As tennis observers around the world gather together at Flushing Meadows in a few weeks for our approaching National Tennis Championships, an older observer of the scene keeps returning to a collection of chapters and essays in an outstanding and historical narrative about the sport, written by an extraordinary reporter of champions. READ
Tag: tennis
It had been a while. Sixteen years is a long time in between championships, but that only made the Southold/Greenport boys tennis team’s achievement all the sweeter.
Southold claimed its first league title since 2000 and its third overall, including one in 1993. READ
John May was many things, but complacent was not one of them.
As Peconic Landing’s board chairman for the last dozen years, he strived to make the Greenport lifecare community the best place for seniors to enjoy their retirement. The nationally ranked tennis player, who continued to compete into his 80s, was also a loving husband and father of 11 children.
The Southold resident for more than 25 years died Friday from complications due to kidney disease. He was 87. READ
The Mattituck boys tennis team finished in a tie for a share of the League VII title with a 9-3 record. The Tuckers appeared to have the title outright after a match against Westhampton last Thursday. (more…)
Tournament director Jim Christy presenting a scholarship to Molly Kowalski before the women’s singles final of the Bob Wall Memorial Tennis Tournament. (Credit: Garret Meade)
A longtime summer staple on the North Fork, the Bob Wall Memorial Tennis Tournament, played its last match. After 36 years, the plug was pulled on the tournament by its sponsor, Times/Review Newsgroup, in light of declining player entries. (more…)
Matt Brisotti, who holds the Drew University (N.J.) record for doubles wins with 64 and ranks fourth with 55 singles wins, now coaches the school’s men’s and women’s teams. (Courtesy photo)
For some, the transition from player to head coach is a gradual process. For Matt Brisotti, it was a relatively sudden shift in gears.
Just 14 months after graduating from Drew University in Madison, N.J., as one of the most accomplished tennis players in school history, Brisotti accepted a position as the head coach of the College of St. Elizabeth (N.J.) women’s tennis team in September of 2013. He was 23 years old and, he believes, the youngest coach in the NCAA at the time.
Then, this past March, the opportunity for Brisotti to coach at his alma mater arose, and he snatched it. (more…)
Tournament director Jim Christy presenting a scholarship to Molly Kowalski before the women’s singles final on Friday. Declining player participation has brought an end to the 36-year tournament. (Credit: Garret Meade)
Like a once-bloated balloon, the Bob Wall Memorial Tennis Tournament deflated as player participation curiously dwindled and dwindled in recent years. Finally, that balloon popped.
The news that, after 36 years, the plug has been pulled on the tournament was greeted with sadness and puzzlement by players and others. Times/Review Newsgroup announced last week that it was withdrawing its sponsorship of the tournament in light of declining player participation. (more…)
Chris Ujkic won his eighth straight men’s singles title in the Bob Wall Memorial Tennis Tournament this summer. (Credit: Garret Meade)
All things must pass
All things must pass away.
— George Harrison
It is with profound regret that I announce the demise of the Bob Wall Memorial Summer Tennis Tournament. It has been a staple of North Fork summers for more than 35 years now, but time and the grayification (that’s not a real word, is it?) of our community have finally taken their toll. (more…)
At 13 years of age, Liz Dwyer became the youngest player to ever win the women’s singles title in the history of the Bob Wall Memorial Tennis Tournament. (Credit: Garret Meade)
BOB WALL MEMORIAL TENNIS TOURNAMENT
Liz Dwyer is all of 13 years of age, going on 14 (her birthday is Aug. 22). But she is not a typical 13-year-old. Most 13-year-olds don’t have her athleticism or tennis-playing ability.
In addition to being 13, Dwyer is also something else: the Bob Wall Memorial Tennis Tournament’s women’s singles champion. (more…)
BOB WALL MEMORIAL TENNIS TOURNAMENT
The match was the same. The opponent was the same. The result was the same.
But the smile on John Czartosieski’s face was proof that he felt a lot better about his performance on Monday morning than he did last year when he prevailed over Richard Chizever in the men’s 50-plus singles final of the Bob Wall Memorial Tennis Tournament.
Czartosieski, 52, of Riverhead had a good deal to feel good about, and it wasn’t just because he had won his second straight title in the bracket, 6-2, 6-3, in 63 minutes at Jean W. Cochran Park in Peconic. It was the way he did it. (more…)