USA won the deciding doubles match behind the strong play of Dick Johnson and Ken Robinson to regain the Britannia Cup at Alexander Park. The women's 65 (Kitty Godfree) and 70 (Althea Gibson) Cups placed third.

The Crawford Cup team also placed third, beating Norway 2-1. Bob Quall won at #2 singles; Fred Farzanegan lost 64 in the third and Duesler/Sarantos played another excellent match to clinch the bronze.

USA fell 2-1 to Spain in the Von Cramm Cup, splitting the singles before Neely/Cheney lost 64 64 in the deciding doubles match against Spain. The top Spanish player was so good that some of the onlookers took to calling him the "magician"...he was amazing and the Spaniards made very few unforced errors.

The USA lost 2-1 in the Mulloy Cup with Tony Franco/Dick Emmert winning the nondeciding doubles match.
Click here to read about Friday's play.

Click here to go to the ITF Seniors website where an article on Saturday's play and continued coverage of the play next week will be posted.

The USA Men's 75 "dream team" won the Bitsy Grant Cup for the second straight year. In contrast with last year's dramatic finish (a four hour match between Lorne Main of Canada and John Powless of USA), this year's entire match lasted barely more than three hours. Powless won at #2 singles, Van Nostrand beat the world #1 at #1 singles and Hurlbut and Doss won the doubles point.

The Australian Gardnar Mulloy (80) and Queens' Cup teams blitzed the Americans in both finals, losing only a handful of games in winning both singles matches. Boots Van Nostrand came off her sickbed to give a valiant try at #2 singles, and Mary Boswell didn't quit till the last point was finished, but the Aussies were too tough today. The Aussie Mulloy Cup team was equally impressive, beating up on Graydon Nichols and Clem Hopp.

The USA Crawford Cup team is tied at a match apiece against top seeded Spain and Brian Cheney/Armistead Neely are on court now playing the deciding doubles point.

Australia is a match up and playing the 3rd set of #1 singles now against France. The winner of that tie will win the Cup with the loser taking 2nd. USA finished third.

The USA fell to South Africa, the defending champions, in the semis of the Althea Gibson Cup. The tie came down to the third set of the deciding doubles match, where So Africa prevailed over Americans Dori deVries and Dorothy Matthiessen. DeVries beat Van Collier at #2 singles and Jeannie Lieffrig, the defending world champion, beat Matthiessen.

The USA, seeded 1 in the Godfree Cup, also lost, this time to Australia, 2-1. Australia was lucky to have advanced to the knockout stage of the event, as their round robin ended in a three way tie and they edged out So Africa by less than a % point in number of games won and lost.

Play is just now starting in Perth.

The USA reached the final round in five cups today in Perth.

At Alexander Park the USA Britannia Cup team split its singles, but won the deciding doubles point to reach the final tomorrow. Jimmy Parker also reported that the women's 65s and 70s teams had both split their singles and were playing their deciding doubles match when they left.

At Robertson Park the men's 60s and 75s advanced comfortably. In the 60s, Army Neely started proceedings against the Netherlands with a straight set win at #2 singles. Brian Cheney, looking comfortable on the carpet (what a terrific backhand!) also won in straight sets. Hugh Thomson/Brent Abel won the doubles point. It is Brent's first Cup and he was psyched to reach the final. He said sitting on the bench was exciting as he could feel the energy from the players on court. They play the winners of France/Spain tomorrow.

The men's 75s played Australia. They are in a 3 team round robin with France being the third team. Australia beat France yesterday, so this was nearly a final. John Powless started things off with a win at #2 singles, in straight sets. King Van Nostrand took out Max Byrne at #1 singles...and Max took out the world #1 the year before and Doss/Hurlbut played the doubles. They play France tomorrow.

The men's 80s played France. Graydon Nichols played #2 singles and lost a tight 75 64 match at #2 singles. Clem Hopp dominated at #1 singles, using his forehand and drop shot effectively. He lost only  a game in winning. Nichols/Tony Franco played the deciding doubles point for the second straight match and again dropped the first set, this time 76, but rallied to win the final sets 63 61. Hopp said he was more nervous watching than playing, and I know I was! They play Australia in a repeat of the 2007-8 finals.

The women's 75s faced Canada. Margaret Canby played #2 singles and lost a close match, fighting till the end very hard, but fell 76 in the third. Mary Boswell though was flawless in beating Muffie Grieve 63 62 (Muffie unfortunately learned of her mother's death early this morning, though she did not make any excuses). Joyce Cutts and Grieve played the doubles point against Boswell/Lee Burling and lost 64 and I believe 60. They play Australia in the final tomorrow.

The women's 60s played France today. Brenda Carter played a good player, the French #3, who hit hard and flat, a very effective way to play on the carpet. She lost 62 76 (5), very nearly forcing a third set. Martha Downing then played world #1 Nicole Hesse, and played well, losing in three sets. Carol Clay/Kathy Bennett won the doubles point. They thus finished third in the Marble Cup.

In the men's 70s, USA played New Zealand and lost both singles. Fred Farzanegan dropped a heartbreaker 75 67 64, especially since he led 51 in the first set. A spectator chose set point in the 2nd set to wander though Fred's court to view another court...(Fred asked her if she was lost, and she appeared to be lost), but Fred focused on the next point and won it.

George Sarantos lost at #1 singles 64 76 (6)...a very tough, tight match against an experienced opponent.

Click here for an article on yesterday's play and all results from Mon-Thursday.

The USA Crawford Cup team had a tussle today with Great Britain in the quarters of the knockout draw. Fred Farzanagan won at #2 singles; George Sarantos lost at #2 singles and Bob Duesler/Sarantos played brilliantly to win the doubles point in straight sets. They play NZ tomorrow.

In Marble Cup action, USA played home team Australia. Brenda Carter played Carol Campling at #2 singles. Carol's ease on the fast carpet surface was evident and she prevailed in a well played match 64 62. The match of the day was that between Martha Downing of the USA and Kerry Ballard of Australia, both playing in their first year in the 60s. It was very hot and muggy for Perth. Both women had great slice backhands, good serves and all court games, but in the end Ballard prevailed 64 in the third after Downing rallied from 52 down to make Kerry serve for it. Downing thought that after the first set the wind came up a bit, but there was little to separate the two.

The remaining American teams had a day off.

Click here for an article on the ITF Seniors website and links to daily results from the team events in Perth.

USA won all matches played today. All teams were in action today. The closest match was the Mulloy Cup. Hopp won at #2 singles against NZ, but Tony Franco fell at #1 singles in straight sets. He returned with Graydon Nichols for the doubles, which they won 46 64 64...a very tense match against a good NZ team. The top NZ player, Robb, moves very well and has an excellent serve and forehand. Franco survived a tense game to serve out the 2nd set and the Americans were always up in the final set, with Nichols serving out the match at 15.

In the Queens Cup, Boots Van Nostrand was ill again, but Margaret Canby filled in ably again at #2 singles, winning 62 60, a veteran now of 2 ties. Boswell took on the German #1 Ilse Michael, a fine player and won the first set, but Michael zoned in the 2nd set which she won 60. Lee Burling had been sitting on the court but when I went back to see some of the third set Van Nostrand was off her sickbed to coach Mary (Lee said she was fired as a coach after the second set). Boots spends summers playing on a German team and according to Mary knew exactly what to say. It worked, She won the third set 64 on a hot day, temperatures in the high 90s. Canby and Burling completed the 3-0 win over Germany by the Americans.

In the women's 60s, the USA beat Argentina 3-0 without drama and play Australia right now. France had a tough match with Germany, a drama. Germany, playing its #3 player (sitting out Orth) won at #2 singles, France's world #1, Hesse, won at #1 singles, and France won the first set 76 at which point Orth's doubles partner defaulted the match, and France advanced to the knockout round.

In the men's 60s, the USA dropped the first set at #2 singles, but Brent Abel rallied (with some timely advice from captain Hugh Thompson) to win the match, and Brian Cheney completed the win.

In the women's 70s, USA won all three matches, as did the Britannia Cup men's 65s, Crawford Cup men's 70s and the Grant Cup men's 75s.

The women's 65s, Godfree had some drama, against France, as Fales won at #2 singles against Bichon in a tight match,  but Steel lost soundly at #1 to Sylvie Galfard. . However, Fales and Steel won the deciding match  easily to put them into the semis against Australia. USA is seeded #1.

 

All USA teams won today. The weather changed a lot from cool to quite warm today, in the upper 80s...there were a lot of red-faced players and observers today (particularly from Canada and Great Britain).

The most exciting tie of the day was the Von Cramm Cup. Armistead Neely played #2 singles and rallied from 0-4 down in the first set to force a tiebreaker, which Austria won and Austria went on to win the match. Brian Cheney won at #1 singles, winning the 2nd set in a tiebreaker. Brent Abel and Cheney won the doubles easily, 62 60 to complete a win.

Boots Van Nostrand, captain of the Queens' Cup was ill, but Margaret Canby made her Cup debut against France and it was a successful won. She won at #2 singles in three sets, and Mary Boswell won at #1 handily in straight sets. Canby and Lee Burling completed a 3-0 win. USA play Germany tomorrow.

The Bitsy Grant, (M75), Jack Crawford (M70) and Britannia Cup (M60) won; the Mulloy Cup was off.

The Alice Marble Cup (60), Kitty Godfree (65) and Althea Gibson (70) cups also were successful, with 3-0 wins.

All for now...hot again tomorrow.

The USA went undefeated on Monday, though the Queen's Cup team made it exciting. Boots Van Nostrand dropped her match at #2 singles, but nearly won the first set, having several set points before going down in straight sets. Veteran Mary Boswell stepped up and won the #1 singles match and combined with Lee Burling to win the doubles 75 60.

The Mulloy Cup team (Men's 80s) won 3-0 (see accompanying article).

The Von Cramm Cup team (60s) won 3-0 over Norway. Brent Abel started things off with a 63 60 win, his first ever cup match. Brian Cheney won the #1 singles and Neely/Thomson won the doubles.

 

The USA Britannia Cup team (65s) won 3-0 over Norway as well.

 

The USA Gibson Cup team won 3-0 over Great Britain with Dorothy Matthiessen and Dori deVries winning the singles and Lyn Tietz, making her Cup debut and Roz King winning the doubles point.

 

The USA Kitty Godfree Cup (women’s 65) won at Alexander Park with Donna Fales and Suella Steel winning the singles and Cathie Anderson/Lee Delfausse taking the doubles point. .

The following teams had the day off: Men’s 70, 75, Women’s 60s.

 

The wind died down during the day and it was a fantastic day for tennis.

Tony Franco, captain of the team reported back on the Mulloy Cup captains’ meeting. The USA is seeded #2 and is in a group of three teams with Great Britain and New Zealand. Top seeded and defending champions Australia is in a RR group of four which includes France. They had a team dinner at a nice Italian restaurant after the opening ceremonies and celebrated Virginia Nichols’, Graydon’s wife,  84^th birthday.

 

Clem Hopp will start play at 10am at #2 singles and was fretting a bit…concerned about his opponent who gave him a tough match on clay in the past, and the early start time, but is fit and ready to go.

 

Tony Franco was of course telling jokes and ready to play #1 singles after Hopp.

 

Postscript:

 

Hopp fretting worked, he won 60 63 and Tony won 61 61. Nichols/Emmert won the doubles as the USA swept Gr. Britain 3-0.

Perth, Monday Morning

 

Opening ceremonies were held at the Perth Soccer Field yesterday. One player from each country held their country’s flag and the rest of the players were in the stands and stood when their country was announced. There were speeches and unfortunately the microphone broke, but the speakers did a good job of moving closer to the crowd and speaking up. A big cheer went up when host nation Australia was announced. Margaret Robinson from the Australia Queens’ Cup team and the defending 75+ world champion held the flag of her country; Carol Clay of Fort Lauderdale held the flag for the USA.

 

Carol Wood did an excellent job of taking photos of the US players and teams and I hope to post some in the next day.

 

After the ceremonies there was a cocktail party with heavy appetizers and drinks. It was crowded but congenial.

 

The seeds were announced and the draws made yesterday. USA is seeded #1 in the men’s 70, 75 and women’s 75; they are seeded #2 in the Men’s 80s; seeded #3 in the women’s 60s and men’s 60s; and I haven’t talked to the men’s 65, women’s 65 and women’s 70s captains yet.

 

The men’s 80s are in a RR group of 3 and play Great Britain today. Defending champion Australia is seeded 1 and France, a strong team, is in their group. There are 7 teams in their Cup. The winner of their RR group will play the #2 team from the other group and vice versa in the knockout portion of the competition.

 

The men’s 75 are also in a RR group of 3. There are 9 teams in their cup and the winner of each RR group will play in a second RR starting Thursday.

 

The women’s 75s have 7 teams. The USA is in  a group of 4 teams, and will play Monday-Wednesday with Thursday being an off day.

 

The weather was extremely windy on Sunday and rain is forecast for Wed/Thursday…hopefully it will pass by and not rain!

 

Yesterday I walked down to the riverfront where boats leave to go to Freemantle and other spots for tours. The Swan River is huge, very wide and yesterday it was very choppy, I was happy I was not on a boat yesterday. There’s a nice walkway along the river for runners, walkers and bikers.

Meet the members of the 2009 USTA Gardnar Mulloy Cup Team.

 

Captain: Tony Franco, Briarcliff Manor NY. This is his 70^th year of playing and still trying to get up to a 2.5 NTRP rating (kidding). This is his 5^th straight Mulloy Cup team and his first time as a captain and 7^th overall. Tony is known for his jokes; he’s a master deliverer of them and always has one handy.

 

Tony is coming off wins in singles and doubles at the grass courts and the clay courts. He said it is possibly his best tennis year ever, but definitely will be the best if they win the Cup. Tony is retired from IBM.

 

Nothing beats representing your country and winning it for the US according to Tony.

 

Clem Hopp, Sarasota, Florida. Clem started playing tennis in Detroit when he was 9 in a boys’ camp and has been playing ever since except for break when in his mid 20s and 30s.

 

Clem is currently one the world and in the US in men’s 80s. This is his 5^th Cup team. He won the world championships in the 75s in 2003 and is a 7 time European champion. He likes the grass in Perth and says it’s the best he’s ever played on.

 

Richard (Dick) Emmert from Willmington, DE, is the rookie on this team. It is his first Cup team. He started playing tennis at age 17, but turned down college tennis to pursue his chemical engineering degree and then eventually got his masters and PhD. He worked for over 30 years for DuPont, traveling all over the world, including Asia, but this is his first trip to Australia.

 

Dick started playing nationals in the 70+ age division but played in the Middle States while working as a chemical engineer. He started playing a lot more after retirement, almost daily when he’s not in a tournament. He’s a member of the Delaware Tennis Hall of Fame.

 

This is his first year in the 80s. He was thrilled to make the Cup team. His goal going into the 80s was to reach the top 6 in the country.

 

Graydon Nichols, Hanford, CA. Graydon is playing on this 5^th straight Cup team and 11^th overall and is the veteran of the team. He and Tony won the world championships last year in doubles. He was recently inducted into the USTA NorCal Tennis Hall of Fame. He still puts in many hours in agribusiness in California.

 

Nichols started playing tournaments when his sister introduced him and his 7 siblings to tennis. Their dad allowed them to use part of a field on their small farm for a dirt court and they used ashes to line the court. He played sporadically till he reached his mid 40s, and hit his stride when he hit the 70s. He’s been a top 5 player ever since.

 

His favorite surface is grass and he loves to serve and volley.

 

The USA Mulloy Cup team finished second in 2009 on red clay and hopes to regain the cup in 2009.

 

 

Perth, Australia, Sunday Morning

The US teams arrived in Perth and were on the practice courts Friday afternoon. The grass at Robertson Park is playing very nicely, high bounces...even the clay court players like Clem Hopp (who said it was the best grass he'd played on) and Dick Emmert liked it a lot. It plays very differently from the US grass, much slower and higher bouncing. The artificial surface according to Brent Abel was not slippery but played fast like a grass court.

The weather is challenging, EXTREMELY WINDY, today more than the previous days. But it is sunny.

The captains' meetings start at 1pm today and opening ceremonies are at about 5pm in a big stadium.

Perth has a small town feel, it reminds me a lot of Sacramento, flat, with a larger river running though it, the Swan River, and the ocean is closer. It's closer to Asia than to Sydney (a 5 hour plane ride to the east).

I'm not on my computer but will try to post photos in the next few days. Internet access at the hotel is $27 a day...so I'm at a backpacker's internet cafe, waiting for the gym to open (at 9 when they told me 7...).

Perth is a very expensive town, and the dollar is very weak, so there's a lot of sticker shock amongst the Americans...prices for food are above those in NY for example I think, for food anyway, but there's always pb & j.

The ITF Super Senior Cups begin November 2nd in Perth, Australia.

I will be on site as an ITF rep and Carol Wood will be available as a USTA rep. Time permitting, I'll be blogging from Perth.

We will also have blogs at USTA.com from Donna Fales and the men's 80+ team and others. I'll post links as needed.

The draws for the individual world championships will be posted here on the 6th of November.

I'm off tomorrow for Australia...hope to have some photos posted by the 31st.

BallenIsles will start January 20th, 2010.

The USTA has published a tentative schedule on the USTA.com website. Click here to see it.

I will be publishing more information here and on my home page as I obtain it.

For questions, contact me.

On Thursday we played the semis of the mixed at 10am as we were told we would on Wednesday. We won 9-4 against Haim Ohm and Julia Dudics. Julia's game didn't translate as well to doubles as it does to singles, though Haim has a big lefty serve.

However, the final was not scheduled immediately afterwards but was to be played after the 40s women's final (which began at 10) and then the mixed semi were played. We couldn't wait around all day to play (trains and planes to catch), so ended up second.

I went by car with Bridget to Villach in Austria, through Croatia and Slovenia. Villach is near Klagenfurt. Then after lunch in a Biergarten (you walk into what looks like a bar or dark restaurant into a huge garden in the back, bordered by a church and a beer brewery), I caught a train to Vienna. Friday I toured a castle outside Vienna, and also the old town. It was quite warm, in the low 90s and I saw a lot of red faces. Interesting fact...you can pick out Germans because they wear socks with their sandals. I saw a lot of that and also heard a lot of Americans for a change.

The weather changed completely today, well last night. It rained and the temperature cooled off to the low 60s. The afternoon was mostly dry, a few sprinkles from time to time. I saw a lot of beautiful old buildings, the museum, palace, Ratthaus (where a film festival was taking place that evening...a huge screen was juxtapositioned onto the old building), churches and the Spanish Riding School. Then I did a bit of shopping on Mariahilferstrasse...wandered into a big department store and was surprised to see T-shirts not only with Florida and Miami on them, but several with "Pensacola Beach" logos.

Back to the USA tomorrow.

Minimal (ie normal for Croatia) confusion today...I was scheduled for noon but the schedule was changed when I arrived to 1:30, so we watched the 55 final...one woman from Hungary, Julia Dudics, played the top seed from Austria, Dagmar S. Dudics hit the ball the 1st set and lost so the 2nd set she reverted to hitting every ball straight up in the air...in the end it wore out her opponent, but it was an interesting match, the Hungarian poker faced and the Austrian talking to her friends between every point...Hungary won in the end. Then she had 3 cigarettes according to Bridget, after the match and was chain smoking like crazy before the final!

I won my final, beating the 2 time defending champion from Austria 60 60...Anita Hagner. The prize was 6 days room and board for the tournament next year. We are also in the mixed semis, got a default in the round of 16 and won the quarters over a Serbian pair 92. I think we will play one or 2 matches tomorrow...our semifinal opponents indicated they might not play. Then on to Vienna.

The weather was fantastic again today and the referee mellower as the tournament winds down.

There were chairs for the final...they called all the lines but not any foot faults, the head referee said it was too hard to do that for seniors who had been foot faulting for 40 years and the foot faults didn't gain them any advantage anyway, and only a few matches are umpired so changing the rules for the final wouldn't work..then he described some of the blatant foot faults he'd observed during the tournament. It's definitely a more mellow type of tournament, the bar gets a workout here for sure.

The confusion abated this afternoon, we played our mixed...only an hour behind schedule. There's only one age division for mixed, so we played a team from the 60s and won 9-0...we are playing pro sets in the mixed obviously. We probably play 2 or 3 rounds tomorrow but after the singles final which is scheduled for noon. There are lots of nice people at this tournament...the players here anyway are not in deep training...they are playing, then having a beer at lunch and a smoke afterwards!

We had the Gala Dinner last night, a nice buffet dinner, preceded by champagne and Schnapps..wine on the tables, but we had to request water. It started at about 8 for cocktails, 8:30 for dinner...dancing was starting about 10 when we left, as I needed to find out when I played and nothing was posted at the dinner, though a schedule was promised. The schedule was posted at the Club where a men's 70s match had just concluded at 10pm, and the referee was still on site. I was scheduled for 9am at the top club, the one with a great view.

Today we were driven up the mountain only to find out that the tournament had failed to reserve those courts (which were fully scheduled for matches today)...back down the mountain to the main club in Opatija, where we were fit in at about 3pm...however there were 2 courts free at 9:30...I asked the referee...can we play now, we are here, no one is on the courts. He agreed and so we played and I beat a Serbian player 60 60...nice lady, only has been playing tennis for 6 years, but a decent player, good athlete and a former basketball player.

Our mixed was also scheduled for up on the mountain...now it's scheduled not before 5pm...probably will be closer to dusk (7:30 or so) I think...one 10am match was just starting at noon. The loss of 2 of 9 courts is bound to put them behind schedule.

Very sunny and warm here today and the Adriatic is sparkling. It is a very relaxed atmosphere other than the fact that the tournament is being run in an incoherent fashion! Apparently one woman took vacation this year during the tournament and it's thrown things off.

All for now.