Senior Tennis and Fitness

During my singles match against Big David Nash at Naples Bath, I called a baseline shot OUT and then looked at the mark and reversed my call to IN. Without really thinking much about it, I then gave the point to my opponent (who really didn’t need it, the way he was beating me). But I was wrong. (Continue reading…)

After losing to Parker/Nash, Tom and I entered the “backdraw” (consolation dubs) to see if we could take the good form and do something more with it. (Continue reading…)

Today, Tom and I played the #1 seeded team of big Dave Nash (who just beat me in singles) and Jimmy Parker from Santa Fe (seeded #2 in singles) on the Naples Bath & Tennis “show court.” (Continue reading…)

Today’s match was against David Nash, the #4 seed – only because he hasn’t played a tournament in 18 months (since injuring his elbow while representing the U.S. at the WORLD’S in Turkey!). But he was still plenty tough. (Continue reading…)

This is The Big One: Super Seniors Category II at the former Naples Bath & Tennis Club (now Sanchez Academy). With a total of 328 entries from all over the country (and beyond), it has depth in every age group from 55 to 90! (Continue reading…)

Consolation singles quarter finals match against Gary Wilson of DC, who beat me two years ago 7-6, 6-4 and I returned the favor by beating him in the same score two weeks ago (both matches taking two hours). (Continue reading…)

This morning, I played my first consolation singles round, my partner Tom played his second main draw singles (and got “hooked” badly); and then at the end of the day, we teamed up for doubles. (Continue reading…)

The third USTA Super Seniors January tournament is at Sterling Oaks in the northern end of Naples. In the singles, I had a first round bye and played Bob Tilley, a very solid baseliner from MA on Tuesday. (Continue reading…)

Before I played my first Cape Coral Consolation singles match this week, I had another chance

Hank Irvine

After losing the Cape Coral singles match on Tuesday, I entered the consolation singles

Me and Bob Smith

Strange sight when you look at the draw for this week’s USTA Super Senior event in Cape Coral… my name is in red (seeded #4)! A factor of playing well last week + not that many of the top guys entered here. (Continue reading…)

Today’s semi final singles match was against #2 seeded, Don Long from NY. As the seed would indicate, he is a very solid player, who has a squash background with very wristy shots – especially on his backhand. (Continue reading…)

The words for today were “court confusion.” My quarter final singles match against #4 seeded Hank Rhan from Sarasota was scheduled for another club at 1 p.m. today. We both got there a half hour early; but had to wait an hour and fifteen (in the cold) to get on a court … and then got kicked off after just five games. (Continue reading…)

The word for the day was “COLD”. With a cloud cover and temperature hovering around 50; the 10-15 mile north wind brought it down to somewhere around 40 degrees on the court this afternoon. My second round match was against Gary Wilson, #5 seed, from DC, who beat me two years ago in two hours 7-5, 6-4. (Continue reading…)

The first of the four USTA Super Senior January tournaments is at the Colonial Country Club in Ft. Myers this week; and I drew Phil LaRoche, a retired TWA pilot from St. Louis. The only intelligence I could gather was from my doubles partner Tom, who has a solid, tournament-playing friend (also a retired pilot) who said Phil was “great” and has beaten Tom’s friend every time that had played! (Continue reading…)