the only person other than Peter Cipriano to win two events over the weekend (Cuspidor Doubles Flight I and Rackets Spittoon Doubles). In the US Pro Singles, James Stout continued his dominance of the sport with a relatively straightforward victory over Conor Medlow in the finals.
Many thanks to Kim Kilgore, Laura Tillsley, Tim Chisholm and all of The Tuxedo Club staff for a hugely successful weekend. We look forward to hosting next year’s 117th edition!
Will Fantini, John Dawson, Marc Lewinstein & Sewall Hodges
Houston Stebbins, Ben Riley, Stijn Van Nieuwerburgh & Dave Christensen
John Beam, Arthur Whitcomb, Dan Laukitis & Charlie Michele
