CONGRATULATIONS TO THE 2017 GOLD RACQUET COMMITTEE ON A WILDLY SUCCESSFUL 115TH GOLD RACQUET! Kudos to Kim Kilgore, Laura Tillsley, Guy Devereux and Josh Scherer on planning such a successful event with 80+ players and 200+ at the Saturday Night Dinner Dance. If you were not able to play or attend in 2017, make sure to put President’s Weekend on your calendar in 2018 for the 116th Gold Racquet! A special THANK YOU to Shelby LaCombe and her staff for working tirelessly to make the weekend such a success!

The Gold Racquet weekend consists of Court Singles, Rackets Singles, Court Tennis ‘Cuspidor’ Doubles, Rackets ‘Spittoon’ Doubles and in what has become a Tuxedo tradition the US Professional Rackets Singles.

Court Tennis Singles

Kieran Booth, the top amateur court tennis player in the world graced the court at Tuxedo in 2017 for the second time in three years; and once again was leaving as Gold Racquet Court Tennis Singles Champion! In what is more than likely a preview of the 2017 Bathurst Cup in Paris in April, Kieran (Australia) prevailed over Nicolas Victoir (France) of the Racquet & Tennis Club in NYC in three straight but tightly contested sets. 2017 saw a very deep field for the Court Tennis Singles with the following players in addition to Kieran and Nicolas…

• Defending Singles Champion Mike Noll, Gary Swantner & Anders Cohen of the Racquet Club of Philadelphia. • Former World Rackets Doubles Champion & World Singles #2 Rackets player Will Hopton. • Ben Cook from the Aiken Tennis Club and Charleston, SC. • Annual Contender Guy Devereux along with Alan McHugh, Dan Laukitis and John Beam from The Tuxedo Club. • Peter Cipriano, Tom McGinnis, Simon Aldrich and Brian Owens from the Racquet & Tennis Club of NY. • Nick Jones from Seacourt Tennis Club on Hayling Island, UK.

Rackets Singles

The Rackets singles saw a more than 100% increase in participation in 2017 with 31 players competing for the Gold Racquet title! This participation number is even more impressive as there was no member participation from Montreal, or . Well done to in 2017 as a group of 12 traveled East from the ‘Motor City’.

Pre-tournament favorite Rory Giddins proved too strong for the field in winning his first Gold Racquet title over the ever improving Peter Cipriano.

Court Tennis ‘Cuspidor’ Doubles

A record 63 players competed in the 115th Gold Racquet ‘Cuspidor’ Court Tennis Doubles event! Each player is guaranteed three matches over the course of the weekend, with as many different partners and opponents as the schedule will allow. After too many matched to count; the top 12 scores moved into three flights of Finals on Monday February 20th prior to the Gold Racquet Court Tennis Singles Final. The Final 3 spots ended up being drawn out of a hat by USCTA representative Mary Livingston after 12 Midnight on the 19th. Six players had tied for the final 3 spots…a sign of how competitive the weekend was as well as how well the RTO handicapping system works.

Cuspidor III – The Reede family was guaranteed some hardware in Cuspidor III as Elizabeth & Ron Reede in their first Gold Racquet qualify for the Finals! David Caldwell from the Racquet Club of Philadelphia and Elizabeth Reede prove too strong for Ron Reede and Jeremy Thompson, also from the Racquet Club of Philadelphia.

Cuspidor II – Two Tuxedo members qualified for this Final as well, also on opposite sides of the net. Chris Bruner & George Ughetta from the Tennis & Racquet Club in Boston defeated Laura Tillsley & Mark Lewinstein from the National Tennis Club in Newport, RI.

Cuspidor I – In what proved to be the most competitive of the three Cuspidor Finals; Charlie Marlow- Thomas from the British Army contingent & Gary Swantner from the Racquet Club of Philadelphia defeated Patrick Harris & Anders Cohen both from the Racquet Club of Philadelphia in three sets!

Rackets ‘Spittoon’ Doubles

In a very entertaining 3 game battle; Rory Giddins & Michael Howe defeated Peter Cipriano & Arthur Whitcomb 15/12 8/15 15/11 to win the 2017 Gold Racquet ‘Spittoon’ title!

2017 US Professional Rackets Singles Championship

The Tuxedo Club was treated to a singles final between the current Singles & Doubles World Champion – JAMES STOUT and a former Singles & Doubles World Champion – NEIL SMITH. Youth prevailed in this contest as Stout gave evidence as to why he is the best in the world winning the title in three straight games.