by Dawson Lane
2025 USCTA/USCTPF Junior HCP Singles and Family HCP Doubles
The Tuxedo Club
January 18th – 20th
By Dawson Lane
The Tuxedo Club hosted these two events January 18th – 20th and by all accounts was a successful weekend of court tennis.
Forty-nine matches were played across the holiday weekend, with 11 Juniors playing in the singles and 15 teams in the Family Doubles.
Junior HCP Singles
Walt Laukitis, Henry Nieuwerburgh & Elliot Philpott all won their respective round robins to move into the JR HCP Singles main draw semi-finals. Anson Devinney & Jonah Serotta tied with 17 games won in their round robins and had a 7:15 AM Sunday morning tie-breaking match to see who would be the 4th player in the main draw. Anson and Jonah put on quite a show at 7:15 AM with an 8/7 nail-biter going to Anson!
In the first semi-final, Anson was able to reverse a loss to Walt Laukitis in the round-robin and move through to the Final. In the second semi-final, Henry Nieuwerburgh continued to play solidly, mistake-free tennis and eased by Elliot Philpott for his place in the Final.
The Final was an entertaining match for the spectators, but Henry’s combination of a decent handicap and very steady play proved too much for Anson to overcome! Congratulations to Henry, a deserving Champion!
In the back draw, Paul Nieuwerburgh and Kurt Mueller played well below their respective handicaps in a 4/3 0/4 4/3 semi-final win for Kurt, which set up another rematch of a round-robin match in the Final against Jonah Serotta. In their round-robin match, both players thrilled the crowd with some great tennis, as Jonah earned a well-deserved 6/4 win.
A great group of Juniors and evidence that the game has its hooks into the youngsters!
The Juniors that played:
Westwood Country Club: Anson Devinney, Elliot Philpott, Lily Ronaldson, Winter Evans-Jones
Racquet Club of Philadelphia: Jonah Serotta
The Tuxedo Club: Hazel Christensen, Henry Nieuwerburgh, Johnny Dawson, Kurt Mueller, Paul Nieuwerburgh, Walt Laukitis
Family HCP Doubles
The change in format from a parent-child event to a ‘Family’ event was viewed as a huge success! We had the following ‘Family’ teams:
- Father-Son
- Husband-Wife
- Mother-Son
- Father-Daughter
- Mother-Daughter
A total of 15 pairs faced off for the title of FAMILY HANDICAP DOUBLES CHAMPIONS!
After 21 round-robin matches, our semi-finalists were determined.
- Laura Veldkamp & Henry Nieuwerburgh
- Lindsay & Gavin Maxwell
- Serena & Rich Mueller
- Grace & Chase Ormond
In their first court tennis tournament, the Ormonds, having won their round robin, faced the buzz saw that is Henry Nieuwerburgh and his mom, Laura Veldkamp. Henry & Laura were too strong, but a huge congrats to Grace & Chase for a great weekend of tennis. The second semi was a barn burner for two sets, as the Mueller’s and Maxwell’s split sets…and the crowd settled in for a much anticipated third set. Unfortunately, a few untimely errors by the Muellers let the set get away quickly, and the Maxwells moved on to the Final!
Will Henry get the DOUBLE Title this weekend?? After a very tight first set, the Maxwells found their groove in the second and are our 2025 Family Handicap Doubles Champions!
