by John Beam
On Friday, January 17th, thirty player s from eight clubs arrived in Midtown Manhattan to compete for the prestigious Etchebaster Trophy, contested annually since 1964. Representatives from the clubs in Boston, Philadelphia, Washington, Chicago, Tuxedo, Paris, and New York were all present with trophies and gold paint on their minds.
The round of thirty-two kicked off on Friday afternoon, with both East and West courts hosting some entertaining competition. There were several closely contested matches, with Clarke Jones and John Schafer both winning 6-4 in the third, while Tom Love won the final game against Ben Nalle to take the deciding set, 6-5. Top seeds made their presence known on both sides of the draw with dominant wins from Tim Welles, Will Zhang, Eric Haab and Daelum Mawji. Similar to prior years, the path to the semi-finals was pretty straightforward, with all four top seeds advancing to the highly anticipated Sunday semifinals.
Another Etchebaster squash vs. tennis battle ensued in the top semi, with Tim Welles of New York (squash) defeating Will Zhang of Philadelphia (tennis) in a well-fought 6-2, 6-3 affair. Tim has been one of the more active players in New York this past year, and his hard work is clearly paying. Will Zhang can hardly be considered a “novice”, having debuted this past December for the Philadelphia Whitney Cup. Be on the lookout for both these players in the future.
The bottom was one of the best weekend matches, with Eric Haab (Philadelphia) winning in three sets 6-4, 3-6, 6-4 over New York’s own Daelum Mawji. Both competitors came out swinging, and their squash backgrounds were on display. Daelum was a former top Player at Princeton, while Eric played lacrosse and squash at Boston University. The gallery was in awe of their athleticism and tenacity, and this should be the first of many times we see both Daelum and Eric competing at a high level. Though Daelum came up short in the tennis this weekend, all was not lost as he prevailed in the rackets, winning the Kendrick Cup later that morning.
The final saw Tim Welles battle it out against Eric Haab in a tight two-set match. As expected, the match featured superb retrieving from both young men. Perhaps what was unexpected was the tact, court awareness, and strategy on display. Eric was able to dig deep, with his recent Whitney Cup experience coming in hand, and he seemed to win most of the key “swing” points. Eric prevailed against the hometown/home club favorite 6-2, 6-4, cementing his courtside gold paint, and will be bringing the hardware back to Philadelphia for the first time since 2004.
Thank you to the New York Racquet & Tennis Club pro shop (James, Barney, AJ, Pete, and Josh) and event staff for putting on yet another outstanding weekend. The future of Tennis in the States is bright!
