by Leon Smart
On October 13th – 16th, The Tennis and Racquet Club hosted the annual Jimmy Knott Memorial Singles. This year’s field included 31 players with representation from the USA, England, and France.
The Open Division was highly contested with Whitey Cup selection on the line. The shock result of the tournament came when T&R local, Andrew Peabody, defeated the number 1 seed and former US Amateur champion Todd Meringoff, 6-5 in the third set. On the other side of the draw, Alex Spence faced numerous match points against Ben Hudson at 5-2 40-0 down, but somehow, Alex managed to prevail 6-5 in the third set. In the final, Peabody continued hitting the ball hard and serving tight bobbles against Spence; however, Spence’s experience was too much for Andrew to handle. Spence wins the 2022 Jimmy Knott Memorial Singles 6-4 6-5.
This year also featured a 45+ and 55+ division. The final of the 45+ division was Wes Traub vs. Chris Tomasevich, both from Boston. Having battled many times socially, they knew each other’s game well. With a title on the line, both players decided to skip the usual warm-up in the bar and opt for the gym instead. Traub’s retrieval forced some uncharacteristic racquet errors from Tomasevich, helping Traub win the match 6-3 6-2. In the 55+ division, Peter Bender entered the final in excellent form, having not dropped a single game, where he faced Harsha Gopal. In a whirlwind match and some forcing from the hazards, Bender managed to take the win 6-3 6-3.
To Read George Bell’s story on Jimmy Knott …The Soldier – A Recollection of Jimmy Knott
Harsha Gopal & Peter Bender
Chris Tomasevich & Wes Traub
Alex Spence & Andrew Peabody
