The Racquet Club of Chicago hosted the 2017 Greevy Cup from February 3rd – 5th.
The event began with a National League match on Thursday which pitted Chicago against New York. Many of the Greevy Cup participants attended the matches. A strong field of 16 competitors from seven U.S. Clubs comprised the draw. The early rounds generally went to the better handicapped player, with one notable exception. Max Drake performed at his absolute best in defeating Greg van Schaack in straight sets. In the first semi-final, Philadelphia’s Peter Hill went up against New York’s Shep Skiff. Both players were playing in Chicago for the first time, but with both performing at a very high level, they appeared to know the court well. Peter raced out to a 6/1, 2/0 lead before Shep found another gear and leveled the match at one set all. The third set went game for game before Peter was able to win on his 6th match point 6/5. The second semi-final was equally exciting with local hopeful and 2nd seed Marty Kinsella up against Aiken’s Geoff Ellis. Marty took the first set 6/2. Geoff raised his game in the second and brought the match to 5 games all. With some clinical finishing and accurate forcing, Marty was able to take the game, win the second set and the match 6/5. The final brought out the best in Marty. He was able to control the tempo and spend the majority of the time at the service end. Ultimately, Marty won the match and the Greevy Cup Championship 6/1, 6/2.
Greg Van Schaack won the consolation event by defeating Chicago’s Jamie DeYoung in an exciting final 8/5.
Thank you to the Racquet Club and the Athletic Committee for their support, and to John Cashman, Conor Medlow and Ed Hyde for their help throughout the weekend.
by John Lumley
We had a fantastic turnout of 16 players come to Philadelphia for the Noll Cup. Dick Tanfield and Brad Urpsrung had the match of the day on Friday with Tanfield taking it 5/6 6/5 6/4. Each set saw some great rallies and very close exchanges making it a very competitive match. Andrew Dick and Mark Philpott also had a battle out on court for the first round with Dick taking it 6/2 2/6 6/4. Peter Vogt and Charles Katz had a fantastic match with which went down to the wire and ended with Peter Vogt hitting a Dedan to beat chase better 2. Score was 6/4 3/6 6/5 which took Vogt into the semis where he faced Ben Hudson from Boston. They had 2 hard fought sets at 6/4 4/6 but in the final set Hudson kept the pressure up and won it 6/2 to secure his place in the final. On the other side of the draw Morgan Purvis beat Dan Sternberg in two of the closest sets of the tournaments winning 6/5 6/5 to advance Purvis into the semi-finals. There he met Philip Stockton and with good length and change of pace managed to take it 6/4 6/3 to get him into the final vs Hudson.
The crowds were piling in to watch the final between Morgan Purvis & Ben Hudson. Hudson started off very strong taking an early 4-1 lead but Purvis changed up his length and came back to 5 games all. 30 all and Purvis played two great shots to take the first set 6/5! Hudson determined and pumped up from the first set took another early lead to 3-2. Purvis with some fantastic volleys and serving put the pressure back on and ended up winning 6/5 6/4 to take the 2017 Noll Cup Title!
The 2017 Burke Cup @ The Tuxedo Club saw a strong field of 16 players compete for this USCTA title for Handicaps of 40+.
In what may have been a first in Court Tennis; Dawson Chisholm was warned by the marker before his first round match that any poor behavior will result in getting grounded!
In all seriousness, a wonderful weekend of tennis was on display for the players and fans!
Congratulations to Spencer Feldman – the 2017 Burke Cup Champion!
2017 Wharton Cup
Report by
Michael Gooding
Head Professional
National Tennis Club
The venue for the 2017 Wharton Cup was the City by the Sea, Newport Rhode Island. The host club was the National Tennis Club.
With participants from Tuxedo, New York, Philadelphia, Boston, and Newport, and with a competitor age range from 16-74, it encapsulated all that makes an USCTA event so special.
In the first round, we saw some early upsets with the top 2 seeds going out. Top seed Dan Paquette (Newport) went out to Drew Oliveria (Boston) in a very competitive three set match. Second seed Charles Neuhauser (Tuxedo) lost an extremely close match (6/5, 6/5) to David Caldwell (Philadelphia). David hit a remarkable volley into the winning gallery off a force to take the match.
The route to victory for the eventual winner was long and difficult with each of his matches going to 3 sets. The old adage, “what doesn’t kill you makes you stronger”, was very appropriate especially for a 16-year-old. With each minute playing against tournament opponents, Michael Hill (Boston) gained valuable court time and experience.
The final saw Michael Hill versus fellow Bostonian Drew Oliveria
In the first set both players were playing well trading blows and playing aggressively. But Michael’s forehand volley was the shot making the difference and earned him the set 6/4. Michael used the momentum and got off to a very strong five games to one, 40/15 lead in the second set.
Things looked bleak for Drew when he changed ends to face Michael’s serve. The first serve looked good and Drew coughed it up to Michaels best shot the forehand volley. Seeing such an easy ball, Michael decided to hit the best volley ever hit to win the match and promptly crushed it into the net. One match point saved. The next serve again set up Michael’s forehand volley and once again Michael took the bait and much to everyone’s amazement crushed it into the net as hard as the first match point. Michael blood was high and he was trying too hard to get over the finish line. Drew coolly and slowly pulled himself back into the set to take it 6/5.
Now one set all, it seemed Michael was not the favorite anymore. This set was much more even, with pressure on each player. Neither gave anything away. But Michael was always able to stay a little ahead and won the decider 6/4.
The consolation draw went to Dan Paquette (Newport) over Charles Heenan (Tuxedo) 10/5 in a well-played light hearted match a very suitable end to a wonderful weekend of tennis.
Prince’s Court hosted this year’s Hickey Cup for handicap 60+ players on February 3-5. A strong field of 12 players representing Prince’s Court and the Racquet Club of Philadelphia signed on for the three-day competition. The tournament began with top seed, Mick Domagala defeating Kornelia Mostrous (both from Washington) in the first round (6-4, 6-3). In the end, however, Domagala lost in the semi-final round. Kornelia went on to prevail over DC’s Bob Forbes in a well-played back draw final with a score of 10-2.
Lucas Garvin from Philadelphia reached the finals by defeating Washington’s Mary Livingston (6-2, 6-1) and Mick Domagala (6-4, 6-3). Washington’s Art Horowitz reached the finals by defeating Philadelphia’s Clark Thomas (6-0, 6-1) and #2 seed, James Shaver (4-6, 6-3, 6-4).
The Hickey Cup finals were a grueling, well-played three-set marathon between Garvin and Art Horowitz. Garvin dominated the first set (6-2) with a steady barrage of powerful railroad serves. Horowitz, the finalist in last year’s Hickey Cup, clearly gained focus and patient determination as the match wore on. He turned the tide in the second set (6-5) by outlasting Garvin in several drawn out deuce games and long rests. Garvin kept coming back, but Art achieved the upper hand in the third set (6-4) with a confident serve, good and timely chases, and strong volleys to close out and win an exciting match.