by James Asher
The 2018 Jimmy Dunn Doubles had a record number of participants with over 174 players vying for time on the court tennis, rackets and squash courts. With 44 teams entered for the tennis, we had to change from having a D and E event for tennis to D1, D2 and E draws. Matches were played each day from 7AM to midnight – sixteen hours of tennis per day – a record! Combined with the Jock Soutar and squash draws there were 246 matches played over the weekend. Such was the hype for this year’s event that we had five players from England play in the event and we had the World #1 and former world champion Camden Riviere play in his first Jimmy Dunn playing alongside USCTA favorite Ryan Carey.
This year we combined the Open and A Division with the winners from the first round playing in the semifinals of the Open Division and the loser playing in the A Division Semifinal. Camden and Ryan got through Boston regulars Andrew Roberts and Dave Tedeschi, Rob Whitehouse and James Asher overcame Kenny Soffer and Tom Brownlie, Jon Crowell and Will Hopton, Barney Tanfield and Peter Cipriano came over very tough first round matches against John and Noah Motz and Dylan Ward and Christian Bullitt respectively. That made the semifinals of the Open Division Riviere/Carey against Whitehouse/Asher with the latter coming out on top in a close 6-3 6-4. The second semifinal Tanfield and Cipriano came out on top beating Crowell and Hopton. In the Final Tanfield and Cipriano put up a spirited effort and did fantastic in finding Carey while Carey did a great job hitting what he needed and staying as far away from the ball as possible while Riviere did his thing. Riviere and Carey came out on top 6-2 6-5.
In the A Division Philadelphia’s own Soffer and Brownlie who were looking for a three-peat overcame Tedeschi and Roberts before taking on Washington’s father/son combination John and Noah Motz, who defeated Bullitt and Ward in a tight match. Soffer and Brownlie’s epitome of focus and control of the ball took the sting out of the younger Motz’s power as they won the A Division to make in 3 in a row for the team of Soffer and Brownlie.
The B Division there was another Philadelphia team of Soffer and Purcell who managed to take home the title. The first Semifinal saw Jim Zug and Henry Stevinson defeat top seeds Peter Hill and Norris Jordan in a crazy match in which the latter came through 6-3 0-6 6-5. The second Semifinal saw another Philadelphia team Soffer and Purcell take on Aiken’s own Morgan Purvis and Jason Mengal. Soffer and Purcell took control early with Mengal and Purvis starting nervous to take the first set 6-1, then out of nowhere Mengal/Purvis team turned the match on its head to take the second set 6-3 before Soffer/Purcell holding their nerve to take the third set 6-5.
The C Division Peter Vogt and Bruce Katz had two three setters against Bob Cook, Jason Rabun and Lucas Garvin and Michael Barton respectively. They took on English team Fred Sato and John East with the English winning this war 6-3 6-1. The D1 Division Tim McManus and Jeremy Thompson had the tournament of their life beating top seeds Conor Richmond and Andrew Guild in the match of the tournament, 6-5 5-6 6-4. In the Final they took on the father/daughter team of Temple Grassi and Melissa Purcell. Melissa played the tournament of her life with great consistency and incredible focus bringing her father to the win 6-2 6-3.
The D2 Division New York’s Adam Yaaris and Sebastian Kruitz took on Philadelphia’s Joey Gingold and John Schellenberg with Philadelphia taking home for gold winning 6-3 6-4. In the E Division Phil Straus and John Broussard played out of their mind to bring Philadelphia the last of the gold beating Boston’s Luis Santiago and Eliott Levin 6-4 6-1.
A special thanks go to our sponsors for their continued support on the event and making the event as successful as it is. They are:
- The Goddard School
- Kline and Specter
- Lurio & Associates
- Haverford Trust Company
- Tom Tarantino
- Graham Company
- Doug Cox
- Carlino Commercial
- Liberty Property Trust
- Washington Investment Consultants
- John Broussard
- Phil Straus
- Christian Bullitt
- Richard Tanfield
