Kramer Club Action Heats Up in November-December
The Kramer Club in Palos Verdes will host the annual Ojakian Tennis Celebrity Pro-Am to end MS Nov. 14 from 10:30 a.m. to 7 p.m.
Tracy Austin and Jeff Tarango will be joined by Matthew Perry and a host of other celebrities for a day of clinics, an exciting pro-am tournament, cocktail reception and fantastic auction items.
For more information, please visit the Ojakian Tennis Celebrity Pro-Am to End MS web page, or contact Chris Ojakian at 310-770-1918 or chris@ojakiantennis.com.
The annual holiday open event at the Kramer Club is set for Dec. 18-20. Justin Gimelstob won last year’s tournament. More prize money and bigger names are expected this year with a doubles event also being planned. Call (310) 326-4404 for more info.
Billie Jean King Event at CSU-LA A Great Success
The Billie Jean King and Friends, Honoring Joe Shapiro event included some special presentations, a few surprises and a spirited live auction that put the finishing touch on a fun-filled evening at the 12th annual event that took place in Pasadena.
The event was held once again at the Langham Huntington Hotel & Spa with more than 400 people attending and celebrated a big 2009 for Billie Jean King, who received the Presidential Medal of Freedom from President Barack Obama in August and the NCAA President’s Gerald R. Ford Award in January.
Academy-Award winning actress Holly Hunter was a special guest presenter and King made a special presentation to Cal State L.A. President James M. Rosser, commemorating his 30 years at the helm of the University.
The event also honored journalistic icon Frank Deford, who was presented the 2009 Shapiro Award, which is named in honor of the late attorney. The event generated more than $200,000 in revenue. Tennis analyst Mary Carillo served as the celebrity master of ceremonies for the third straight year and helped Shriver run a spirited and entertaining live auction that concluded the evening. The evening also included videos of the four Cal State L.A. student-athletes who were scholarship recipients: Gabriela Bulawczyk, Vivien Wadeck, Dora Kiss and Chris Matzner.
Falconi Captures Riviera All-American
Sophomore Irina Falconi of Georgia Tech won the singles title at the 25th annual Riviera/ITA Women’s All-American Championships at the Riviera Country Club in Pacific Palisades while Tennessee’s seventh-ranked team of Caitlin Whoriskey and Natalie Pluskota claimed the doubles title over a freshmen pair from Florida.
The eighth-seeded Falconi defeated Georgia’s Chelsey Gullickson in straight sets 6-2, 6-1 to capture her first individual national title. “It feels unbelievable to win this title,” Falconi said. “Winning is a great feeling no matter whether it’s a a regular match or capturing a national title. I didn’t realize that I had won the title until the awards ceremony began.”
Whoriskey and Pluskota downed the Cinderella freshmen paring of Lauren Embree and Allie Will 3-6, 6-2, 6-1, in the championship final.
Whittier Narrows Wins USTA Nationals
Hatty Yip captained the Whittier Narrows Tennis Center USTA 4.0 Adult team to a National Championships recently at the Darling Tennis Center in Las Vegas. Representing the Los Angeles/San Gabriel Valley, Whittier Narrows foiled the hometown bid of the Intermountain team from Las Vegas, stopping the local girls 3-2, with the match coming down to a decisive third-set tiebreak in the final match.
Earlier, Southern California had stopped casino online a team from USTA Midwest (Franklin, Mich.) in the semifinals. The championship winning featured team captain Yip (Arcadia), Jennifer McBrayer (Newport Beach), Trisha Dang (Rolling Hills), Jean Hirschmann (Westlake Village), Stella Redondo-Soto (La Puente), Mariathilde Batoon (Glendale), Connie Alaniz (Whittier), Cassandra Saily (Ontario), Kathryn Dennis (Santa Margarita), Judy Wiegand (Arcadia), Marlene Steenberg (San Gabriel), Anita Reese (Azusa), Karin Teal (Sierra Madre), Susanna Gan (Pomona), and Katherine Marin (Mission Hills). Also, the Whittier Narrows Men’s 3.0 team the “Racketeers”madde it all the way to Nationals but took fourth place in one of eight flights.
Chhabria Hosts West End and South End Fundraiser
South Bay real estate developer Raju Chhabria has teamed up with the West End and South End tennis clubs in Torrance for a fundraising tennis event Oct. 26-Nov. 1 to benefit local high school tennis programs affected by California state and local city budget cuts. All the proceeds from the $10,000 men’s and women’s event went to American Tennis Foundation, a non-profit corporation, for distribution to local Los Angeles County high school tennis teams. “I see this as another way of giving back to the community that has been my home for over 20 years,” Chhabria said.
Westlake 4.0 Seniors Win Nationals
A team from Westlake won the USTA 4.0 National Seniors title by defeating a Southern team from Bogart, Ga., 2-1 in the championship match. Earlier in the day, the Westlake team defeated a Middle States team from Mount Laurel, N.J., 2-1 in the semifinals.
The team was captained by Barbara Page and included the following players: Meg Cindric, Heather Hart, Cathy English, Linda Mills, Kathy Penrod, Kimberly Rabinoff, Dottie Furillo, Wanda Smythe, Kathleen Gibson and Cathy Lombardo.
Of Note: USC Gets Championship Rings
The USC men’s tennis team was honored in a ring ceremony commemorating their 2009 NCAA Team Championship. The entire 2008-09 team was on-hand for the ceremony, which took place in the main lobby of USC’s Heritage Hall among the trophy cases where the Trojans’ latest NCAA Trophy resides. ..USC’s Steve Johnson was recently named to the USTA International Collegiate Competition team which will take place Dec. 9-14 in Poitiers, France.
UCLA’s Amit Inbar concluded his splendid run at the ITA West/South Regional Championships as the Bruin junior posted a 7-5, 6-3 win over Alex Llompart of Pepperdine in the singles final at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center.
The 3rd Annual Crestmont Classic Doubles tournament benefitting the Salvation Army will take place March 6-8 at the Peninsula Racquet Club. Call 310-541-2523.
Thousand Oaks’ Marcos Giron represented the United States in the finals of the prestigious Junior Davis Cup in San Luis Potosi, Mexico.
During its annual awards breakfast at the USPTA World Conference on Tennis, the USPTA honored Alan Cutler from Whittier as the top credit earner in USPTA’s Career Development Program. The USPTA also announced that John Craig of Santa Ana was the grand-prize winner of the association’s personal Web site contest.
Giving back comes easily for Tony Brock, the director of the Safe Passage Program. The Los Angeles resident was recognized recently as he was named one of five finalists in the 2009 Heroes Among Us Program presented by the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour.
Young Revives in Calabasas
Unseeded Donald Young captured his first tournament title of the year and the third of his career with a straight-set win over Michael Russell at USTA Men’s Pro Tennis Championship of Calabasas. Young, 20, remained steady and played the swirling, moderate wind and the bigger points a little better to take the first set, 7-6 (4) before amping up his game to take the second, 6-1, for the title and the $7,200 check. “I know it came in the fall but it feels great to get my first tournament win of the year,” said a smiling Young. “Michael gets a lot of balls back. He doesn’t ever give up so you just have to stay in there and be patient.”
Young played great, especially the last four matches. After needing three sets to beat qualifier Louk Sorensen in the first round, Young gave up just 13 games over his next three matches including a convincing straight-set win over former Top 25 player Taylor Dent, who had won the Tusla Challenger. Young said he’s been trying to work on his mental toughness the last few weeks. “It’s something that I’ve lost over the past year and I’m trying to get it back,” he said.
In the doubles final, Santiago Gonzalez of Mexico and Simon Stadler of Germany beat Treat Conrad Huey of the Philippines and Harsh Mankad of India 6-2, 5-7, 10-4.
Wong Battling Cancer
Glenn Wong, owner of the Santa Monica-based First String Pro Shop, and a popular fixture in the local tennis community for close to 25 years, is battling cancer.
Wong has non-smoker’s lung cancer in the form of adenocarcinoma. Doctors have told him it has reached Stage 4. As of now, the cancer has spread to various organs and to the brain, and the prognosis is grim. The treatment – massive doses of whole-brain radiation and chemotherapy – is grueling.
Despite the side effects (loss of hair, loss of weight, loss of stamina) and the long odds, Wong remains positive about the future. “We’ll get an idea how effective the treatments have been in probably another 4 weeks time,” he said. “The response from my friends, family and customers has been overwhelming.”
