By A Supporter Of The Ladies’ Game
The 2019 Anne Boleyn was graciously hosted by the Racquet Club of Philadelphia over the weekend February 9/10. Eleven ladies did battle over the two days and thanks to John Lumley’s creativity with the draw they all were able to spend lots of time on court.
Saturday’s matches were played in a round robin format with all the competitors dueling in first to six games contests. Rachel Heslop and Linda Rice secured themselves top seeding for Sunday’s knockout stage by winning all their matches.
However, Mr. Lumley’s format meant that all the players still had a shot at winning the title on day two! The standard of tennis on Sunday reflected how everyone had adjusted to Philly’s bouncy court surface and there were a number of thrilling finishes. Kaytlynn Gorson and Sydney Crowell set the tone as both had multiple match points before Kaytlynn prevailed 8-7. Kaytlynn’s next round against Rachel Heslop also went down to wire before Rachel won by a similarly narrow score line. This victory set the top seed up for a semifinal encounter with Melissa Purcell. Melissa had to overcome a number a challenging handicaps throughout the weekend including being banned the tambour and only having one serve.
On the other side of the draw Mary Livingston gained revenge for her Saturday defeat to Kathy Carson by edging out the home hopeful 8-6. This secured Mary a semifinal match up with Linda Rice. Linda is a newcomer to court tennis but has a superb racquet sport pedigree as a former lawn tennis professional. The dedans was in awe of her fantastic timing on the volley. Her handicap will certainly come down rapidly as she continues to learn more about the angles off the walls!
In the semis Rachel and Melissa went back and forth in a very high standard match. Rachel rallied from a two game deficit to force a decider but Melissa stayed calm to secure victory as both players had match point simultaneously! On the other side of the draw Mary used her experience to stay away from Linda’s volley with clever serving and well-placed floor shots.
The final certainly lived up to expectations despite both players battling tiredness after a long weekend of play. Melissa’s movement was also somewhat limited by a calf injury. However, her ball striking was still impeccable and she recovered from 5-2 behind to ultimately overcome Mary’s best efforts to claim the title 8-6.
Congratulations to Melissa Purcell on winning the 2019 Anne Boleyn Championship! Also huge thanks are due to John Lumley for his tireless enthusiasm in running the event. He marked non-stop for over close to eight hours on Sunday! It is great to see ladies court tennis flourishing and we look forward to our next event at the Ladies Invitational in Newport from April 12-14.
