Tennis: There are Super Seniors in Newport

Richard Dunn

High school tennis gets top billing in local coverage (i.e., Orange

County newspapers).

The professional tours are handled by worldwide print and electronic

media.

And, in terms of growing the game for the future, organizations such

as the United States Tennis Association budget tens of thousands of

dollars each year for junior development.

While all of the above facets certainly play a role in the

Newport-Mesa community in one form or another, what seems to distinguish

this area from other tennis hotbeds is the Super Senior level.

Many of the country’s top senior players live and play along Orange

County’s coastal environs, while Newport Beach-based clubs annually host

senior national championships.

The Newport Beach Tennis Club hosted the seventh annual USTA National

Senior Women’s 65s and 75s Championships this month and the Palisades

Tennis Club hosted the 74th annual Pacific Southwest Senior Tennis

Championships last month.

Individually, Jim Nelson (Irvine), a member at both Palisades and

Newport Beach, pulled off the year’s biggest feat with a rare senior

Grand Slam.

With doubles partner Lenny Lindborg (Laguna Beach), Nelson

accomplished the remarkable, winning the men’s 65s national doubles

titles on clay, grass, hard courts and indoors.

Nelson captured the singles title in the 65s at the USTA Senior Indoor

Championships as the sixth seed, defeating second-seeded Buddy Lomax of

San Antonio, Texas, in the finals by default.

In doubles, Nelson and Lindborg won the national indoor doubles title

by beating Bill Hyde (Laguna Beach) and George Frilot, 6-2, 6-4.

For Nelson, who usually plays doubles with Bob Duesler (Newport

Beach), his Grand Slam came on the heels of his two doubles championships

at the Pacific Southwest, when he won the 60s with USC men’s tennis coach

Dick Leach (Laguna Beach) and 65s with Lindborg.

In the women’s senior national championships, two local players

finished in the top three in the 65 doubles.

Bev Winans of Newport Beach reached the finals with partner Jane

Buffington of Carmel, losing to top-seeded Mary Lenore Blair of Cold

Springs Harbor, N.Y., and Libby Keenan of Whitehall, Mich., 6-1, 6-2.

Julie Haywood of Newport Beach was third with partner Doris Stephens

of San Clemente. They lost to the eventual champions in the semifinals,

5-7, 6-2, 6-0, then won the third-place match over Joyce Jones (Seattle)

and Joan Kingsley (San Antonio), 6-4, 6-2.

For the first time, the USTA event for senior gold balls at Newport

Beach Tennis Club hosted an 85s division in singles and doubles. Lish

Dudley of Los Angeles blanked Avis Hilfinger of Bloomington, Ill., 6-0,

6-0, in the singles final, while Dudley and Hilfinger teamed to win the

doubles title over Lorena Albrecht (Robstown, Texas) and Beatrice Greene

(San Jose), 6-0, 6-0.

And, for all the wanna-be tennis players, take heart: Albrecht, 85,

just started playing tennis five years ago, according to tournament

organizer Norma Veal.

In the 75s, top-seeded Elaine Mason of Baton Rouge, La., knocked off

Dorothy Knode of Fountain Valley in the singles final, 6-0, 6-2.

Top-seeded Mason and Phyllis Adler of Studio City won the 75s doubles

title with a 6-2, 6-3 win in the championship match over Knode and Betty

Eisenstein of Washington, D.C.

The Newport Beach Tennis Club will host its second annual Super Bowl

Celebrity Pro-Am Tennis Tournament Jan. 27-28, the day before the Super

Bowl and the pro-am finals before kickoff on Super Bowl Sunday. Details:

(949) 644-0050.

A Southern California men’s 55s team, headed by Palisades

owner/operator Ken Stuart, placed third in the 2000 USTA National

Intersectional Team Championships at the River Hills Club in Jackson,

Miss.

Robyn Ray, Terry Ehlers, Niesie Sie and Dean Corley played singles,

while Stuart, Steve Field and Daud Ahmed were the team’s main doubles

players.

Ray, the Director of Tennis at the Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and

Tennis Club who is staging a comeback as a player, Ehlers and Sie all won

in singles as Southern California beat Texas, 4-1. Stuart and Fields won

in doubles.

The format was similar to the Davis Cup, but the seven-man teams play

three singles matches and two doubles, instead of four and one.

Stuart’s team lost to Southern (a second senior team from the

Southland), then defeated the Midwest and Texas again for third place.

Ehlers, Sie and Corley swept in singles without dropping a set against

the Midwest, then Ray, Ehlers and Sie swept in singles in the third-place

match. Fields-Corley won in doubles to cap the victory.