Ted Avory Cup 2019

Berkeley, California

Result: USA win 20-16 and retain the trophy

The 2019 Ted Avory Cup was held in Berkeley, California from the 27^th-30^th August 2019. The bi-annual fixture between the USA and GB took place at Berkeley Tennis Club just outside of San Francisco. Both countries fielded strong teams with players from the open to the 75s age categories.

20 matches were played on day 1, with many tightly fought battles and some stand out matches being played on court number 3 in particular. First up was Michael Dawe who lost out to Paul Wulf in a thrilling match ending in 3^rd set tiebreak which went to Wulf 10-6. Then came the battle of the Judy’s who fought out a 3 hour epic match with Judy Horn narrowly losing out to Judy Newman 10-7 in the 3^rd set tiebreak. Henk Nijeboer, Simon Bramwell, Tash Starling, Ali Innes and Phillip Siviter all picked up great singles wins whilst we also had some brilliant doubles results. The open/30s mens doubles match was of a particularly high standard and GB got the win with a great performance from Mark Whitehouse and David Culshaw. The day ended with the US leading 11-9.

The official match dinner was held on the Wednesday evening at the Claremont Country Club. Speeches were made by both captains and honorary memberships were given out from both the US IC and the IC of GB. Erika Smith and Paul Wulf were made honorary members of the IC of GB and Amanda Elliott and Philip Siviter were made honorary members of the US IC.

On day two 16 matches were played with notable singles wins from Mark Whitehouse, Tash Starling and Henk Nijeboer, followed by some very close doubles matches where we won a couple in the 10 point tiebreaks – revenge for the previous day! Congratulations to Henk Nijeboer and Tash Starling for winning all their matches over the 2 days. The fixture ended with the US retaining the trophy by claiming victory by 20 rubbers to 16.

The IC’s of GB and the USA hosted a Special Olympics clinic on the Friday morning as part of the philanthropic movement of the IC, before visiting the Napa Valley wine district for a wine tour in the afternoon.

Many thanks to the US IC for a fantastic match and hospitality, and also to the GB team for being brilliant both on and off the court!

GB Team

Tash Starling, Amanda Elliott (c), Ali Innes, Claire Haslett, Karen Hunter, Susie Dart, Karen Cass, Judy Horn, Anne Clark, Mark Whitehouse, David Culshaw, Simon Bramwell, Paul Scullard, Graham Neale, Michael Dawe, Phillip Siviter, Henk Nijeboer

US Team

Julie Silverira, Shannon Gordon-Carney, Mary Beth-Williams, Judy Newman, Anne Young, Maria Smith, Lisa Cheng, April Jourdan, Makenna Thiel, Mai Ichikawa-Abel, Andre Barnes, Francesca La'O, Mylene Martin, AlisaYee, Erika Smith (c), Paul Wulf, Mike Tammen, Joshua Osswald, Tyler Browne, Joe Bachmann, Jeff Greenwald, Brent Abel, Andre Dome, Shaun Choudhury, Rick Fried, Nick Brunner, Charlie Hoeveler (c)

Results in full below.

DAY ONE                                                                                                        DAY TWO