SENIOR TENNIS PLAYERS - HAVE RACQUET WILL TRAVEL

ONTARIO SENIOR TENNIS PLAYERS - HAVE RACQUET WILL TRAVEL

ITF Young Seniors

Several Ontario players were in Umag, Croatia recently competing in the ITF Young Seniors World Team Championships.

The Young Cup (over 40) team of Ontarians Jennifer Bishop, Maureen Drake and Paula Myslivecek, who grew up in Ontario but now lives in Florida, are seen here (right to left).  They beat the USA team on the final day of competition to take 5th spot overall.

Other Ontario players who played in Croatia were

Lucie Lean (Margaret Court Cup over 45), Leigh Bradwell, Liane Marr (Suzanne Lenglen Cup over 35)

Dave Rowat (Italia Cup over 35)   Ben Woo (Tony Trabert Cup over 40)

Mont Tremblant, ITF

Mont Tremblant, Quebec was the delightful site for the Senior ITF Tournament played June 

Several Ontario players achieved significant results at this event.

In the over 45 Mens Singles Nels Stanfield was the Finalist with Dan Deangelis and Ivan Balic reaching the semi finals. Dan and Ivan played in the doubles together again reaching the semi-finals.  In the Over 50s, Imran Syed was a semi-finalist in singles, won the mixed doubles (with Karen Clarke), and was a finalist in the men's doubles (with Donald Bruce Acland). In the mens Over 60 Singles Steve Fricker was a semi-finalist. Adrian Grice placed 2 in the over 80 men's singles and was also a semi-finalist in th over 70 mixed with Ruth Grice.

In the Over 50 women's singles Cindy O'Doherty and Sandy Mackie were semi-finalist; Cindy was a finalist in the mixed doubles (with Jeff Henkelman).  Patricia Babcock was the finalist in the Over 60 singles. In the Over 65 events Maria Dinga was the singles finalist, and a double doubles champion with Violetta Nesukaitis in womens and Lucien Demarais of Quebec in mixed. Anne Rungi was the sole Ontarian to take a singles title. She won the Over 70 singles and was a finalist in both the ladies and the mixed doubles (with Louise Langston and Claude Savaria). Anne Rungi and Louise are pictured below.

OFSAA TENNIS FINALS

OFSAA TENNIS FINALS

The Ontario Federation of Secondary Schools Athletic Association held their finals on May 30th, 31st and June 1st at the University of Toronto Scarborough Tennis Centre and Mayfair Racquet Club East.

Competition is held at two levels. The Open level is for players who compete in tennis competition on a regular basis outside of the school program and have a high OTA ranking.  The High School Level is for players who play at a recreational level.

Rogers TV recorded the High School Boys Singles, High School Girls Singles, Open Boys Singles, and Open Girls Singles Finals.  These matches were televised on Sunday June 5th between 2 and 5 pm in Toronto.  

 Pictured here L to R are Spencer Robertson, Cindy Phair (Coach) and Michael Orrett who took the 4th place in High School Boys Doubles. Thanks to Todd Orrett for the photo. Other photos of the event can be found on the OFSAA Facebook page.

The winning players and teams were:-

High School Boys Singles

 GOLD:  Carr Norton (CISAA) - Upper Canada College, SILVER:  Georg Zoidl (YRAA) - St. Maximillian Kolbe, BRONZE:  Keenan Conlon (CISAA)- Upper Canada College, ANTIQUE BRONZE: Bryn Hafer (ROPSSAA) - Lorne Park S.S.

 High School Girls Singles

 GOLD:  Paige Baynham (WOSSA) - H.B. Beal SS, SILVER:  Megan Gilkes (CISAA) - Holy Trinity School, BRONZE: Mara Stroe (LOSSA) - J. Clarke Richardson Collegiate, ANTIQUE BRONZE: Briahn Guthrie (GBSSA) - Eastview S.S.

High School Boys Doubles

GOLD:  Matt Gibson/Victor Guziak (WOSSA) - London Central,SILVER:  John Fischer/Luke Fischer (WOSSA) - Stratford Central,BRONZE:  Jordan Welter/Sam Finkelstein (TDSSAA) - Lawrence Park,ANTIQUE BRONZE:  Spencer Robertson/Michael Orrett (LOSSA) - Henry Street High School.

High School  Girls Doubles                                                                                                                    GOLD:  Victoria Tseng Paepcke/ Rachel Navarro (ROPSSAA) - Lorne Park S.S., SILVER:  Zante Botha/Charee Botha (WOSSA) - Mother Teresa CSS, BRONZE:  Catherine Rastin/Clara Rastin (SWOSSAA) - St. Patrick's, ANTIQUE BRONZE:   Sasha Malesevic/Ivana Milisic (CWOSSA) - Cameron Heights CI.

High School Mixed Doubles

 GOLD:  Meg Killeen/ Lachlan Carmichael (TDSSAA) -Lawrence Park, SILVER: Madeleine Swenor/Bryn de Chastelain (GHAC) - Georgetown District HS, BRONZE: Alyssia Watkin/John Karakas (CISAA) - Appleby College, ANTIQUE BRONZE: Yigit Gedikli/Rachel Mendelson (TDSSAA) - Forest Hill.

 Open Boys Singles

 GOLD:  Jakob Nielsen (CISAA) - Appleby College, SILVER: Peter Coombs  (GHAC) - Oakville Trafalgar HS, BRONZE:  Nathan Wong (GHAC) - White Oaks Secondary School, ANTIQUE BRONZE: Eric Chernly (TDCAA) - Michael Power.

 Open Girls Singles

 GOLD:  Rebecca Herrington (GBSSA) - Banting Memorial H.S., SILVER:  Mya Bui (LOSSA) - Pickering High School, BRONZE:  Victoria DiMuzio  (CWOSSA) - Bishop MacDonell H.S., ANTIQUE BRONZE: Ksenia Providokhina (YRAA) - Bill Crothers S.S.

 Open Boys Doubles

 GOLD:  Roy Stepanov/ Malik Bhatnagar (GHAC) - Robert Bateman, SILVER: DJ Fenerty/ Shane Bulitka (WOSSA) - St. Andre Bessette, BRONZE: Brooks Coffey/ Alp Tezol (TDSSAA) - North Toronto, ANTIQUE BRONZE: Spencer Grant/ Mark Jensen (GHAC) - Oakville Trafalgar High School.

 Open Girls Doubles

 GOLD:   Alexandra Mikhailuk/ Angela Chen (GHAC) - Nelson High School, SILVER:  Stephanie Afloroaei/ Alicia Opatowski (LOSSA) - Dunbarton High School, BRONZE:  Sofia Miller/ Rita Kanaeva (TDSSAA) - Malvern, ANTIQUE BRONZE:  Nina Zhang/ Lily Zhang (SWOSSAA) -Vincent Massey.

 Open Mixed Doubles

GOLD:  Rita Colyer/ Luke Smrek  (GHAC) - Robert Bateman, SILVER:  Marko Kazar/ Elizabeth Rozin (TDSSAA) - Lawrence Park, BRONZE:  Mia Tamindzija/ Ryan MacLean (CWOSSA) - Resurrection C.S.S., ANTIQUE BRONZE:  Gabrielle Oancea/ Andrew Codita (LOSSA) - Dunbarton High School.

NATIONAL SELECTION PROCESS

NATIONAL SELECTION TOURNAMENTS

The 2016 National Selection Process involves National Selection Tournaments as well as the Provincial Championships. Each player can accumulate selection points through these tournaments. There are 2 indoor and 2 outdoor designated national selection events (4 star) offered for each category at a 4 star value. At National Selection events the top 16 players will receive direct entry with another 16 spots being available for qualifiers. Players will receive ranking points for qualifying/feed up events and consolation. Consistent with the rest of the country, these national selection events are rated at 60% of the Provincial Championships.

Several national selection events were held early in June. Because of inclement weather on Sunday June 5th some of these events have yet to be completed.

U12 Boys and Girls at Credit Valley Tennis Club, June 3-5

Girls Singles Winner: Sarah Liu, Finalist: Iulia Cristina Bucea, Semi-finalists: Maria Popova, Dharani Niroshan.

Girls Doubles Winners: Arina Artemyeva & Sarah Liu, Finalists: Dharani Niroshan & Amelie Gal   (see photo L to R, courtesy Kevin Liu)

Boys Singles Winner: Stefan Simeunovic (Oakville), Finalist: Adrian Smith, Semi-finalists: Owen Dunn, Alexander Matros.

BD Semis and Final to be completed June 26^th.

U16 Girls at Palgrave Tennis Club, June 3-5

Girls Singles Winner: Viktoriya Tabunshchyk, Finalist: Daniela Voloh, Semi-finalists: Rita Colyer Kailen Galazka.

Girls Doubles Winners: Corina Spasojevic & Viktoriya Tabunshchyk, Finaists: Kailen Glazka & Oleksandra Gorchanyuk

U16 Boys at University of Toronto Scarborough Tennis Centre, June 3-5

Singles Finalists: Liam Draxl,  Ryan Navarro, Semi-finalists: Ethan Meanchos Daniel Fainblum

U14 Girls at Mississauga Golf and Country Club, June 10-12

Girls Singles Winner: Corina Spasojevic, Finalist: Rachel Krzyzak, Semi-finalists: Kristen Borland, Rachel Hanford

Girls Doubles Winners: Alexia Di Giulio & Rachel Krzyzak, Finalists: Julia Kuszynski & Shirley Liang

U14 Boys at Rosedale Tennis Club, Hamilton, June 10-12

Singles Winner: Ilya Tirapolsky, Finalist: Joshua Lapadat, Semi-finalists: Marko Stakusic, Alvin Nicholas Tudorica

Doubles Winners: Joshua Lapadat & Alvin Nicholas Tudorica, Finalists: Erik Eliot Kovacs & Kevin Bence Kovacs

If you are interested in seeing the future of Canadian Tennis - come and watch the Ontario Junior Closed Provincials.  From June 27^th to July 2^nd the U12s and U16s will be playing at Kew Gardens Tennis Club and University of Toronto Scarborough Tennis Centre. While from July 4 to 9 the U18s and U14s will be playing at University of Toronto Scarborough, Pine Point TC and Veneto TC.

INTERNATIONAL CLUB GOES TO NEW YORK

INTERNATIONAL CLUB GOES TO NEW YORK

When the International Lawn Tennis Club of Canada team travels to New York, bringing home the hardware isn't at the top of their agenda, instead it is to get to play on the beautiful grass courts at Piping Rock Country Club.  Of course Piping Rock has clay courts in case the grass is unplayable, and given that the Friday afternoon brought light drizzle, these courts were the only ones available for practice. Saturday however brought a picture perfect day for playing matches on the grass and enjoying the beautiful surroundings. Sunday the rain set in and the morning matches were played at the huge Port Washington indoor facility.  Any weather problems were made up for with the wonderful hospitality.

This was the first time in several years that an open men's team traveled to New York and the women's team was the largest and the youngest average age Canada has fielded in New York, thanks to some young new members.  Pictured here Back row L to R Dale Kozicz (Captain), Sue Smylie, Janice Hebert, Julie Salomon, Laura Randmaa Atkinson, Jane Seed. Front Row: Kanta Murali, Susanna Sekely, Kathy Mueller and guest/local resident Junko Matsushita.

There were lots of close matches. Of particular note Kanta Murali had a tough three set singles with a 29 year old who had played for Harvard. When the final tally was made, the US retained the Gengler Cup by ten matches to five.

The senior men's team are pictured in their club house clothes. L to R. John Payne, Tim Griffin, Owen Pellew, Bob Awrey, Terry Redvers, Dennis Ing, Raj Nagendra, Ivan Petrov and Rosti Brankovsky (Captain).   The USA team retained the Baker Bowl, also by a score of 10 matches to 5. Unfortunately Canada was 0 for 4 in super tiebreakers otherwise the result might have been different.

The Canadian Open Men's team took a 5-4 lead  after Saturdays matches, but failed to take any of the Sunday matches, giving the USA another 10-5 win to take the Sorlein Cup. Could it have been too much sun on the Saturday or too much hospitality on Saturday night that caused their collapse? The Open team members were Jamie Weatherall, Robert Janacek, Jeremy Langer, Eric Vehovec, Fil Marinkovic, Keenan O'Young, Adam Taylor and captain, Michael Stauble. 

Always a great weekend! The Canadian IC are looking forward to hosting a full USIC team in Toronto next June.  

MILOS AND MCENROE

MILOS and McENROE

In the short grass season leading up to Wimbledon there has been a lot of interest in the decision made by Milos Raonic to add John McEnroe to his team as a coach on the grass.

Milos's singles career has already broken so many records for a Canadian player, but there is one milestone or accomplishment that would outstrip them all - to win a Grand Slam Singles Championship.  Now when you look at which Grand Slam is best suited to Milos's strengths you have to think it is Wimbledon, where there have been several champions who have relied on their height and their big serve as the main weapons in their arsenal.  

Everybody loves Milos for his preppy good looks, his modesty, his all round nice guy demeanour.  John McEnroe on the other hand is almost the antithesis of Milos. He gained a reputation for being a mouthy brat and, if he hadn't been such a talented and intuitive player, he would probably have been forgotten. But the big question is can John McEnroe infuse Milos with the spark, the creativity, the intuition and the magic he needs to reach that next level and win Wimbledon?

The tenniscanada.com web site  is doing a great job of following this exciting story. Milos has passed the first hurdle, he beat his recent nemesis, Kyrgios, in the first round of the Queens Club tournament. We thought you'd like to follow our local hero as he tries to make history on those green and pleasant courts. 

Check out these videos taken at Queens Club of Milos' practice and highlights of his match
with Kyrgios.

ONTARIO TENNIS A.G.M.

The Annual General Meeting of the Ontario Tennis Association was held at Aviva Centre, Toronto on Saturday April 9^th. More than hundred representatives of over 50 clubs were present for the meeting.  In 2015 the OTA had excellent results in several areas. Rob Nicholls, VP, Finance & Administration, showed how each source of revenue had grown at roughly the same rate over the past 5 years and expenditures in all program areas had grown proportionally. The association had ended the year almost break even but with a small positive net balance of income over expenses.

Ontario junior players had captured most of the outdoor national championship titles and two Ontario junior players, Bianca Andreescu (age 15, ITF junior rank #3) and Denis Shapovalov (age 16) are producing incredible results internationally for their age in the world junior and for Denis, in the ATP rankings. See separate article on Denis’ recent successes.

Jim Boyce outlined a new program launched in 2015, the Freedom 50 program, coordinated by Rick Bertozzi, to encourage mature adults to take up or return to tennis.  Rick is looking to connect interested seniors in all clubs as ambassadors for the sport and t work cooperatively with these ambassadors to boost participation in this demographic. Jim also updated the group on other key tennis promotional projects and on the work of a committee set up to develop an OTA training centre.  With the increased interest in tennis, the Aviva centre reaching capacity and with the prospect that the number of commercially operated tennis facilities is unlikely to grow, the OTA is looking at developing an indoor tennis facility which can be used for tennis player, coach, official and volunteer development and be accessible and beneficial to the entire Ontario tennis community.  The top priority for the committee is to identify a viable site for such a centre.

Jim also noted that the OTA will be celebrating its 100^th birthday in 2018 and plans are already underway to ensure this milestone is celebrated in style. Watch this space for your opportunity to get involved!

After the formal meetings presentations were made to Al McGuire, for his contribution to the association as Chair of Tennis Toronto and participation on the Board and OTA Club Excallence Awards were made to representatives of three clubs, Barrie (see photo), Leaside and Thunder Bay for their excellent efforts to build and support tennis in 2015.   

After lunch breakout sessions were held for clubs to discuss issues of mutual interest and there was the opportunity for prepared participants to take time on the courts with OTA’s outreach staff.

Thanks go to Gulshad and the OTA staff for organizing such an efficient AGM and also to the OTA sponsors who came to the meeting to keep Club Presidents well informed of the opportunities they offer. It is a great opportunity for volunteers to meet and share interests and concerns and for the membership to get lots of information about the association and what it accomplishes.

DENIS WINS ANOTHER FUTURES EVENT

Sixteen-year-old Denis Shapovalov of Toronto captured the second pro singles title of his career on April 10^th by winning the $25K Memphis Futures tournament in Memphis,Tennessee.

A qualifier, Shapovalov had to win two matches in qualifying before reaching the first round of the main draw. He then proceeded to beat three seeded players as he made his way to taking the title.  In the final, he faced the American, Tennys Sandgrenm the number 2 seed with a world ranking more than 200 spots ahead of Denis. This was a hard court event.

In January Shapovalov won his first professional singles event, an ITF  $10K Futures tournament played on clay in Weston, Florida. (See photo here with his coach Adriano Fuorivia), Here he also had to play matches to qualify before working his way through a tough to take the title in straight sets over Pedro Sakamoto.In March he reached the semi-finals of the $50,000 Challenger Banque Nationale de Drummondville, where he lost in three sets to Daniel Evans of Great Britain. With this result he became the first player born in 1999 to win an ATP challenger match.

The Spring issue of Ontario Tennis Magazine includes an interview with Denis or Shap as those who know him refer to him. To see this article go to Ontario Tennis Spring 2016 Shap Attack