Our team, Bueno Cup, along with at least the Connolly Cup (who were to play today, but it was changed to tomorrow for the semis), Lenglen (35s), & Young (40s) had a day off today.

We practiced nearly three hours...Diane now is Coach Diane, as she was very helpful with our doubles positioning today. Susan was way over her 90 minute limit but no complaints. We then went to Porto Cristo where Nadal lives, a port town and very quaint, with a beautiful port, extremely blue water. We went to a huge cave, Dragon Cave is the translation of Cuevas del Drach, full of stalagtites and stalagmites and a large underground lake with clear salt water. After walking down we were seated and there was music played on a lighted boat that circled the cave. The lighting was exceptional, and the cave looked alien...reminded me of the Cappadocia landsape.

The Gala dinner is tonight, there should be photos posted tomorrow.

Wednesday, April 29th
USA vs. Sweden
Our #2 singles player, Renata (Which I will be sharing my interview I did with her earlier today later in this blog!) played against Christina Marmolin of Sweden.  Renata won the toss and picked the sunny side so her opponent served first.  She used her heavy topspin to win the first game.  Renata then lost her serve for 1-1.  She broke for a 2-1 lead then held after being down 15-40 for a 3-1 lead.  She broke for a 4-1 lead.  With her awesome drop shots Renata then held serve for a 5-1 lead.  At this point her opponent started to turn it on and won 3 games in a row. Now Renata was serving at 5-4 and won the game and set 6-4.  In the 2nd set Renata broke for a 1-0 lead then kept her momentum going for a 5-1 lead just like she did in the 1st set but she did not let her opponent from Sweden back in and won the 2nd set 6-1.  Great job Renata!  USA up 1-0.

Our #1 singles player, Vesna, played Anna Sundmark of Sweden.  Vesna lost the 1st game then held serve for 1-1.  She then broke her opponent’s serve to go up 2-1. Vesna held serve for 3-1 then broke being down 0-40 to go up 4-1.  She ended up winning the set 6-1 with great clay court playing!!  In the 2nd set Vesna went on to defeat her opponent 6-1 using her awesome clay court skills to seal the deal. 
Great job Vesna….you make your captain proud!!  USA up 2-0.

In our doubles match, Rachel and Carolyn won 6-0, 6-0 against Sweden.  They played very well together with great returns, good percentage tennis and using Australian doubles to throw their opponents returns off.  This strategy worked very well.    Great job girls! 
USA wins 3-0!!
This means we are in the Semi-finals on Friday against the #1 seeds Italy.  We have tomorrow (Thursday) off and we will be sightseeing together as a team.  We may even check out Rafa Nadal’s apartment building. J

Interview with Renata Marcinkowska
Renata is the veteran on our team this year.  When asked Renata told me she has been in 6 of these World Team Cup Championships:
2003-Germany
2004-Turkey
2005-Australia
2006-South Africa
2008-Turkey
2009-Mallorca
Wow, how lucky we are to have her on our team!! 
Renata is an Independent Tennis Consultant.   She dabbles in real estate on the weekends when she is not teaching.
Renata speaks several languages. 

Are you having fun with your team?
Yes Maam!  Everyone has been very friendly, supportive and genuine.  Everyone comes from different backgrounds and really did not know each other before this event and we all get along great!

Is there any foods from America you miss?
No, all the food here is great!
I do miss my father and sister and animals from back home!!
We are very happy Renata is on our team this year and thank you Renata for letting me interview you!

J Rachel Gale, Captain, 40’s Young Cup Team

The Austria Cup results today for the USA vs Turkey

USA wins 3-0
#2 singles  Larry Turville won 0,0
#1 singles Bill Roach won 2,1
doubles Tom Smith-Phil Landauer won 0,0

Tomorrow USA vs Spain

Submitted by Myke Loomis

Here's an article on all Cups, Day 1 from the ITF website: Article on Day 1

It also has links to Day 1 and Day 2 results from the Cups. I've pulled out Day 2 results in the preceding article.

Italia Cup: USA beat Switzerland 3-0. Willie Dann and Dougal Williams played singles; Lew Miller and Chris Carey played doubles. Day 2 Italia Cup Results. USA is seeded 5 or 6 and had a bye on Monday; play Lithuania today.

Trabert Cup: USA beat Austria 3-0. Richard Schmidt and Martin Barba won the singles, Barba in 3 sets; doubles was a walkover.
Day 2 Trabert Results: USA is seeded #3 in the Trabert Cup.

USA Dubler Cup beat Ireland 3-0. Andy Stoner and Michael Rose played singles and Doug Elly/Gil Schuerholz played a tough 3 setter in doubDay 2 Dubler Cup; USA is seeded #6

USA  Perry Cup:  beat Estonia 3-0 with Mike Fedderly and Val Wilder won singles; Peter Markes and Ross Persons cleaned up in doubles. USA is seeded Day 2 Perry Cup Results.

USA Austria Cup: USA is seeded #4. Phil Landauer and Bill Roach played singles; it was Bill's first international match and he won! They both did and Phil and Tom Smith won the doubles. Day 2 Austria Cup Results.

USA Lenglen Cup: USA was unseeded and lost to Great Britain 3-0 yesterday. Trish Riddell lost in 3 sets at #2 singles; Julie Cass lost at #1 and Michelle King/Amy Alcini lost the doubles. Great Britain were the #3 seeds. Day 2 Lenglen Cup results.

USA Young Cup: USA is seeeded #3 and beat South Africa 2-1. Renata Marcinkowska and Vesna McKenna won the singles; Carolyn Wei/Rachel Gale lost the doubles. Day 2 Young Cup Results.

USA Margaret Court Cup: USA is seeded #2 (Czech Republic is #1) and is a RR with Estonia, Sweden and Australia. They beat Estonia Tuesday and Sweden on Monday.Fran Chandler and Mariana Hollman played singles and Gretchen Magers and Mary Dailey played doubles yesterday. Day 2 Court Cup Results.

USA Bueno Cup: See blog below, but USA beat Argentina 3-0 behind Susan Wright and Diane Fishburne in singles and Carolyn Nichols/Marianne Robertson in doubles. USA is seeded #1. Day 2 Bueno Cup Results.

USA Connolly Cup: USA is seeded #1. They beat Argentina 3-0. Joanne Russell and Tina Karwasky played singles; Mary Ginnard and Martha Downing played doubles. Day 2 Connolly Cup results.
.
All results.

The final round of our round robin is today. We are playing the Netherlands. Susan is playing Karien Theeuwes at # 2 singles and is up 41 and playing very well. I will update this as play goes along today. Weather is cool but very sunny and a little breezy. Perfect for tennis but cool in the shade.

Susan won at #2 singles against Theeuwes 61 60.

Diane is playing Annelies Van Der Zweep at #1 singles. Diane won 64 60, winning the final 8 games!

Marianne and I now will play the doubles.

We won our doubles 60 62 and have tomorrow off. We play France on Friday, and it is supposed to rain on Friday...not good. Tomorrow we will practice and then go site seeing to some caves and possibly Manacor to look at Majorica pearls.

I had a long walk along the beach...not on the beach but along the walkway. It was a nice evening but extremely windy in the afternoon. Susan was hoping that all the new clay would somehow blow away...she got her wish and the courts are pretty much hard courts now. But the manager, Lorenzo is going to fix them up tomorrow and add more clay for Friday and Saturday.

Everyone at the Floriana has been exceptionally nice, we are being treated so well, all the players.

From Fran Chandler: We beat Australia 3 0 on first day, and Estonia 3 0 on 2nd day, and we play Sweden today our last day of round robin.

From Trish Riddell, prior to the competition:

Well, it did not come out so great but it will certainly prepare us to win!!!
We are unseeded and play in a group with Great Britain (#3 seed), Sweden and Netherlands.  We will play Netherlands on Monday

From Willie Dann, Captain: The men's 35's team won 3-0 against the Swiss. Dougal Williams won 6-2 6-0. Willie Dann won 6-1, 6-3. and Lew Miller and Chris Carey won 7-6 (9-7) 6-2. We play Lithuania tomorrow at 9am

We ran into Vesna and Renata tonight after dinnner, (I had grilled squid which was pretty good) and they told us about their matches today...you can read more below on Rachel's blog. I also met with Theresa Bowen from the USTA and we exchanged photos which I'll post tomorrow morning Mallorca time.

Vesna ran into the Argentine players at her hotel and they said they ran into a hurricane today, "Hurricane Diane" that is. She won in 28 minutes today! Can you believe that, she was flawless.

France finally beat Switzerland in their RR match today. All three matches went three sets, so while we were out shopping at 5:30 they were still playing. However, France still has to beat So Africa and So Africa nearly beat Switzerland yesterday, it's a very competitive RR group. Gr Britain and Australia are dominating their RR groups, so in all likeliehood will play each other in the semis on Friday.

Tuesday, April 28th  

USA VS. SOUTH AFRICA

Our USA #2 singles player Renata played against Helena Mowatt of South Africa.  In the 1st set  Renata started off strong and was up 3-1 using her heavy topspin and crafty drop shots.  This was a very effective strategy and she went up 4-2.  Then the game played at 4-2 went to 15 deuces!  Renata ended up on the short end of that very long game then the next game she held serve being down 15-40 for a 5-3 lead.  She lost the next game and lost her next service game at love.  Now the score is 5 -5.  Renata broke serve and went up 6-5 then served very well to win the 1st set 7-5!  This 1st set lasted 1 ½ hours.  In the 2nd set Renata played very confident and went on to win 6-1.  Well done Renata.  USA 1 South Africa 0.

Our USA #1 singles player Vesna (who was interviewed today for this blog so be sure to read more after you find out our end result) who played against Ralene Buys of South Africa.  Vesna started out her match with a service break then held serve to go up 2-1.  From there on it was very tight getting tied up all the way to 6-6.   In the tiebreaker Vesna held off a set point at 5-6 and won the next three points to win the tiebreaker with a 7-6 1st set win!  In the second set Vesna it was tight till Vesna pulled up 4-3 then 5-3. Her opponent fought back to make it 5-5 then 6-6.  Time for another tiebreaker!  This breaker was tight all the way till the end.  She won it 7-5!  GREAT WIN VESNA!!  USA 2 South Africa 0.
 The USA secured the win over South Africa.

Rachel Gale and Carolyn Wei played doubles for the USA and ended up losing 6-0, 6-1 against a tough South African doubles team!  Even with that loss the USA defeated South Africa 2-1.  We play Sweden tomorrow.
Interview with Vesna McKenna our #1 singles player on the USA 40’s Young Cup team.  I decided to ask each of our team players a few questions and share their answers with everyone reading this blog.  
This is Vesna’s 1st time playing in the World Team Championships.  She is a firefighter for Miami Dade Fire and Rescue.  She was born in Argentina of Croatian decent.  She speaks four languages: Croatian, German, English and Spanish.  Her team mates are very happy for her fluent Spanish speaking skills!!!

How does it feel to be playing for the USA here in Spain for the 1st time?
“I feel Great, nervous, excited and happy.  It is an honor for me to play for my country!”

Are you having fun with the players on your team?
“I am having a blast!  We are a very diverse team.  Each of us comes from different backgrounds yet we all interact with each other really well.”

Are you missing any foods from America?
“No, I can eat anything.  The food is all good here in Spain.  However, I do miss my son and husband as well as my job!!”
Vesna’s birthday is on May 6th so I wanted to wish her an early “Happy Birthday!”

By: Rachel Gale, Captain, Young Cup team



 Hello Everyone,      Today is Monday, April 27th our 1st day of matches.  
>
>    Sorry I could not get online yesterday and it was not my lack of trying.
> The phrase our team has now is "Are you in yet?" meaning have you
> gotten on the Internet??  Okay so the seeds for the 40's Young Cup are as follows:
>
>      #1 France
>      #2 Italy
>      #3 USA  :)
>      #4 Great Britain
>
>    There are 4 different round robins.  We are in a round robin with
> Slovenia, South Africa and Sweeden.  Today we played Slovinia and here
> are our results:
>
>      Rachel Gale started us off at #2 singles and won 6-1,6-0 against
> Tanja Valiavec.  She got the USA off to a great start!  Then Vesna
> McKenna kept the ball rolling with a 6-0,6-0 win against Anja
> Zavadlav.  Vesna played very well and stayed focused!
>  
>      Our doubles team of Renata Marcinkowska and Carolyn Wei defeated
> Tanja and Anja 6-0,6-0.  They had great hands at the net!!
>
>    We will go and practice this afternoon to be ready for our next
> opponent tomorrow!!  We are on Italy's side of the draw.
>
>     That is all for today!  Stay tuned for more results tomorrow (If I
> can get connected!!)
>
>                                         Go USA!!!    Rachel Gale :0)
>

Tuesday 11:20 am update: Susan Wright is playing Cora Salimei and is up a set but down 41 in the second and receiving. Salimei is first year 50s, a tall Argentine with good movement...great slider and a good backhand.

Noon update: Susan won 62 64, winning the final 5 games and 8 of the last 9 points, the final one a winnign forehand on the line.

Diane is playing Marcela de Gregorio now and is up 1-0; update at 12:44: Diane won 60 60, USA beat Argentina and we play doubles in a half hour.

4:15 pm: We won our doubles 62 64, it was fun. Our match took a lot longer than Diane's 28 minute match.

Check out usta.com today for a blog from Spain with Michael Rose and Joanne Russell.

Hi from Mallorca. Today went well against the Slovenians...(Eslovenia in Espanol).

We won all 3 matches easily, with Susan and Diane taking care of business in singles and Marianne and I winning our doubles. Then we practiced 2 sets of doubles, drove to Cala Millor or Sa Coma...hard to tell where one city ends and another begins, for a walk along the beach and shops and dinner. I tried paella since we are in Spain...it's ok, but the pizzas were better!

I posted some action photos from our play today, will post some photos from the walk along the beach tomorrow.

We play Argentina tomorrow...they will be tougher, but I'm not worried too much, Diane and Susan are playing well.

The men's 35 team won today, the men's 55 were off, the women's 40 and 50s won, and the result of the results can be found at www.itftennis.com/seniors. There are also articles about the days' play on that site. The internet is still very slow here so it's hard to look at a lot of pages. I have posted links to photos from the men's 45 and women's 40s on my home page and links there to Myke Loomis' and the Young Cup's and Carolyn Wei's blogs. Also check usta.com for a blog from Michael Rose and Joanne Russell.

This is going to be brief...it's late. The So African and Dutch captains and I had to make a 10pm run to the other club to see when we play tomorrow and where. We play at 10 and have an 8:45 practice. I'm hitting with Marianne at 8am, then Susan and Diane have the 8:45 practice. The organization is a bit lax, but it's Spain and we will get the tennis played in the end.

We play Slovenia tomorrow, then Argentina, then the Netherlands. After that we are on the same side of the draw as the group with France, So Africa and Switzerland. The seeds are USA, Australia, Great Britain and France. Our group and that with France, are playing at our hotel this week.

We are enjoying our hotel. The players from the other countries are asking how we were so lucky as to be staying at the Floriana...research pays off. :-)

We practiced at 8am today. Susan and Marianne didn't get a wake up call but woke up at 7:55 and still made it to the courts only about 5 minutes late. The winds were howling today early, but in the afternoon it was beautiful. Diane and I hit tennis balls and Susan and Marianne hit the internet.

We went to the opening ceremonies, I drove and we actually made it there without getting too lost. I carried the board with "Estados Unidos"...walking in carrying that and with Mike Rose carrying the US Flag...gives one chills even though I've done this before, it's always a big honor to represent the USA.

We took team photos after the opening ceremonies and Theresa Bowen of the USTA was there and took group photos, it went smoothly and everyone looked good in their uniforms.

We had an early dinner...I had grilled sardines which were not little, but maybe 6-8 inches long, very nice. Every meal here is served with bread, olives and aioli to start, very nice.

The Young Cup team is seeded 3, the Dubler Cup team is seeded 6 and the Lenglen Cup team is unseeded. I'll try and post more on the other teams when I can...internet is limited here. There are a few photos on my home page.

The opening ceremonies were today

We saw the 35s women's team today, they were practicing at our hotel since there were no courts at their site. We have 10 courts here and so far have had no problem getting courts.

The weather today was cool and overcast, felt like a NorCal Bay Area summer day...60s, overcast, drizzly, or May Gray in San Diego. It rained a little, not much.

We practiced and drove into Cala Bona, looked at Majorca pearls, hit the grocery store...for a country with so much agriculture, the produce is not good, though the Marcona Almonds are great. We saw the other tournament site and practiced a little more in the evening.

A lot of the teams have arrived now. We saw the Brits, some Aussies, the South Africans and Canadians.

HOpe to have an update on some other teams later tonight...practice tomorrow at 8am.

Another beautiful day in Mallorca. Diane arrived around 5pm and so our team was complete. Susan, Marianne and I hit in the afternoon...(Susan got up at the crack of 11:30 after sleeping 12 hours!) and then Diane and I hit in the afternoon and Susan and Marianne also hit. We had dinner again down by the harbor, al fresco.

I will try and post photos tomorrow...took some today but the internet connection is too slow here to upload photos plus it's going in and out this evening..I'm sending this from my phone.

I did take a walk down by the beach front. The beach is pretty deserted, but the cafes had more people in them. It's very early in the season here now and there aren't many tourists. Most of the tourists at our hotel are German.

We have one more day of practice, then opening ceremonies on Sunday and the Captains' meeting in the morning. Play begins Monday morning.

Hello from Cala Bona, Mallorca. Susan Wright and I arrived her after a less than linear route from the airport (we got turned around in one town and saw every street...twice)...but the drive was beatiful, the Mediterranean an impossibly deep blue, lots of spring flowers, lots of sheep...and surprisingly green.

The hotel we are staying at, an apartment hotel, is very nice, big rooms and best of all, the courts are right outside the door, so Susan and I hit for a little over an hour. Marianne Robertson, Susan's doubles partner, arrived tonight and Diane comes in tomorrow afternoon.

The draw for the team event will be done on Sunday morning and we have opening ceremonies on Sunday at 4:45 pm.

The weather today was great, much warmer than we expected, upper 70s, but cool in the evenings. It should stay that way for 2 more days...

I hope to take and post some photos tomorrow.

Brenda Carter and Carol Clay faced off again...for the 4th time since last October. And for a fourth time the match went to four sets, and for a fourth time, Brenda won the match. This was the first time the two had played for a gold ball, and after splitting the first 2 sets, Carter raised her game in the third, winning it 62. Betty Wachob beat Pat Keleman for the bronze.

Molly Hahn/Kathy Bennett won the doubles 76 60 over Carter/Wachob. Clay/Goodman won the 3/4 playoff in 3 sets over Hubbard/Watanabe.

In the 70s, Dori deVries handed Dorothy Matthiessen a rare singles loss...only her 2nd in the past 5 years (the other was also to Dori). Dorothy survived two long, 64 in the third battles but was unable to come back against the determined play of deVries who won 62 64. Carol Wood beat her third seeded player, and this time her doubles partner, Ria Graham, 57 76 63 (those nasty drop shots are even deadlier in the third set). Roz King beat Veal in 3 sets and Lyn Tietz beat Kathy Langer, but the final of the FIC may have gone unplayed due to a day of rain early in the week, and limits of one singles match per day for the 70+ age division. Carol Wood/Ria Graham won two 3-setters in a row to win the doubles consolation.

Claudia Giacomini/Norma Veal dominated the 70 doubles all week and the final was no exception, as they beat Roz King/deVries 62 63. Matthiessen/Lynn Little too the bronze 63 64 over Langer/Tietz.

The top seeds in the 60s and 70s reached the final in Huntsville today. Carol Clay dropped the first set to Betty Wachob, the 3rd seed, 75, but said she increased her racquet head speed in the final sets, winning them 61 62. Brenda Carter had an equally tough match, finally edging Pat Keleman 63 in the third. So Brenda and Carol will play for the third time this year, and each of their last three matches has gone three sets...

In the 70s, Dorothy Matthiessen had to go three sets for a second straight day, beating a resurgent Carol Wood 64 in the third. She faces Dori deVries in the final. Dori fought hard to win the first set against Ria Graham, and after doing so, 76, beat her tired opponent more easily in the second set.

Louise Russ' surgically repaired knee was golden today...she won the singles over Jane Lutz and combined with Stephens to beat Lutz/Maloney in straight sets to win her first Category I Championship in the 80s.

In doubles, Kathy Bennett/Molly Hahn beat Clay/Ellen Goodman in 3 sets and Carter/Wachob advanced to the final over Hubbard/Watanabe.

For all results, click here.