Sixty-one registered and 61 played in Gulf Harbour’s most recent tennis event this past Saturday and Sunday (April 10th & 11th). That’s an exceptional registration-to-appearance ratio for a Club tennis event in any part of the world. Those were the numbers for the Annual Davis Cup competition that featured six teams with 10 players each (one had 11), who battled each other for the right to be called, “Davis Cup Champions of the 2009 - 2010 Season.”
On paper the teams were well-matched, but as in all sports, you have to play the game. The first round started with Bill Cole’s Team Canada sweeping all four positions, although Jim King and Sandy Gebara of Ed Bonkowski’s Team Germany (13 points) gave Bill Donegan and Janie Heck a scare, coming back from 6-2 down before losing 6-8. Canada took the early Cup lead with 32 points after the first round.
Right on their heels, however, was Marianne Crouch’s Team Germany with 29 points, after they lost just one match to Alan Canfield’s Team USA (17 points). Alan and wife Lili Canfield pulled out a tough win against Pete and Marianne McElroy (8-5) to give Team USA its only win.
Team USA came roaring back in its second match of the day, taking 26 points against Tim Baldwin’s Team England (16 points), who were playing their first match of the event. Team Germany (18 points) had a better showing in their second match as well, splitting matches and points with Amy Ciarrocchi’s Team Italy (18 points).
In perfect symmetry, the teams won and lost all four matches by the identical scores of 8-1. Scoring symmetry was definitely the theme of the day as two of the matches in the Team England versus Team USA were 8-2 and two ended 8-3.
Team Canada continued their strong performance in their second match, eliminating Team Italy from championship contention by a score of 24 – 15. Team Ireland faltered a bit in their second match, however, dropping two matches and losing the contest 27-21. The highlight of the affair between Ireland and England was Penny Lownes (partnered with Bill Crouch) hitting a volley winner on match-point to seal the 8-6 victory on Court 4 for Ireland.
Getting out to a sizeable lead early in the event proved to be the winning formula for Canada. At the end of the first day, the tally was Canada- 56, Ireland-50, USA-43, England-43, Italy-33, and Germany-31. The event format scheduled the top finishers in the two flights to face each other for the Davis Cup Championship, the two teams with fewest points would contest the 5th and 6th positions, and the middle level point-getters would battle for 3rd and 4th places.
Although it threatened from the outset, the rain held off long enough on Sunday for third-through-sixth places to be decided on the court. England avenged a first-round loss to Team USA in winning the playoff for third, winning three of the four matches (28 – 16). Team Germany came close to sweeping Italy, winning three of four matches, and losing the other 6-8 in a tough duel won by Rich Fox and Joan Palermo over Mark Davis and Wennie Johannes.
Unfortunately, the Championship match was submerged beneath the torrent from the sky, and Team Canada was awarded the Davis Cup based upon their dominant Day-1 performance. Team Ireland took second place with the point total amassed in Saturday’s skirmishes.
Despite the terrific responses we have received over the course of the season, as I reflect on this particular event and all of the other events and activities we have had, I don’t remember as many participants commenting on what a great time they had with any other event. Hopefully next season we will be able to see the Davis Cup played through fruition, and we look forward to even more participants joining the fray. Special thanks to the captains, and to all who made the event what it was!
No comments:
Post a Comment