Tennis Topics
Published: May 21 2009, Richmond Tennis Association website
Deane rallies for victory in 4.0 rated final of Davenport
by John Packett, RTA Staff Writer
There was only a handful of people watching today at Byrd Park when Hilary Long and Lisa Deane took center court.
No blazing serves left their racquets. The players had to collect their own stray balls. There were no chairs for them to sit down during changeovers. No one kept the score, so they had to remind each other from time to time.
But Deane and Long both enjoyed themselves immensely during the title match of the 4.0 women’s rated division in the Davenport City Tennis Championships.
"That was fun," said Deane, 51, after rallying from a 4-1 deficit in the opening set to beat Long 6-4, 6-1 under near-perfect conditions at the Boulevard courts.
"I played great for five games," said Long, 56, whose ground strokes zipped down the line and crosscourt for winners in the early going.
"I came out charging. I wasn’t missing anything in the beginning, but then Lisa came on strong, started hitting some great strokes."
Deane, who is a semi-retired fitness instructor at the Tuckahoe Family YMCA, began to find the range with her steady ground strokes.
"I felt like she was playing so well and I was making some forced errors," said Deane. "I was also making way too many unforced errors. I realized I could control that, so I settled down and starting coming in to the net some.
"That’s not my game. Everybody knows I’m a baseliner. But she was playing so well back there, so I just said, ‘You know what .… And that started to work a little. I thought, well, I’ll try to do something different because she was beating me up at first."
The two left-handers traded strokes mostly from the baseline, with the rallies sometimes lasting 20, 25, even 30 returns before someone prevailed.
"She was very consistent, so maybe I started thinking too much," said Long, a retired speech pathologist. "What can I do next?"
Long eventually ran out the match and accepted her trophy from tournament director Fred Bruner. The rated divisions returned to the Davenport tournament this year after an absence of several years when interest had waned in those categories.
In fact, Long and Deane were the only two entries in the women’s 4.0 division, although other categories were larger.
"I really want to tell both of you," Bruner said to the finalists. "This is what I hope is the beginning of a great thing. I didn’t realize what was going on in rated tennis. We know that rated is where everything is going these days. League tennis is certainly huge.
"But we’ve had this turnout of people who really want to play singles, want to play in [rated] tournaments. And they’re traveling to Norfolk, Newport News, Virginia Beach to do it. So we want to provide them with another outlet locally. It’s another segment of the community we can serve.
"And we want people to realize that it’s a big deal to be a city champion."
Long plays in a weekday USTA league at the Country Club of Virginia, while Deane belongs to a weekend league at Bon Air.
"I like the USTA because everybody is at more consistent level," said Long. "In the Suburban League, you can have a 4.0 playing a 4.5 or a 5.0. Last year, in this tournament, in the 55s [age group], I played a 3.0 in the finals and that’s not fair.
"With this, Lisa is a really good player and I know I’m going to get a really competitive match."
Added Deane, "This was a great match. I really enjoyed it. It was very challenging."
Both Deane and Long are hoping that more players enter the 4.0 division next year.
"It would have been nice [to have more matches] because I felt like I had some tournament nerves," Long said. "I got out here and came on like a house afire and then I thought, ‘What am I doing? I’m on a hard court and there’s people around.
"It would have been nice to have had a couple of matches before getting into a final."
"You know what. We’re going to make that happen next year, aren’t we?" said Deane. "Some people might say it’s too much and I can’t make that commitment, especially if you have to work full time. I understand that it’s a lot of tennis."
League tennis has seemingly taken over the local landscape in the sport for a number of years.
"It’s so well organized," said Long. "You meet different people. I tend to do a lot of clay-court tennis but when you do leagues, you get to play on hard courts, a lot of surfaces. It widens your game." Chimed in Deane, "You have to be able to play on all surfaces in league tennis."
When it was over, Long headed off for a round of golf and Deane went to work.
"I think it’s great that the two people who showed up for the finals were over 50," said Deane. "It was a beautiful day."