Olympic Moment: Cykman Wins ‘Flying O’ Award
The Olympic Club, a historic bastion of individual and team athletics, voted a tennis player its coveted ‘09 Olympian of the Year award for the first time in the 20 years the club has given the honor. The award, coming from an eight-member committee for outstanding performance over several years, came as “a surprise” to honoree Geoff Cykman.
Although the San Franciscan is familiar as a top name in local and national senior tennis competition, athletes from other sports have dominated his club’s award. The Flying O, as it is also known, has more than 20 sports departments including golf, basketball, swimming, water polo, cycling and triathlon.
Cykman, 56, was ranked No. 1 in NorCal 55s singles in ‘09 and No. 5 nationally, having achieved No. 3 in the 55s the year before. He was the National Hard Court 55s singles runner-up in 2008 and ‘09.
In ‘05, Cykman won the USTA 50s National Hard Court singles title and in ‘04 the 50s doubles title. He’s been an Olympic Club member since ‘98. Cykman has also been a member of the indoor San Francisco TC since ‘77.
Kells Claims Singles at Inaugural Battle of the Bay
USF wrapped up the inaugural Battle of the Bay Classic in November at the Cal Club. The five-school event featured the top players from five Bar Area D1 programs — USF, Cal, Stanford, St. Mary’s and Santa Clara. Santa Clara’s Andrew Kells won the singles title, defeating Stanford’s Dennis Lin 2-6, 6-4, 6-3, while the Stanford duo of Lin/Walker Kehren clamed the doubles crown. “What an amazing place to host a college tournament,” said ESPN commentator/former ATP pro/coach Brad Gilbert, who was watching his son, Cal’s Zach Gilbert, play. “This is a great event.”
The four-day event also featured an exo by Stanford alums Paul Goldstein and Sam Warburg, as well as a doubles exo by Cal Tyler Brown and USF alum Pablo Pires De Almeida against Goldstein/Warburg.
“The Cal Club did an amazing job providing a great facility and a great weekend of tennis,” said USF head coach Peter Bartlett. “This was the best collegiate event I’ve ever been involved with.”
SFTC: USPTA Facility of Year to casino online Unveil New Look
Fresh off earning USPTA NorCal’s prestigious Facility of the Year honors at the division’s Feb. 5-7 convention at Stanford, San Francisco TC plans to put the finishing touches on its months-long $4 million makeover by May. Already the indoor club inside has taken on a jaunty look with major renovations of the lobby, restaurant, locker rooms and viewing deck. The fitness/cardio room has $200,000 of new equipment and changes, and the smaller fitness/strength area will get a new floor.
But the plum for fitness buffs is direct TV hooked up to screens at individual workout machines where they can access, say, the tennis channel or the NFL. Plus there will be 15 new big screens — 42- to 60-inchers — spread throughout the club.
“It’s a whole new package and by May it should be done,” says club manager Larry Krieger. He took over a year ago when Western Athletic Clubs bought the club for $13 million at a time club members feared developers would buy it for condo-developing.
The 12 roof courts will be resurfaced as well, and the roof, with grand vistas of the city, will become more party-prone with a fire pit, grills and lots of lounge furniture. It’s a bigger outlay than WAC expected. It announced in Feb. 2009 the project would be a little more than $2 million As for the USTA National 65s Hard Court Court Championships returning to the club this year, it seems doubtful.
In Brief
The two courts at Hamilton Playground on Geary Ave. are now renovated with a pristine surface and hue that qualify them as the gem of The City’s public-court offering. The courts, with blue playing surfaces surrounded by green, have new fencing, nets and straps. But at this writing they’re locked, pending the completion of work just outside, which is part of the city’s playground overhaul and construction of a new recreation center. Vintage Contractors performed the court work, a donation from the Edwards Family Trust and arranged through the city. No city funds were used for it.
The California Tennis Club lost one of its greatest tennis enthusiasts when Jack Lund died in December at age 91. Lund played tennis at the club until he was 91, his obituary said in the San Francisco Chronicle. Just as impressively, the businessman who traveled internationally compiled some serious stats as a fan. Mr. Lund had attended 31 Wimbledon championships and 25 French Championships at Roland Garros Stadium in Paris.
A pro shop at Golden Gate Park tennis courts is among some 75 concession ideas that “we will be very much targeting this fiscal year,” Rec and Park general manager Phil Ginsburg said at a public meeting Jan. 26 at Gene Friend Rec center. Ginsburg led a public talk on the Rec and Park budget and replied to an Inside Tennis question about the possible concession for the Rec and Park Department. It faces a $12.4 million deficit in ‘10-’11.
The seven-year struggle to save the Golden Gateway Tennis and Swim Club courts is slogging on like a foreign war, and now Friends of Golden Gateway is publishing a brochure to raise money for its troops. FOGG’s (Friends Of Golden Gateway) fight is against a developer who would nearly cut the club in half to make way for some high-priced condos. FOGG’s driven chair, Lee Radnor, was trying to get 2,000 signatures on a petition in January to send officials who could stop the loss of this recreational land known as a famous financial district tennis haven for 40 years. And in January, too, the brochure, “A Factual Perspective on the Proposed 8 Washington Street Development,” came out. If you’re passionate, a $25 donation through the fogg.us website will get you one and help pay the expenses of the group’s hired land use lawyer and cover some office costs. Surely, a winner will be declared this year.
San Francisco’s Harper for Kids — founded by Tim and Peanut Harper in ‘08 — was among 24 organizations that benefited from a total of $297,325 in year-end grants awarded by the USTA Serves — the philanthropic and charitable entity of the USTA. Under its “Aces for Kids” umbrella, USTA Serves recognizes programs that successfully combine tennis and academics. “These programs are impacting the future of thousands of children, helping them to develop a healthy mentality and vital life skills that they will carry into adulthood,” said USTA Serves CEO Karen Martin-Eliezer.
