The Junior Players last weekend certainly showed that the game is in good hands going forward!
Well played everyone!
US Junior National Champion: Dylan Ward def. Alex Rodzianko 6/4,6/2
Under 18 – Boys: Paul Monaghan def. Alex Rodzianko 0/6,6/4,6/5
Under 15 – Boys: Jacob Mason def. James Chamberlain 3/6,6/1,6/2
Under 15 – Girls: Dana Kopald def. Caroline Lippincott 5/6,6/2,6/1
Under 12: Justin Bartenbach def. Gamble Freydberg 6/1,6/4
Prince’s Court welcomed players from Boston (Connors & Stockton), New York (Ziatyk), and from parts unknown (Bender) to the USCTA Level Championships for players with a handicap of 40-49, The Burke Cup. It became quite clear from the first match of the tournament that William Connors (affectionately dubbed “The Boston Strong Boy” by Temple) routed a travel-weary Mike Ziatyk and sent notice to the rest of the field that he was on a mission and would not be denied. The question was, who would have the game to stop him? Through many highly competitive matches over the course of the weekend, a challenger emerged, a Prince’s Court dark horse by the name of Greg Lysko. Read the rest of this entry »
Steve Hufford fought off three match points and a spirited effort by “underdog-on-paper” Jim Zug last weekend to win the Price Cup 6/4 3/6 6/5. Perhaps we can appeal to Mr. Zug’s loquacious side and get him to submit an eyewitness account?!?
Thank you very much for the Price Family for hosting this wonderful tournament!
Temple Grassi, “the Amabassador”, presided over an on-court ceremony last week in which new Prince’s Court member Hakan Lonaeus was crowned the Court Tennis Champion of Sweden. However upon hearing that this event occured, Radley Head Professional (and father of our beloved Ivan), Chris Ronaldson, has placed an objection via the Real Tennis Online Open Forum, stating that he believes he has a Swedish member there that could handily dispatch Hakan. The challenge has been issued, the trash talking has begun…click here to follow the developments.
Washington in Good Form
Washington battled New England for a second straight year in the Whitney Cup Final on Sunday. Haven Pell and Robin Martin got the team off to a promising start with a dramatic 6-5 third set victory over the talented N.E. team of Jonathan Pardee and Alex Walsh. However, N.E.’s Herlihy and Horine countered with a rollercoaster 6/1 2/6 6/1 win over Carey/K. Motz to level the contest at one match all. Read the rest of this entry »
Hoang/McCray Win The "C" Division
Prince’s Court sent a rather large envoy to the Jimmy Dunn Tournament in Philadelphia this past weekend as Temple counted 10 members along with countless other ex-pats. Play was competitive all weekend and provided for entertaining viewing. The big news is Vu Hoang and Jake McCray won the “C Division” in an epic 6/5 6/5 match against Shields/Yager!! I believe this was their first time playing in the Jimmy Dunn, and now that they have Dunn it, can they do it again? Stay Tuned.
Sterrett and Forton Victorious in Aiken
With the start of his new job a scant couple of weeks away, Vern Cassin made the most of his “free time” this November by reaching the semi-finals in back-to-back tournaments. The first was the New York Open Handicap B Division with a whopping 41 player field! Vern calmly worked his way through the first three rounds winning 8-1, 8-1, and 8-2 however a formidable opponent was waiting for him in the semifinals, Boston’s young upstart and eventual tournament winner, Brad Ursprung. A great showing.
Next up was the Calhoun Witham Doubles tournament in Aiken, SC. Over the last few months, we have all come to realize how wonderful Vern is and thus the question presents itself: how would Vern ever find a “worthy” partner? Read the rest of this entry »
Vietnam's 1-2 Punch!
by Vern Cassin
Prince’s Court was the host this year to the quasi-annual Vietnamese National Championship. As in previous years, the championship was between Prince’s Court member Vu Hoang and Prince’s Court emeritus Michael Do. Vu Hoang’s continuing improvement had raised speculation that he might take the championship from reigning champion Do. The match played off level—was attended by many of the Prince’s Court faithful.
As expected, the match was tightly fought. In the first set, Vu Hoang took an initial lead, bringing the game score to 5/4 Hoang. But Michael Do, energized by the pressure, hit six powerful left-handed serves to take the set.
The second set followed a similar pattern, with Vu clawing his way to a 4/3 lead, and Michael Do buckling down in the latter half of the set. Michael took the second set 6/4, winning the match and the championship. The Vietnamese National Championship is open to all players of Vietnamese extraction. Because Vietnam does not currently have court, the championship is traditionally played in the United States.
In preparation for the 2009 Cherry Blossom, it was unclear what to expect from this year’s tournament. Not only did this year’s tournament fall on Easter weekend, but we would be also missing the peak Cherry Blossom bloom by one week, the Masters was being played on the same weekend, and oh yes, the world economy was as steady as Phil and Ivan “after hours”. Rather than try to go against the grain, the decision was made to embrace our situation and make the best of it. As it turned out, our fears were unfounded with a jam-packed field of 27 teams representing Boston, Newport, Philadelphia, New York, Washington, the United Kingdom and Australia.
In a bold move to address the Easter component of the weekend, we decided to dye the ball cloth multiple Easter colors and make the balls two-tone (half white and half color), so they would look like Easter Eggs. The multi-color balls, coupled with a finishing touch of filling the trough with “Easter Basket” grass, made the Dedans look like one giant Easter Basket! A stuffed toy bunny, affectionately dubbed the “Money Bunny”, was also placed at various gallery locations and if the bunny was hit by the ball during play, that player would instantly win a prize. Beth Curren completed the artistic touch with an original 2009 Cherry Blossom Easter weekend watercolor print.
Read the rest of this entry »
