Thursday, January 21, 2016

CELEBRATIONS OF LIFE

The OTA and Tennis Canada are mourning the loss of two volunteers who made huge contributions to the sport of tennis in Ontario and Canada, Gus Morhart and Steve Stevens.

 In our last SPIN monthly we remembered Gus Morhart. Here are the details of his celebration of life.

There will be a get-together and Celebration of Life for Gus Morhart  on
Thursday, February 25th from 5 to 9pm at
Against the Grain restaurant (main floor)  87 Laird Drive, East York, ON  M4G 3T7  (647) 748-2840

All are welcome. So that Natasha has a good idea of the numbers please  rsvp to Natasha at natashablaskovic@msn.com  if you plan to attend. The restaurant can accommodate up to 300 people.  




Steve Stevens suffered a severe stroke just before Christmas and passed away on January 14th.  Here are the details of his celebration of life. 

A “Celebration of Life” for Steve Stevens will take place Thursday, February 11th at 7 pm at the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club, 44 Price St. in Toronto.

Please come and share a memory about Steve, and have a drink, a snack, and a  laugh, to help celebrate the life of an individual that did so much for tennis and in particular Seniors tennis in Canada.

The following is the announcement Tennis Canada made on Steve's death with a couple of additions to reflect his OTA involvement.  

Tennis Canada lost a long time member of its family on Thursday with the passing of Steve Stevens at the age of 99. Steve was an immensely valuable part of the organization for over three decades and his loss will leave an indelible hole in the entire Canadian tennis community.
Steve revolutionized seniors’ tennis in Canada. His passion for the sport and growing the game was unmatched. He led the growth of seniors’ tennis almost from ground zero, expanding Canada’s representation at the world championships from one team to 20. Through his time, Canada has been home to some of the best seniors players in the world and now regularly achieves success at the world championships every year. Canada’s annual outdoor national tournament was renamed in his honour in 2010 to the Steve Stevens Senior National Tennis Championships.
Born in England in 1916, Steve first became involved in tennis at a young age. He organized a church community club and played socially in Germany and Switzerland. He moved to Brazil in 1951 and after some years without tennis, he took up the sport again in Sao Paulo in 1960 and was an integral part of the tennis community there, including as a delegate of the Sao Paulo Tennis Federation.
After moving to Toronto in October 1967, he shortly thereafter began his involvement with Canadian tennis. He first became a representative for seniors’ tennis on the OTA tournament committee in 1970 and his contribution only grew from there. He was the general manager of the Toronto Lawn Tennis Club from 1969 to 1982, OTA Board member from 1978 to 1987, OTA president from 1982 to 1985 and has been part of Tennis Canada since the early 90s. In 2003 he was one of the inaugural recipients of the OTA Distinguished Service Award because of his contributions to tennis in Ontario.
His annual birthday celebrations in the Tennis Canada offices were not-to-be-missed as Steve would regale the staff with vibrant speeches. He loved bringing people together and organizing parties, and was known for his speeches and ability to tell a tale. He would regularly hold a crowd at every seniors’event.
Up until recently, Steve was still acting in his role of Seniors Tennis Coordinator. He celebrated his 99th birthday in November at the Toronto Lawn.
His fiery spark and kind spirit will always be remembered. He will be truly and greatly missed by all in the Canadian tennis community, and especially in the seniors’ community where he was synonymous with the sport. He leaves behind a huge legacy, and it is thanks to his vast dedication, passion, and guidance over the years that seniors’ tennis in Canada is in such a positive place today.
Steve passed away at Sunnybrook in Toronto, just weeks after suffering a stroke. 
Photo of Steve Stevens courtesy Peter Figura.

ONTARIO PROS ON TOP DOWN UNDER

Daniel Nestor gets his 1000th ATP win
Sydney, Australia obviously suits Daniel Nestor. It is the city in which he and Sébastien Lareau won the Olympic doubles gold medal and it is also the place where Daniel finally got his 1000th win on the ATP tour.
To reach this milestone Daniel and partner Marcelo Melo of Brazil managed a fairly routine  6-4, 6-4 win over Leander Paes of India and Jérémy Chardy of France in the APIA International Sydney tournament.
Daniel had hoped to make than elusive win in 2015 but it wasn’t to be. Natasha Daniel’s wife commented, "He was talking about 999 a lot – 'I’m the first player to get to 999' – and he said 'it would be REALLY bad if I were to get injured or even die at this number,' "
Daniel took his wife and daughters to Australia so they could be present when he made the magic number of wins. Daniel is the first player to reach this milestone. The ATP tour web site has an interview with Daniel and his family which can be seen at
http://www.atpworldtour.com/en/video/nestor-reflects-on-1000-wins-sydney-2016
Daniel won his first doubles title in 1994 and her has won at least one title in every year to reach a grand total of 88 ATP titles, 8 Grand Slam titles and Olympic Gold. 2009 was his most prolific year in terms of titles. He won 9 that year.
Daniel has also reached 57 finals in which he didn’t take the title.
Congratulations Daniel – may you keep racking up the wins for the remainder of your professional career!!

Milos gets his first title of 2016.

It was a good start to the year for Canadian tennis.
Milos Raonic seemed in excellent form on the courts at Brisbane. And when it came to the final he looked as if 2016 might just be the year that he will regain his best form and nip at the heels of the top players. His supporters were not disappointed as he defeated Roger Federer in straight sets (6-4, 6-4) in the Brisbane International to rack up the 8th ATP World Tour Title of his career.  In 2015 Milos reached the final of the Brisbane event and lost to Federer.

We hope this win will give Milos the confidence he will need to go deep into the draw at the Australian Open which is now underway.  Go Milos!

GEORGE CARTER MEMORIAL TOURNAMENT



The George Carter Memorial Tournament
The George Carter Memorial Tournament, as U9 and U10 Future Stars event was held at Ontario Racquet Club on January 2nd and 3rd.

George Carter  was a proud member of the ORC who played regularly at the club and still took lessons until  he was well into his 80s.  His positive attitude and gentle nature made him an inspiration to many players. George represented Canada in ITF senior world team championships on many occasions. 

The emphasis in these events is on playing and gaining experience. Players play in round robin pools and if time permits, elimination draws are played between poll winners.
In the Boys under 9 event Claire Podolsky, Lev Sherifali and Maxim Gregory Mieczkowski  placed 1 through 3 as pool winners.

In the Boys under 10 event Lucas Kimelman won over Alexandru Filoti in the elimination final. Evan Vanderstarren and Kristofer Todorov were the other pool winners.

In the girls under 10 event Gian Hannah Octa was declared the winner and 8 year old Stasia Laine Kryk was the finalist. Stasia is a member of the AMA Tennis and Badminton Club in Amherstburg.


Thank you to Jason Kryk for sending us this lovely photo of Gian and Stasia with Andrea Rabzak of Ontario Racquet Club. 

WILSON MAYFAIR SENIOR ITF TOURNAMENT



Wilson/Mayfair Senior ITF Tournament

The first Senior ITF tournament of 2015 was the Wilson Mayfair tournament held Jan 2 to 4 a great way for people to deliver on any new year resolutions to get fitter or to play more tennis!
The winners and finalists were as follows:-

MS35 Simon Tremblay-Larouche, Vahid Tahamtan
MD35 Olivier Borlee & Patric Sachetelli, Asad Hussain & Tarik Kamel

MS 40 Olivier Borlee, Jason Christie
MS 45  Ben Woo, John Murray
MD 45 Tarik Kamel & Nels Stanfield, Martin Lemay & Mike O’Neill

MS 50 Graham Watt, Martin Lemay
MS 55 Mike Rose (USA), Denis Dumas
MD 55 Fraser Macdonald & Marc Pepin, Sergey Borodulin & Rosti Brankovsky

MS 60 Sergey Borodulin, Steve Fricker
MS 65 Dennis Ing, Daryl Howes-Jones
MD 65 James Boyce & Dennis Ing, Don Anderson & Raul Hernandez

WS 35  Leigh Bradwell, Liane Marr
WD 35 Leigh Bradwell & Liane Marr, Nancy Behm & Sandra Cimetta

WS 40 Nicole Wolfe, Julie Landreville
WS 45 Jennifer Bishop, Patti Thornicroft
WD 45 Jennifer Bishop & Kelly Stobbe, Susan Danac-Smith & Nancy Lin (see photo right to left)

WS 50 Cindy O’Doherty, Stephanie Myles
WS 55 Erin Boynton, Susanna Sekely
WD 55 Patricia Babcock & Margaret Lansens Smeenk, Susanna Sekely & Janice Hebert

WS 60 Patricia Babcock, Susan Bye
WS 65 Cathie Joyce, Rosemary Antze

The next Wilson Mayfair Senior ITF tournament will be held  Feb 12 to 15.  Singles age categories 35 to 65 (5 year increments). Doubles for categories ending in “5” with sign up on site. Singles entries close Jan 27th.

Don’t forget these other dates for your calendar!

Mar 16 - 20 Eastern Indoors Nationals Super Senior Men (60 and up), Donalda Club, Toronto

Apr 6-10 Eastern Indoor Nationals Senior Women (all ages) Club Sportif Cote de Liesse, Montreal

Apr 13-17 Eastern Indoor Nationals Senior Men (O35 to O55) Club Sportif Cote de Liesse, Montreal

Apr 27 – May1 Western Indoor Nationals , Glencoe & Winter Club, Calgary

Aug 21 -27 Steve Stevens Senior Outdoor Nationals, Ottawa Lawn, Riseau and West Ottawa Clubs, Ottawa 


CHRISTMAS BREAK OPEN TOURNAMENTS




CHRISTMAS BREAK OPEN TOURNAMENTS

There are two Open tournaments held each December over the Christmas break. These tournaments are particularly popular as those players who are away at university get a chance to catch up with one another while still keeping their games in shape, and for the up and coming juniors it is a chance for them to see hoe their skills match against those players who have recently moved into the adult ranks.

The $9000 ACE Circuit Canada Indoor Open Championships were held Dec 19 to 24.
The men’s singles was won by Winston Lin of the USA, who played fellow American, Marcus Fugate in the final. Malik Bhatnagar and Martin Beran were the semifinalists.

The women’s singles was won by Maureen Drake, who is now eligible to play seniors events but can still teach the youngsters a thing or two in competition.  Sandra Dynka was the finalist and Charlotte Petrick and Katarina Kopcalic were semi-finalists.

The Copacabana Open was held at White Oaks  Resort in Niagara on the Lake  Dec 27th to 31st.

In the men’s singles another Lin, Jack Mingjie Lin, who is still a junior beat out American and winner of the ACE event, Winston Lin, in the final.  Henry Choi and Martin Beran were the semi-finalists.

The women’s singles was won by Isabelle Boulais, who beat her doubles partner, Charlotte Petrick in the final. Isabelle is the daughter of Yves Boulais and Patricia Hy-Boulais who are now working  at Ontario Racquet Club in Mississauga. Petra Januskova and Louise Kwong were the semi-finalists.

In the men’s doubles,  Martin Beran and Jesse Flores took the title beating the American duo, Winston Lin and Marcus Fugate in the final. The teams of Jack Mingjie Lin/Nicaise Muamba and Victor Krustev/Christian Lakoseljac were semifinalists.

The women’s doubles event was won by Isabelle Boulais and Charlotte Petrick.  Petra Januskova and Maria Patrascu were finalists. While Sandra Dynka/Louise Kwong and Jade Hilton/Savanna Ly made it through to the semi-finals.


Thank you to Dr. Vijay Bhatnagar who sent us this photo of Malik Bhatnagar with Vasek Pospisil in Florida in early December.