Tennis Topics
Published: July 19, 2009, Richmond Tennis Association website
Latest Hall of Fame includes five former top RTA juniors
by John Packett, RTA Staff Writer
The newest class of inductees to the Richmond Tennis Association’s Hall of Fame was announced on Saturday, and five of the nine members are former products of the local organization.
Tom Cain, Kathleen Cummings, Rodney Harmon, Mark Vines and Wade McGuire all grew up learning and playing the game with help from the RTA, which continues to assist juniors in developing and expanding their tennis horizons.
Cain, Harmon, Vines and McGuire all played for a while on the professional men’s tour while Cummings spent time on the women’s pro circuit, rising as high as No. 48 in the world.
Harmon reached the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open in 1982, losing to Jimmy Connors, and was ranked 60th in the world a week later. Vines won the Paris Indoor pro tournament in 1981, beating Frenchman Yannick Noah along the way.
Cain captured back-to-back city championships in 1976-77 and earned All-American honors at Southern Methodist University before turning pro, where he was ranked as high as No. 68.
McGuire, who became the youngest player to win the city men’s title at 16 in 1986, was twice runner-up in the NCAA tournament before turning pro.
The other members of the 2009 Hall of Fame, who were introduced between the men’s and women’s singles finals of the McDonald’s Mid-Atlantic Open Clay Court Championships at Salisbury Country Club, are former Times-Dispatch tennis writer John Packett and Hugh Waters III.
Packett covered tennis for the local newspaper for nearly 39 years before retiring earlier this year. He continues to cover the sport on a free-lance basis for the Times-Dispatch and the RTA’s web site.
Waters has served in a variety of capacities since moving to Richmond in 1970 to become director of tennis at Westwood Club. He is currently serving as president of the RTA.
Davenport and Company, which has sponsored the city tournament since 1998, and Westwood Club will also be honored during the induction ceremonies at Westwood on Oct. 24.
Baronian wins U.S. Open Fantasy trip to New York in September
The winner of the RTA-sponsored U.S. Open Fantasy trip was John Baronian, whose name was drawn Saturday at Salisbury Country Club.
Baronian and a companion receive round-trip airfare to New York, two nights at the Grand Hyatt hotel in midtown Manhattan, and tickets to the evening session at the U.S. Open on Sept. 4 and seats in the President’s Box of the U.S. Tennis Association on Sept. 5.
They will also have a private tour of Arthur Ashe Stadium and dinner for two at Tavern on the Green restaurant in Central Park.
Nearly all of the 600 tickets in the raffle were sold at $25 each, and the money from it will help fund projects by the RTA for the coming year.
Rampre, Courtney earn singles titles on McDonald’s final day
The McDonald’s tournament concluded on Saturday with a three-peat winner and first-time champion.
Top-seeded Petra Rampre, a native of Slovenia who plays on the women’s pro tour, outlasted third-seeded Tatsiana Uvarova 6-4, 6-7 (7-3), 6-1 in two hours, eight minutes to earn her third straight crown and the top prize of $3,000 in women’s singles.
Uvarova, a former No. 1 player for Virginia Commonwealth University and a native of Belarus, saved three match points in the ninth game of the second set to force the tiebreaker and a decisive set but had nothing left at the end.
On the men’s side, No. 7 seed Drew Courtney completed quite a week when he blew past an injured David McNamara, the second seed, 6-1, 6-2 in less than an hour. McNamara suffered a strained abdominal muscle early in the match and didn’t put up much resistance thereafter.
Courtney is a rising sophomore at the University of Virginia, where he played mostly No. 6 singles this spring for a team that went unbeaten during the regular season before losing in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament.
The native of Clifton had earlier knocked off top-seeded and U.Va. teammate Sanam Singh in the semifinals and No. 4 seed Salifu Mohammed in the quarterfinals. Another Cavalier, Treat Huey, won the title last year.
"It’s an unbelieveable tournament," said U.Va. coach Brian Boland. "It’s good for these guys to get an opportunity to play throughout the week and I know they love the experience. We’ll keep coming back."
Courtney was unable to accept the prize money but instead was paid only his expenses, since he’s still an amateur.
McNamara, an Australian native and men’s coach at Middle Tennessee State, took home the runner-up check for $1,500.
"Drew had an unbelieveable freshman year, won over 30 matches for us and just continues to develop and improve," said Boland. "His potential is unbelieveable. He’s become a much better player in the last six months, and I think he’ll have a major impact for us next year."
Rampre had a hand in two other titles, teaming with Richmonder Chrissie Seredni to capture the women’s doubles over Alison Ojeda and Melissa Schaub 6-4, 3-6, 7-6 (7-5), and pairing with Mohammed to win the mixed doubles over Martin Stiegwardt and Kateryna Yergina 6-1, 6-2.
By winning or sharing all three titles, Rampre took home $4,100 for the week.
In men’s doubles, the fourth-seeded duo of Singh and Milo Johnson upset the No. 2 team of Huntley Montgomery and Trevor Spracklin 7-6 (7-4), 6-2.
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