Tournament Recap: USTA National Women’s Clay Court Championships
DATES: March 3-10, 2024
LOCATION: Palm Beach Gardens, FL
DIVISIONS: Level 1, 40-80
40s Brandi Bratek
The 40s tournament had a lot of great match play in both singles and doubles. The week was plagued by rain, but the tournament staff did a great job of communicating updates and delays to players. A round robin was played for singles due to only six entries. The final featured Silvina Delgado from Argentina and Regina Balcune from the Netherlands. Silvina Delgado prevailed in straight sets winning 6-4, 7-6 (3) in a more than 2.5 hour match in hot and humid conditions. Mami Inoue defeated Yulia Bolotova 6-4, 6-2 to take the bronze ball.
In doubles play, eight teams vied for the gold ball. The number 1 seeds and last year’s winners were taken out in the first round by the crafty play of Valerie Tan and Darice Carnaje who were eventually defeated in the 3rd/4th play off by Hope Pascucci and Maureen Sumner. Number two seeds Brandi Bratek and Regina Balcune battled tough local first round opponents Sylwia Stanley and Tara Pressley who had recently won the 40’s L2 Les Grande Dames a few weeks prior. Bratek and Balcune prevailed in a long three set match and made it to the final where they faced singles champion Silvina Delgado and Yulia Bolotova. Bratek and Balcune won the gold ball winning 7-6 (0), 6-1.
50s Carolina Blouin
It’s good to be back!
What a beautiful location in FL, thank you to the City of Palm Beach Gardens for hosting our tournament and Trish Faulkner for putting it together so efficiently. Inclement weather made it challenging for her and her staff, but everyone worked hard and quickly to schedule and reschedule matches. Most matches in our draws took two days and a lot of nerves!
We had two wonderful NWTO sponsored luncheons and an extremely friendly staff helping us players with bagged ice, smoothies on demand, a nice little cafe, etc.
The competition was high level, several of us past Division I college players in singles and doubles and frankly most matches could have gone either way.
I started the finals worried I was going to miss my flight. After 5 days of being alone and using the hitting wall as my warm up partner, I was packed and ready to leave. Tish and I both had to finish our semis from the afternoon before and they’re long matches. Then it rained again, and we decided to go for it in the afternoon. We played one long set with 20 minute games and started the second when a big thunderstorm hit one more time. I got off the court and quickly changed my flight to the following afternoon before it closed and found a place to stay for one more night. It was hard to sleep and I was up at 2:30 am thinking, can I win a few more games and finally get my first singles gold ball? I didn’t know, anything can happen after rain delays.
I got to the facility at 6:30 am and had breakfast in the car. Scenarios were going through my head and I needed a little meditation to calm my tired mind. We restarted the match promptly at 8 am and the sun was out. Long points and I kept persistent courage because feelings are more important than hardware… and we have to live with ourselves after the matches.
12 hours later I’m still awake after two flights and almost no sleep the night before thinking, did I actually win? When I woke up at home, for a minute it felt like an illusion, then I tried to move my sore body and realized… oh yes, it was real!
60s Cecilia Collins
The Tennis Bubble
When you enter medical school, you are told by the Dean of Students that the 90 or so fellow classmates that you meet today will become your family, your best friends, study partners, and possibly your lifelong partner. We smiled but he was right. We spent up to 18 hours a day 7 days a week in the first year together. Since we never saw anyone else, we went out to eat together, we had our medical school block for seats at football and basketball games, we partied together, and we usually were roommates. No one had our schedule, so we had to stick with who was up or not studying to do things with. Medical School is intense and when you come out of the other side of it, you part ways with your new family but you never forget them. When you see them at reunions some 20-30 years later, you pick right up like time never passed. If you have the pleasure of working with them in private practice, folks will comment “how long have you known each other?” And when you tell another physician that you went to medical school together, they smile. They understand.
Playing in National Senior Tournaments has the same bubble. We connect for a few weeks together in an intense environment. No one has our schedule, so we spend most of the day together. At National Clay in Palm Beach Gardens, I went to the mall to spend some time outside of the hotel room only to run into my partner in doubles and our opponents for the next match. We shopped together and then returned to play our match which ended up in a rain delay. Then we all went out for cocktails and dinner that evening. The tournament will end, and we will part ways, but I promise you when we see each other at the next tournament, we will pick up like no time has passed.
Chrissie Evert and Martina Navratilova are best friends despite being fierce competitors for over 80 matches and many times were the last ones standing in the locker room. If someone asks them “why are you best friends?” I bet they will just smile. They were in a tennis bubble for their entire careers.
70s Sherri Bronson
It was wonderful for me to be back in Florida, as it has been a long time since I have been. Palm Beach Gardens is a beautiful place to have a tournament. Twenty well-kept clay courts, pro shop with some really cute things, and a little cafe with the best chicken salad sandwiches. The pros were very nice and quite a few people took advantage of hitting lessons.
The first 2 days we arrived we were initiated to the 30 or 40 mph winds of Florida. It was interesting at best. And then the day before the tournament was the start of the torrential rains, so everyone took advantage of it by catching up with old friends and making new ones. We sat up on the deck and had lunch, learned new stretches and Peg taught us about the G Board for balance (you'll have to look that one up).
The tournament started and I lost my first match to Becky Timmis, who went on to win a silver ball in her final against Wendy McColsky. She played very well using a lot of drop shots and slices. Wendy only lost 6 games on her way to her gold ball. There were many great and long matches during the tournament.
Wednesday the rains were back. With all of the rain it was hard to watch a lot of matches. Usually everyone was playing at the same time. Kathy Heinz got her share of court time and won the consolation (over me) playing about 3 match tiebreakers. She likes tiebreakers. Deborah Antoine gave a new meaning to getting every ball back.
The 3/4 playoff was won by Ginny Beneke 7-6, 7-6 over Helga Immerfall. That was a super long match.
The doubles draw was 2 flights of round robins, the winner of each flight playing for silver and gold and the 2nd place teams playing for 3/4. It was a lot of fun. Kathy and Sherri lost a long 3-setter against Wendy and her sister Dale. Cindy Leprovost and Becky Timmis won their flight. The finals were played on a pretty warm day and Becky and Cindy won that match, sending Becky home with a gold and a silver and Wendy with a gold and silver.
Kathy Heinze and Sherri Bronson went home with the bronze with a win over Karen Rauh and Jennifer Bates. Jennifer Bates, a scrappy player from Puerto Rico, is going to play lots of tournaments. So if anyone needs a partner, she would like to speak to you!
It was a great tournament, even the rain was fun and gave us a chance to go shopping! I met more new players than I have met, so next year make sure you put it on your calendar!
80s Teri Eggers
Tennis is the determination of age as the 80’s proved this March 2024. West Palm Beach, Florida was the destination for our National Clay Court Championships. We had nine ladies competing, five of us from the West Coast. What they had to go through to get to Palm Beach was sheer determination, especially Sue McCandless, who had to take two planes, a train, three Ubers, and a bus, and then had to wait two hours to get into her room. Her partner, Carolyn Clark came with her husband, Jim, from Oklahoma City. They left at 7 AM for the airport and flew to Atlanta with a three hour layover, then sat on the runway on the plane for two more hours, while the storm was in West Palm Beach. They finally got to their hotel 13 hours later. I’m sure they would say it was totally worth it to win the gold in doubles, and Carolyn won the bronze in singles.
We loved the West Palm Beach Gardens Tennis and Pickleball Club as the clay courts were perfectly groomed and the pickle ball courts were far enough away, so we didn’t have to hear them. Despite several rain delays, the directors got everything back on track and we enjoyed some great matches, especially the final with Heather Fiscalini and Francis Dickenson. They had a good match but Francis took the lead after their close tiebreak. I had never met her before or her partner Inge; so it was fun to become acquainted with some East Coast players.
In singles, yours truly lost to Inge Weber in a third set tiebreak for the back draw; however, my partner Candy and I did win the bronze in doubles. I had never met Inge before and unfortunately for me she has one of the best backhands. She is also a very gracious lady and I really really enjoyed her. I had the opportunity to meet several of my daughter's friends playing in the 50s and the 60s so I want all you young ones to know that you never have to give up, but keep going and look up!
QUICK RESULTS→
🏆 W40
SINGLES: 1st Silvina Delgado, 2nd Regina Balcune, 3rd Mami Inoue
DOUBLES: 1st Brandi Bratek/Regina Balcune, 2nd Yulia Bolotova/Silvina Delgado, 3rd Hope Pascucci/Maureen Sumner
🏆 W50
SINGLES: 1st Carolina Blouin, 2nd Tisha Kilburn, 3rd Isabela Iantosca
DOUBLES: 1st Simone Vasconcellos/Monica Yanagi, 2nd Heather Waters/Isabela Iantosca
🏆 W60
SINGLES: 1st Vicki Buholz, 2nd Fran Chandler, 3rd Shelly Works
DOUBLES: 1st Christine Paulsen/Eleanor Hammargren, 2nd Michelle Williams/Susan Love, 3rd Stacey Williams/Mariana Hollman
🏆 W70
SINGLES: Toni Novak over Judy Dixon (wo)
DOUBLES: 1st Becky Timmis/Cindy Leprevost, 2nd Wendy McColskey/Dale McColskey, 3rd Kathleen Heinz/Sherri Bronson
🏆 W80
SINGLES: 1st Frances Dickenson, 2nd Heather Fiscalini, 3rd Carolyn Clark
DOUBLES: 1st Carolyn Clark/Sue McCandless, 2nd Frances Dickenson/Inge Weber, 3rd Teri Eggers/Candy Doud
FULL RESULTS HERE
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