Speaking of holiday season, New Year’s Day is the next tennis event on the calendar and you can register for that by clicking here and logging onto the Club website. As usual the dynamic celebrity couple of Arnie and Randy Wohl will host the event. I can’t think of a better way to kick off the new tennis year than with the fun and food fest the Wohls host on New Year’s Day.
Inaugural Open Forum Tennis Meeting
Obviously the New Year’s event is on the first, and just recently we had another first in Gulf Harbour Tennis. The Tennis Advisory Committee and your Director of Tennis, Mike Curran hosted the first Open Forum Tennis Meeting on Wednesday, December 8th, at Johnny Brown’s. From all accounts it was a good meeting, and if you weren’t there you can find out what took place by checking out Harbour Views.
Club Championships
Club Championships
League Teams
Still in the competition vein, most of Gulf Harbour’s Women’s and Men’s league teams are doing quite well in the early going. Leading the way on the ladies side of things is our 3.0 Double Trouble team, led by Sally Mellendorf and Meg Jacobs. Despite losing some ground to the 2nd place team since the last report, Double Trouble still leads the Division by two points. On the upward swing is our Defending Champion 3.0-Minus Dream Team, with new captain Karen Brady and repeat co-captain Darlene Mattcheck at the helm. In third place after three weeks of play, the Dream Team has moved up into 2nd place after week five.
Three additional rated teams are holding top-five positions. Liz Byck and Judy Manzella’s 3.5-Minus Sure Shots have climbed the Division ladder to claim the 4th spot, while the Power Shots, led by Laurie Watson and Linda Van Wyk, have slipped three positions since the last report to 5th in the same division. Showing tremendous heart in some very tough matches, Connie Hess and Pam Lemon’s 4.0-Minus ladies have scrapped their way into 4th place, an improvement of two spots since the last report.
In the senior divisions, Val Steigerwald and Joan Palermo’s 50-Plus Silver Strings are carrying our banner, still holding onto 4th place after eight weeks of play. Also in the senior divisions, Marilyn Meyers and Mary Jean Wampler have led their Bronze Stringers team to 5th place in the very competitive Bronze Division. They are a single point ahead of Gulf Harbour’s Bronze Swingers led by Effie Parker and Paula Tebbetts.
As good as the ladies are doing, the men may be off to an even better start, with two of the six teams in 1st place and another two in 3rd. Our highest division team, Rich Fox and Tim Baldwin’s Red-C, is tied for 1st place the despite moving up a division and playing one less match than the Division Co-Leader. Also sitting atop its division is John Hess’ White B team, posting a 10-2 individual match record in the three team matches played thus far.
Three additional rated teams are holding top-five positions. Liz Byck and Judy Manzella’s 3.5-Minus Sure Shots have climbed the Division ladder to claim the 4th spot, while the Power Shots, led by Laurie Watson and Linda Van Wyk, have slipped three positions since the last report to 5th in the same division. Showing tremendous heart in some very tough matches, Connie Hess and Pam Lemon’s 4.0-Minus ladies have scrapped their way into 4th place, an improvement of two spots since the last report.In the senior divisions, Val Steigerwald and Joan Palermo’s 50-Plus Silver Strings are carrying our banner, still holding onto 4th place after eight weeks of play. Also in the senior divisions, Marilyn Meyers and Mary Jean Wampler have led their Bronze Stringers team to 5th place in the very competitive Bronze Division. They are a single point ahead of Gulf Harbour’s Bronze Swingers led by Effie Parker and Paula Tebbetts.
As good as the ladies are doing, the men may be off to an even better start, with two of the six teams in 1st place and another two in 3rd. Our highest division team, Rich Fox and Tim Baldwin’s Red-C, is tied for 1st place the despite moving up a division and playing one less match than the Division Co-Leader. Also sitting atop its division is John Hess’ White B team, posting a 10-2 individual match record in the three team matches played thus far.Both of Gulf Harbour’s Blue-A teams, one led by Jim Masiello the other by Tony Cupaiuolo, have climbed the ranks after less than stellar beginnings in division play. In 6th place when last reported, Jim’s team has risen to 3rd. That represents a tie with Tony’s team, which has moved up from 4th and is playing in a higher division this season than last. The two teams have a big showdown at home on Tuesday, January 4th at 2:00 P.M. You don’t want to miss that one!
USPTA Pro League
Although my last match hardly looked like a USPTA Pro League match, the dance continues in the Pro League on Friday, December 17th at Lexington Country Club. If you made it to the last match at Fiddlesticks, hopefully you watched Mike and Joel, as opposed to the “skunk tennis” I played. I felt pretty bad for our members in attendance and my partner Patrick during that match, which we lost in two very-easy-for-the-opposition sets. Mike and Scotty pulled off a third-set, super-tiebreak win, while Joel and Chad fell in a super-tiebreak.
Mike’s and my team lost ground last time out, and now trail Joel’s first-place team by three points. Fortunately we have an opportunity to catch the leaders this Friday, as we play Joel’s team…Unfortunately (for me) it is another 5:30 P.M. start. I won’t be too disappointed if you didn’t make this one, but Mike and Joel might, so we’ll look for you at Lexington this Friday at 5:30 P.M.
Member Update
It is my great pleasure to announce that Tom Van Wyk seems to be recovering very well after his short stint at Health Park for a blood clot. Also, Bob Ostrom’s game is as strong as ever (his forehand was actually compared to Mike Curran’s on Friday!), and Bonnie Graham is healthy and playing well enough to pull out a tough three-setter for her team this past week. April Burkholder is hanging tough and so is Norma Schuyler through their battles with cancer. Let’s keep the good vibes coming for those determined members of our tennis family.
Well, I hope you are still getting some tennis in even as you are enjoying the holiday season, and struggling to stay warm. Until next, game, set, match…..
