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Agony And Ecstacy At St Pete Senior Tournament
The Agony…
The level of players at the Level 2: 2024 Raymond James West Coast Super Senior Grand Prix at St Petersburg Tennis Center is astounding.
No matter how good you are or think you are, you could face an opponent that can wipe you off the court, fast. I lost in the first round of 55s 64 63 after being up 42 then losing 9 games in a row, only to wake up again at the end to win three games to make it a respectable 35 but the buck stopped there.
Then in the back draw I had a good match against a Canadian 60 60 playing perfect tennis. I looked at the guys next to us – next round opponent – and estimated I could beat both. Well, I lost 60 60 to a guy who flew over all the way from Germany. He looked big, slow and methodical from the side, but from across the net he got everything and missed about one slice passing shot by an inch all day. At least my Wilson Blade 98 survived a few tosses. The German won the back draw final too. I was defending 2023 back draw champ. When you lose 60 60 then your friends start texting you asking what happened? Because they saw the score on the tournament page.
Another Canadian player drove down from Ontario three weeks ago and slept in his car back seat for three weeks while playing two tournaments – St. Pete and Bradenton. He made finals in Bradenton, blowing a match point on an unlucky net cord deflection and lost in the QF in St. Pete.
A very good player in the 55s had to forfeit his QF match due to being caught in traffic on the Sunshine Skyway Bridge just a few miles from the tournament site.
Two of the top 55s players had a long 3 hour plus marathon match that was blemished by bad behavior. The 2023 runner up had a bitter feud with the eventual 2024 runner up with questionable line calls and arguments throughout that needed a chair umpire supervisor for the whole match. As one player witness said, “Both were acting like teenagers the whole match.”
(But the story needs to be revised. It appears most of the blame, if not all. is squarely on the one player. The player Convers, a gentleman (we chatted and played some practice points last year) to my knowledge, never had an issue in two years at the event, while the other Castillo repeatedly complained about close calls in another match also. “…Castillo called me cheater in the first game, after I showed the right mark which was out, to try to rattle and start a street fight. This is reality. But the side umpires won’t stop it as they are not competent. This is reality…”)
Another heartbreak is training for weeks for the tournament only to see the quest go up before you even get to play a single point. This happened to Steve Willoughby, who saw his 55s dubs partner default in singles with a calf injury in the second round.
The Ecstasy…
The 90s final was incredible. George McCabe of Oxford, Ohio vs. Morris Denton of Oxford, Mississippi. What are the odds the two finalists are from the same named hometown? About a billion to one? McCabe is a seniors legend and Denton looked as fit as someone in his 50s, no slouch, perfect posture, no belly, and incredible footwork and body coordination. It was miraculous to see two men over age 90 playing and moving so well. Morris prevailed in an upset 57 63 10-6.
A google search reveals Morris played at Ole Miss in 1957-58. McCabe is the reigning world champion in singles and doubles in the 90s age category. He won the titles in Palma Mallora, Spain in October 2023. McCabe is 92 and has won 13 world titles and 44 national titles. “I’m a very humble guy,” said McCabe, who uses a Weed racquet with Wilson shoes. “I don’t plaster the walls with my pictures. I just say, ‘good job,’ go out and workout because the minute I stop practicing, people are going to come out and beat your butt.”
The best player in the tournament was Vincent Versier from France and now living in Hollywood, FL where he volunteer coaches at Barry University. He rolled through the draw and won the final 63 63 looking like a former top 20 ATP pro, just perfect technique. I hit on the court with Versier one day and asked who the best player he ever played with was. After contemplating for about 15 seconds he said, the French Senegal two time ATP title winner Yahid Doumbia, who won Lyon ATP singles title in 1988. Versier then asked if I had ever heard of him? Yes of course, from Africa. Hey buddy I wrote 14 books on tennis and my latest Vitas Gerulaitis Portrait of a Champion just came out this week!
Versier earned $460 for the 55s singles title and runner up Roberto Castillo got a check for $140.
Amazingly Versier never had an ATP point though his son Vivien was ranked 1200 something a few years ago. I didn’t ask why he did’t play ATP because he certainly looked like a former elite ATP player. It just goes to show how many fine, fantastic players never make it big in the pro ranks.
The number one 55s player in the world Oren Motevassel won the doubles title but didn’t play singles due to some hip issues.
There are dozens of other stories related to this tournament and the abundance of interesting people and players who competed but because I was only there for two days and two matches, sorry if this report is too short for your liking. It’s a metaphor of sorts for my mediocre performance this year in St. Pete, 1-2 this year compared to 3-1 last year. But I’ll be back in 25!
Bonus: Fantastic hospitality by all the cheerful, friendly volunteers. Incredible atmosphere of the historic club where every legend has played – Seles, Tilden, Budge, Laver, King, Ashe, Evert, Capriati, Agassi Sharapova, Rosewall, Hoad, Courier, etc. The club even has a Hall of Fame museum which documents the history.
One of the plate names was for John Rast who played at Stanford with John McEnroe. John helped me with my new book “Vitas Gerulaitis Portrait of a Champion” book because he knew Vitas and some of his friends also had some interesting encounters with Vitas. So I texted John that I saw his name plate at SPTC and he replied back, “That park (Bartlett) is where I grew up. Stolle, Laver, Ashe, Nastase, Emerson, King, Chissie Evert, Martina played there. I was a ballboy for them all.”
When I asked John about his best ballboy memories he shared two classics. “Arthur Ashe asked me when I was ten to warm him up for his final one year! And Nastase used my shirt as a towel to dry his grip off.”
Denton Morris · France · George McCabe · ITF · St. Petersburg Tennis Center · Vincent Versier
