By the R&T
The Racquet & Tennis Club hosted the 90th Annual Payne Whitney Memorial Cup at the peak of New York holiday festivities in December. The Christmas wreaths were hung in the East and West Courts, and anticipation hung thick in the air, with several teams in contention. The previous five years had seen five different winners, and with holders Philadelphia missing a couple of key players, the event was thrown wide open.
The two home teams, New York and Greentree, were pitted against each other in a first-round matchup that hadn’t been seen before in some years. Matches were closely fought, but the Greentree team managed to edge out the victory. Philadelphia was the third team in the group and began their title defense against New York. With the tie poised at two matches all, Ken Soffer and Peter Hill were able to record a decisive victory in their seniors’ match. The final match in Group 1 saw Greentree and Philadelphia facing off, with the winner progressing to Sunday’s Final. The tie once again came down to the fifth and final match. Ben Lawrence and Whitney Cup newcomer Winston Simone held their nerve to record a 6-5 third-set victory to take Greentree through.
New England and Washington appeared to be the strongest teams in Group 2, and both recorded impressive victories over the combined Tuxedo-Aiken-Chicago team. In Saturday afternoon’s decisive tie between Washington and New England, the first four matches were shared, and the tie came down to the Seniors match. John Motz and Bill Barker were able to steer their team to victory in a closely fought encounter.
Sunday’s Whitney Cup Final saw Washington winning their second Whitney Cup in three years. They triumphed over a strong Greentree team with several Amateur Champions (Ben Stein, Peter Pell, Addison West), the always dangerous Brook Hazelton and an emerging group in their 3 and 4 positions (Lawrence, Wheatley, Simone, Patterson, and Skiff).
The final got particularly interesting when Ben Stein and Addison West returned from a set down against Noah Motz and Charlie Hurstel. Unfortunately for Greentree, subsequent matches all went Washington’s direction.
Washington’s depth was unmatched with possibly the best two players in this year’s event (Erik Barker and Noah Motz), the best senior team (Bill Barker and John Motz) and the deepest 3 and 4 teams (John Patton, Danny McBride, Kris Motz and Chase Motz). Peter Pell mentioned in his congratulatory speech that 60% of the team was a Motz or Barker, with three Father-Son teams competing.
Credit to Washington’s John Motz, who won the Cup on his maiden voyage as captain. They hoisted the trophy in front of a spirited group of Washington spectators and dignitaries, including Ivan Ronaldson, Ryan Carey and Haven Pell. Congratulations to Washington, and best of luck in the next Cup.
