Jun 30, 2014 | Uncategorized
The inaugural International Tennis Day was a huge success. The annual date is 20 June, the anniversary of the Tennis Court Oath at the start of the French Revolution. Modeled after World Squash Day, the first ITD came off wonderfully. All four playing nations participated and photographs and reports went up onto the ITD page at Facebook, a seamless way for everyone to follow each other’s activities in real time. You can find the ITD page here. Australia got the day started off right. Melbourne had much play and in Hobart before a full dedans, Barry Toates hosted a skills… Read the Full Story >
Dec 19, 2013 | Uncategorized
The sixteenth conclave of the United States Court Tennis Association, the Annual Dinner came off in stunning fashion at the Racquet & Tennis Club on Friday 13 December 2013. Last year’s dinner was the largest non-Hall-of-Fame gathering in the Association’s history. This year, it was even bigger. It started with cocktails and silent auction browsing in the main lounge. The main attractions were a wonderful oil painting set in Aiken (with Pierre doing the marking) and some photographs and prints by Michael Do and Freddy Adam. Then one hundred and eighty-six people packed into the R&T’s dining room for a… Read the Full Story >
Dec 3, 2013 | Uncategorized
Jimmy Dunn By James Zug The 33rd annual Jimmy Dunn tournament weekend at the Racquet Club of Philadelphia was its most successful ever. One hundred and fifty-seven people came to South Sixteenth Street to play a total of 225 matches over the course of four very full days (and nights). The highlight of the weekend was the Edward M. Noll Testimonial Dinner at the Saturday evening black-tie dinner-dance. Two hundred and thirty-five people attended, making it one of the largest events in RCOP history and recalling some of the legendary testimonial dinners of the past. Guests included Ed’s two… Read the Full Story >
Feb 1, 2013 | Uncategorized
Cam is A ’Comin’ By James Zug The past eight days have put an emphatic stamp on the world of tennis: Camden Scott Riviere is back. The ginger-haired southpaw from Aiken won the 61st United States Open on the Van Alen Court at the Racquet Club of Philadelphia. He captured his second Open title without the loss of a set, conceding just seven games in his first three matches and overall a total of fourteen games in twelve sets. In the semis, he demolished the defending champion Bryn Sayers 0, 2 and 1 and in the finals he… Read the Full Story >
Dec 11, 2012 | Uncategorized
The 15th official conclave of the United States Court Tennis Association, the Annual Dinner came off in spectacular fashion at the Racquet & Tennis Club on Friday 7 December 2012. The largest crowd in the history of the Annual Dinner—save when there has been inductions into the International Court Tennis Hall of Fame—came to New York to celebrate one of the most successful years in the history of the Association. Membership is at an all-time high; the number of courts is at an all-time high; and play, as seen upstairs during the Whitney Cup, is perhaps for amateurs also at… Read the Full Story >
Nov 30, 2012 | Uncategorized
John J. Hickey, a central link to the amazing tennis history at Greentree, died in November 2012 at the age of eighty. Jack Hickey’s parents emigrated from Dublin, Ireland in 1929 and Jack, one of four boys, was born in New York two years later. As a fifteen year-old in the fall of 1947 he started as an apprentice at the Racquet & Tennis Club, working after school. After high school, he stayed on at the R&T working as a tennis, squash and racquets pro until 1955 when he left to take a job as a squash pro at… Read the Full Story >
Nov 20, 2012 | Uncategorized
The annual Jimmy Dunn weekend at the Racquet Club of Philadelphia was superbly superlative. A large, ever moving crowd of players—over a hundred people entered at least one of the dozen draws available—and spectators graced the fourth and fifth floors for three full days. Each day somewhere on the downward side of noon, there was that unspecifed moment when people stopped clutching hooded cups of coffee and started carrying cups of beer from the pub club keg. There were the usual signature Dunn moments: the splay of racquets, handles up, outside the racquets court; sitting in the clerestory with people… Read the Full Story >
Nov 1, 2012 | Uncategorized
The grand international opening of the tennis court in Chicago was a truly special occasion. For many in the game, it was a once-in-a-lifetime event—so far and hopefully not. The only other opening in the past thirty-two years came at Prince’s Court outside of Washington in October 1997 and it was a more subdued affair, with the main celebration coming at a luncheon. Here it lasted for four full days of tennis and camaraderie. Four days, that is, if you were among the visitors who managed to fly out of Midway or O’Hare on Sunday before Hurricane Sandy shut down… Read the Full Story >
Sep 29, 2012 | Uncategorized
This past summer we were strolling through the National Portrait Gallery in London and came upon a special exhibit, the BP Portrait Award 2012. In its thirty-third year, the Portrait Award is a major event in the art world; this year the NPG selected fifty-five works from over two thousand entries. Some of them were fantastic, others outer-wordly. On one wall, we stumbled upon someone we knew: the world champion of tennis. “Rob Fahey on Court,” by Rupert Alexander, is an oil on canvas measuring 3.1 feet by 2.2 feet and depicts Rob on the hazard side of the court… Read the Full Story >
Sep 1, 2012 | Uncategorized
One of England’s older tennis clubs has just gotten a very rare treat: a professional photographer has documented it. Ray Spence is a freelance fine art photographer who just shot the Leamington Real Tennis Club. Award-winning and constantly exhibiting, he lectures at the Birmingham Institute of Art & Design and is the author of many photography books. In July 2012 Spence exhibited photographs in Leamington Spa from his LRTC project. —James Zug USCTA: When did you first hear about or get involved in tennis? Ray Spence: I knew of the existence of real tennis for a number of years… Read the Full Story >
