We are always glad to see Deborah's face in the place.
"In the most terrible and nimble stroke
Of quick, cross lightning...."
-Cordelia
King Lear
Act 4, Scene 7
On Saturday, August 16, Michelle POACHED.
Court reservations: We ask members to exercise patience when making advance reservations. While the action at the club has slowed down a bit, the 8:00 a.m. reservation frenzy has not. Oh callers, imagine people lined up at the window, cell-phones in hand, watching the time, then grabbing the reservation sheets whilst the phone's two lines explode. Imagine. Chuckle to yourselves. 'They must be having quite a time over there. Maybe I'll drift over to Starbucks, bring them a cuppa. See if I can soothe them down a little.'
| The next Round Robin is scheduled for Wednesday, August 20. The meal will be catered. Tennis starts at 6:00. |
Remember the round robins of yore? They were packed. The sign-up sheets were scribbled to death. There were waiting lists. There were 'dinner only(s).' There were folks who went out of their minds with grief and anguish that they couldn't play because they hadn't signed up earlier.
And now? Well now we barely have enough players to hold round robins. (One very curious issue is the format: almost all recent attendees have loved the format and the ambiance and the way Billy and Johanne have run the event. Before Billy and Johanne took over, there were, er, complaints.)
Any explanations?, ideas?
The club's Outreach Program ended last week. The kids had a ball. The counselors praised our pros for their exquisite patience. We marveled. We made lemonade and we marveled.
We have a report from one of our favorite corespondents, Ishmael:
News from the North.
We are recently returned from watching the afternoon sessions of the quarter and semi-finals of the men’s side of the Canadian Open, a/k/a the Rogers Cup. (Rogers is the primary Canadian cable TV purveyor and the chief sponsor of the tournament.) This year the men played in Toronto and the women in Montreal. Next summer they switch venues.
Although subscribers to the Tennis Channel and ESPN could watch it all on TV, it is worthwhile to go to the live event simply because the speed of the ball is not accurately conveyed on the tube. (The “tube” is likely a usage not long for this world, at least as a synonym for TV. Is there yet a competing colloquialism for the LCD Flat Panel Display? )
Both Montreal and Toronto feature show courts which are far more intimate than the two at Flushing Meadows. One major benefit, for the ordinary fan, is that the gold-plated corporate boxes are located behind the first bowl of 26 rows of seats in both the Toronto and Montreal stadia.. In contrast, in NYC, the ordinary, unconnected fan can’t buy seats anywhere near the court, but has to accept being exiled to East Overshoe, far behind the corporate boxes. For a relatively reasonable price, we were able to buy tickets in rows I and L in Toronto through the on-line facilities of Tennis Canada.
Both the Montreal and Toronto stadia can be reached by public transit, although Toronto requires using both the subway and a bus, taking about an hour from the downtown (Union Station). The Montreal subway takes about 30 minutes from downtown to Stade Uniprix, and then a 10 minute walk. (NYC has better transit to the National Tennis Center, via the Long Island RR.)
The Toronto Tennis Canada facility is known as the Rexall Center at York University. Almost all of the top ten players were present, but Federer, Djokovic, Davydenko, Blake and Roddick got knocked out early. Nadal, Gilles Simon, Nicholas Kiefer and Andy Murray made the semis. (Lots of prize money and ATP ranking points attract the big boys.)
Toronto is a lively city, with many sophisticated restaurants, strong ethnic neighborhoods, a vibrant arts scene and numerous museums of note. One can complement world class tennis with any of a number of other diversions. (One Boston, or rather Cambridge connected attraction is the Music Garden along the lakefront, based on music from Yo Yo Ma, the landscape architect has laid out a variety of unusual gardens to suggest dance music of various types.) Canadians seem preternaturally polite – it is difficult to adjust to considerable flows of urban traffic among which no horn sounds. Jaywalking is an unknown concept, and drivers don’t even think of parking illegally because it is too alien a concept. Little litter is seen on the streets or subway and recycling is an obsession – three separate recycling bins are grouped together at every subway stop, for newspapers, plastic and glass and other. The Toronto Globe and Mail is a fine newspaper, which seems not to have suffered the repeated bloodlettings seen at the Boston Globe, nor the loss of advertising. The causal observer suspects that the current downtown condo building boom will end in tears, bankruptcies and bargain prices. Reasonable hotel rates, combined as a package with airfare, were available on line from the usual sources.
Flying time from Boston is an hour and 20 minutes.
Your faithful correspondent,
Ishmael
And you all received the email (8-6-08) from Johanne about current programs at the club. Let's post it for quick reference:
The club has quieted down a little, the usual August vacation. A lot of members are enjoying time away right now. For all members remaining and those who haven't taken advantage of their membership yet, it is a great time to come and play. Players with a competitive edge, might take the time to improve or fine tune their game getting ready for all the upcoming tournaments the club offers in September. Check your membership book or the club web site for more detailed information at: www.cambridgetennisclub.com.
The club has quieted down a little, the usual August vacation. A lot of members are enjoying time away right now. For all members remaining and those who haven't taken advantage of their membership yet, it is a great time to come and play. Players with a competitive edge, might take the time to improve or fine tune their game getting ready for all the upcoming tournaments the club offers in September. Check your membership book or the club web site for more detailed information at: www.cambridgetennisclub.com.
If you are looking for more opportunities to play, you may join the Monday night Men's Doubles or the Tuesday night Women's Doubles and also participate in our Round Robins. There is a Round Robin tomorrow night, August 7th, and you may still sign up for it today. Several spaces are available. Always good and fun tennis followed by wraps, salads and drinks. Don't miss it!
To sign up or for additional information regarding organized play, contact Johanne by e-mail at gauthierjooo@aol.com or by phone at (617) 710-9465.
For lessons and group lessons you may contact Rick Rose at: (617) 492-6289 or (617) 642-3448, Steve Counihan at (781) 944-0323 or (781) 929-7455 or Johanne Gauthier at: gauthierjooo@aol.com or (617) 710-9465.
Free half hour lessons are still available. You may also choose an hour lesson at half price. Don't forget to sign up and take advantage of it!
Comments and suggestions are welcome!
See you on the courts,
Your tennis staff
The club book should be in your hands by now. Much of the information in the book is updated and available on the website.
Some useful links:
Here's a link to the espn site, with pro ranking.
And a club member (let's call him Sol) suggested a link to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in Newport, R.I. The site is rich.
We still have the tournament draws (from 2001 to 2004) available on-line (including all of the results), thanks to the Java Kid. We are re-locating the links, however.
"On the court, tennis players exchange not only ground strokes but lots of information. It's a richly interactive sport, both verbally and non-verbally. If players communicate clearly, simply, and consistently, the game will proceed more quickly, and with less fuss and misunderstanding. Here are a few guidelines that can make the game more fun, friendly, and fair for all...."
We've had some requests to run Craig Lambert's piece, sampled above, on Tennis Communication. (We'd better leave this link up on the newspage permanently.)
Take a look
Yearbook link will take you to the last newspage from 2006. From there you can see the whole of the Persistent Archive of last year's news.
Website Note: The time and temperature icon below is a link to a Boston weather site.
Joe DeBassio, Webmaster.
Website Note II: The honey-comb icon is also a link. It takes the clicker to an archive of all the past news pages so that said clicker can read the news pages for the whole year (2006). The less-than link (<) next to the honeycomb icon will take clickers to the previous issue of this year's newspage. (Skywriter is for Initiates.)
This version is archived at: https://www.cambridgetennisclub.com/News/News2008.19.en.html
