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SENIOR SoSCTAuthern California Tennis Association news DECEMBER 2003 Full Cups Notes From Germany With sticking to a stringent budget W illiam J. Kellogg as the lead item in the USTA's 2003 (Editor’s Note: Kellogg is the Chairman of the USTA Senior International Competition Committee.) agenda, when it comes to senior ten- nis, it was a relief to see how success- fter months of planning for the made arrangements to pay for the accom- International Tennis Federation Team modations. Everyone was stranded, until ful the US teams were at the A Cup forays in Germany, I was ready to David Schobel, USTA Director of Commun- International Tennis Federation travel. Seven cities – Berlin, Bielefeld, Eisenach, ity Tennis Competitive Programs, stepped in Ve t e r a n s Cu p eve n ts in Germany in Erfurt, Gladbeck and Hamburg – served as and righted the situation. sites. Matches would be with countries Finally, it was time for me to depart for August, and Turkey in October. from all over the world. The winner in Germany with my son-in-law, Shawn. That Players from Southern and Northern each division would become the World too, was a good news/bad news situation. California played instrumental roles in Champion. The good news was that we were actually Everything seemed to be moving heading for the airport; the bad was it the trophy winning for both events smoothly, but that was before a member of would take about 24 hours to reach our The following Cup articles pro- one of the women’s teams e-mailed me destination. Shawn and I set out on an vide an inside look at some of the with an observation that her warm-up (a ambling path, which took us from San Diego “small”) would fit a large body builder. It to Detroit; to Amsterdam; to Dusseldorf; competitions. seems the unisex warm-ups which had to Essen and finally, to Gladbeck, Germany, been designed to be “one-size fits all”, fit which was the site of the Women’s 40 Young .................. nearly none. Unfortunately, there was no Cup matches. Lucky for us, we made all the time to make alterations. The good news connections. was the heat wave in Europe, where tem- By the time we arrived at our hotel in “...the talented team peratures were at levels not seen for a 100 Gladbeck, we were ready to collapse. years. The conditions made wearing a Before we could, we were greeted by a sin- proved me right.” warm-up important only for team photos. gle king-sized bed when we entered the Another e-mail of importance came room. Even though I am from California, concerning the perpetual trophies the US neither I, nor my son-in-law was up to the teams won last year. At that moment, they challenge of sharing a bed. We returned to were being shipped to Cup sites and would the front desk and noted the amused look. arrive a week late, if we were lucky. That We explained that we had requested a was the good news.The bad was that they room with double beds. Since our German weren’t engraved with last year’s winners’ speaking ability is limited to “Danke shöen” names. Again, there was no time to make and their English was not much better, it alterations. The ITF was informed and was difficult to make our point. We arrangements were made to cover engrav- returned to the room. A lady arrived, almost ing costs. as we walked in. Without a word, she Since bad news usually arrives in threes, reached down, yanked the comforter off I knew that there was likely more to come. uncovering the two double beds that had Unfortunately, the next e-mail (one of over been pushed together and left the room. a thousand since January on the topic of I quickly unpacked and began plugging in senior teams) informed me that the first my electrical devices. I am an incurable Fran Chandler, Mariana Hollman, Jill Prolman and Joni team to arrive in Germany was told the gadget addict and of course, I pay for it Hannah were Young Cup winners. hotel did not recognize that the USTA had (continued on next page) Notes From Germany beautiful forest that was also a park. All manner of wildlife could be heard from the Perfect Tennis (continued from previous page) courts. It was a gorgeous setting that made it easy to forget about the hotel. Things got Mark Winters when I lug my bags through airports and better because the club not only had air train stations. It is amazing, though, when it conditioning, but also a public computer with all works and I can get e-mail while I’m away. high-speed internet access. I was in heaven. Once I had everything positioned, I realized Each match consisted of two successive that there were no telephone jacks. The singles matches, then a doubles match. The phones were hard-wired to the wall. I head- team winning two matches was declared ed back to the front desk to ask about an winner. The No. 2 singles players play the internet connection. I was encouraged when first match, followed by the No. 1 singles I passed a booth with a sign saying, “high players. Chandler began by taking on the speed internet connection.” I poked my talented, powerful and taller, Petra head in, found wires dangling and another Grunohoff. She is a beautiful, smooth player Tina Karwasky and Bueno Cup teammates sign saying, “coming soon”. Of course, I was who uses her opponent’s power to place the too exhausted to call attention to the fact ball in every corner of the court. After a that I had e-mailed my reservation and three hour struggle – offense against defense he Women’s 50 Bueno Cup team received confirmation in the same manner. – Chandler pulled out a thrilling 6-4, 2-6, defeated Austria, at Eisenach, Germany, So much for lugging my gadgets from home. 6-3 victory. T 3-0 claiming the trophy. Tina My luck was not about to change…I Germany then pulled out an even taller Karwasky, the No. 1 player, and her team- returned to the room and plugged in a 110 and more athletic player who had had a rep- mates Mary Ginnard, Christy Wing, along volt adapter and blew the fuse for the elec- utation of humbling the strongest juniors with with playing captain Margaret Russo, tricity. No power. I set off for the front desk her savvy play. Hollman faced Carola Kintrup played perfect tennis. again. “Return to your room!” was the in what again appeared to be a mismatch. In the final, Ginnard, the team’s No. 2 directive. I did, and lo and behold the power Kintrup quickly jumped to a 2-0 lead, but singles player (the No. 2 singles always was soon restored. Hollman’s tenacity, scrambling and moonballs starts a match), trailed 3-5 against Maya The heat wave was staggering. Our brought her opponent to the brink of exhaus- Kerschbaum, but survived two set points, room, on the top floor, was stifling. It was tion.Hollman won the first set 6-2 and then collected four games in a row for a over 90 degrees and nearly 100% humidity. appeared to be on her way to a quick victo- 7- 5 f irst set triumph. In the second set, We were so tired, it almost didn’t matter. ry holding break points early in the second she was even better closing out the We drifted to sleep quickly. In the morning, set. Three terrible bounces turned things match 6-1. after wringing out the pillows, we headed to around. Kintrup gathered herself and ran off ◗ the front desk to ask for a fan. Even though with the set 6-2. She continued her run, lead- there was a fan being used at the desk we ing 5-2 in the third set. As mentioned, the were told there weren’t any available in the team was little, but they had heart. Hollman “We were concerned about hotel. We tried another approach and asked charged the net and hit a drop shot winner to if there was a store where we could buy a foil a match point. She fought back to 5-4, having a playing captain, fan. We were told that there were no fans in then two let-cord winners gave Kintrup the the city. They had all been sold. set 6-4. While the loss was disheartening, but it worked fine....It was Later, I met the Young Cup team for Hollman clearly pushed her opponent to the strange because there was breakfast. It must have been the shortest limit. As she aptly described the situation, her US team in history. Joni Hannah, the captain, match was the “body-punch” that set the always agreement.” was the tallest at about 5’4”. Mariana Germans up for a knockout. Hollman was 5’1” and Jill Prolman and Fran Prolman and Hannah were eager to play. Chandler were somewhere in-between. In what appeared at the start, to be a mis- ◗ They were quick to explain that they might match, and actually became one; they defeat- not look intimidating, but they were usually ed Kintrup and Elisabeth Reker, 6-0, 6-3. Karwasky played her “A” game as she able to sneak up on opponents. I learned The next day, the local Gladbeck newspa- took the first set 6-3 against Maria Geyer- later this was not an exaggeration.