The 16th Annual Observer Challenge Cup is a very fun and serious competition which combines mens and womens tennis at the Longboat Key Public Har Tru Courts held this weekend. We were able to defend our top seed and defeat the other four teams in the competition’s Division One (there are four other divisions). The main sponsor “Longboat Observer” is the weekly newspaper which covers the twenty-mile Longboat Key. The special event is the brainchild of LBK tennis director Kay Thayer.
Each “match” actually consists of five matches – mens doubles/womens doubles/mixed doubles/mens singles/womens singles with no-ad scoring – and of course the winning team must earn three courts of the five. Our team had a first round bye and was able to win 5-0 on Saturday in the semis and 4-1 in the finals by scores of 6-3 in mens doubles – 6-2 in womens doubles – 6-4 in mixed doubles – 6-1 in mens singles and 0-6 in womens singles.
Our Division One winning team consisted of yours truly and Beverly Perez Linda Gillott and captain Mark Schlobach. Daniel Vacek said these types of combined tennis competitions are very common in Czech Republic and because of the uniqueness and fun factor I think they should also be more so utilized in the United States on the junior level. Food for thought: Remember the first Grand Slam titles won by John McEnroe and Serena Williams were in mixed doubles. (Photo credit – Kristen Herhold)
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