by John Lumley
The Racquet Club of Philadelphia was the proud host of the 2021 U.S. Open, and what a week we had! Pros from around the country descended upon the Racquet club to compete in singles and doubles.
Barney Tanfield had the tournament of his career, taking down Tim Chisholm in the round-of-16 in a tremendous four-set match. Barney then beat Tony Hollins in the quarterfinals in a five-set battle to reach his first U.S. Open semi-final.
In the singles final, Camden Riviere took on John Lumley. Both players looked pumped and ready for the match, ensuring an exciting start. The court coverage, along with some amazing target hitting, saw them tied at three games all. Camden went on a little Dedans spree which gave him some momentum to take the first set 6-3.
Momentum in Camden’s favor, he raced out to an early 4-1 lead. John reeled off a few games to get back to 4-3 down, where they had a massive game. Both players had multiple game points, and in the end, Camden won it to go 5-3 and close out the set 6-3.
In the third set, the players were trading games where Camden got to a 3-2 lead before putting together a very impressive spell to take the match 6-3 6-3 6-2 and become the U.S. Open champion for the 10th time!
In the doubles final, Camden Riviere and Tim Chisholm faced John Lumley and Steve Virgona. Set to be a great match, it didn’t disappoint with all players firing right out of the gate. Camden and Tim took the first set 6-4. Incredible volleys by all with a ton of pressure on both sides of the court.
John and Steve looked great to build a lead to 5-3 before Camden and Tim put a nice run to tie it up at five games all. With the crowd on the edge of their seats, John and Steve took the set 6-5 to a massive roar from the crowd to bring it to one set apiece!
The third set was a very different story which saw Camden and Tim winning all the significant points to close out the set 6-0 to get them one set away from taking the title.
Camden and Tim, still applying the pressure, saw them head out to a 3-0 lead before Steve laid down a couple of big forehands along with John’s defensive volleys to get them to 4-2 down, but in the end, Camden and Tim had too much and closed out the match 6-4 5-6 6-0 6-2.
We had some incredible crowds of RCOP members during the week, especially for the finals. A huge thank you to the USCTA, The Racquet Club of Philadelphia, the players, and all of the supporters for an excellent U.S. Open! It was great to see so many people coming out to watch and feel back to normal with tournaments again.
For complete draws and links to the video coverage, visit 2021 US Open
