Tennis: No strings attached

Richard Dunn

The reason tennis is the sport for a lifetime is because, despite

ourselves, we can always make the great venture of a comeback, perhaps

the prize catch of senior athleticism in today’s society.

Tennis never goes away for the lifelong afflicted. It is merely

courtside while your racket waits endlessly for another set.

For at least the third time in his stellar senior career, Newport

Beach’s Robyn Ray is attempting to walk another path in the comeback

trail, this time in the men’s 55s.

Ray, a back-to-back national champion in the 45s in singles in 1992

and ‘93, is living proof that real competitive juices never freeze over

or trickle away. They come back to the surface.

“I’m going to get back into it,” said Ray, Director of Tennis at the

Newport Beach Marriott Hotel and Tennis Club and still probably one of

the top senior players in the country.

Ray, a left-hander, made his comeback in the recent Emulex Pacific

Southwest Senior Tennis Championships at Palisades Tennis Club in Newport

Beach.

But Ray, who didn’t play much in the 50s, will make his national

comeback in the USTA National Intersectional Team Championships Oct. 4-8

at River Hills Club in Jackson, Miss.

Ray will represent Southern California, along with six other players,

in the 55s and play singles. The format is similar to the Davis Cup, but

the seven-man teams play three singles matches and two doubles, instead

of four and one.

Palisades Club owner/operator Ken Stuart, a former NCAA doubles

champion for Long Beach State, is the team captain and handpicked the

squad.

“All his buddies,” quipped Ray, who is eager and physically ready for

another try on the circuit.

Ray also captured his two national singles titles -- and, at an

extremely competitive level in the 45s -- when he returned from a long

layoff.

Once a highly sought-after, globe-trotting amateur standout, Ray

hasn’t traveled to a tennis tournament in six years. In the early 1990s,

Ray frequently played on the U.S. Dubler Cup team that traveled

throughout South America and Europe. Ray played No. 1 singles on those

squads.

Ray, who has been at the Newport Beach Marriott for over 25 years,

will play singles at the USTA team intersectionals in Jackson along with

Terry Ehlers, Neisie Csei and Dean Corley, while Stuart, Steve Field and

Daud Ahmed will play doubles.

The Southern California section won the USTA event last year in

Arizona as an unseeded team on hardcourts. But this year the new

Stuart-led unit probably won’t sneak up on anybody with its expected

first or second seed.

Ray, for one, is glad the team will be playing on clay courts in

Jackson. “It is much easier on your body than playing on hardcourts,” Ray

said. “You can get away with not being in tip-top shape. You don’t have

the abuse of the hardcourts.”

In the Pacific Southwest, Ray was forced to default in the singles

quarterfinals because he had to leave town.

When you ask an opponent to reschedule a match in a tournament, it

almost never happens. Your opponent is thrilled to accept the victory,

especially if it’s an open tournament with prize money on the line.

Only once in a great while will a match get rescheduled because a

player can’t make it. That usually occurs in the higher-up divisions (70s

to 90s), where player are only interesting in playing tennis matches.

Jim Nelson (Irvine), a member at Palisades and Newport Beach Tennis

Club, captured two doubles titles in the 74th annual Pacific Southwest,

winning with Dick Leach (Laguna Beach) in the men’s 60s and Lenny

Lindborg (Laguna Beach) in the 65s.

What an amazing accomplishment for Nelson, who has been one of the

best senior players in the nation for several years.

Local women Judy Louie (50s) and Norma Veal (60s) won their respective

singles championships at the Pacific Southwest, while Newport Beach’s

Carsten Hoffmann won the men’s 30s title.

Ehlers won the men’s 55s at the Pacific Southwest, topping USTA

intersectional teammate Ahmed, 6-4, 6-2.

Fall competition in USA Team Tennis for the Southern California

section juniors will start this month, with the playoffs scheduled once

again at the UCLA Tennis Center in February 2001.

Two Newport-Mesa squads won team championships last year: The Balboa

Bay Club Racquet Club girls 12s (under intermediate division) and the

Newport Beach Tennis Club boys 12s (under novice). Details: (310)

208-3838, ext. 239.

The Building Industry Association of Southern California, Orange

County Chapter, will host its 19th annual tennis tournament today at the

Newport Beach Tennis Club.

The doubles format in mixed, men’s and women’s gives all participants

an opportunity to meet, play tennis and network with leaders in the

building industry. Details: (714) 582-6960.