Chicago Charities coverage

Wayne Dollard reported for PTM from Chicago:

A refreshing 2004-05 season was on display in Chicago from November 5-7 for the annual Charities tournament. The best players in the game, including 214 men and women, competed in this season’s extravaganza. New pairings, veteran teams, and reunited legends captured off a weekend of unparalled platform tennis.

2004 Chicago Women’s Charities: What would you like to see when going to watch a major platform tennis championship? Power, finesse, excitement? You might also like to see new teams rising to greater heights and veteran teams returning to show a younger generation that they’re not ready to go away any time soon. This year’s Chicago Charities provided all of these things plus much more.

The ladies of platform tennis kicked off the weekend on Friday, November 5th. The absences of Lauren Zink, Shelley Morse, Patty Hogan, Sarah Krieger, and Robin Fulton were
felt, but the Chicago spectators had plenty to cheer about with hometown favorites dominating the draw. Mary Doten, Sally Cottingham, Chris Sheldon, Leslie Hough, and Kelly
Rudolph held up their end of the bargain and advanced to the quarter-finals. Doten and Keane (Grosse Pointe, Michigan), current National Champions and second-seeded team, were stopped short of their goal of capturing the title when they ran up against the third-seeded team of Bobo Delaney and Tonia Mangan in the semi-finals.

However, the story of the tournament was not the loss of one team to another, but rather the re-addition of Sue Aery and Gerri Viant to the Charities. Aery retired from platform tennis in 2002 to pursue a chiropractic education. Returning to the 2004 Nationals in Cleveland this past March, the unseeded Aery/Viant reached the finals before losing to Doten/Keane 6-3,6-4.

At the Charities, Aery and Viant defeated Cottingham and Sheldon (three sets) in the quarter-finals and the #1 seeds-Hilary Debbs/Cindy Prendergast (6-2,6-4) in the semi-finals. The finals proved to be a challenge, but Aery/Viant took the title 6-4,6-4 over Delaney/Mangan.

2004 Chicago Men’s Charities: The men’s draw was packed tight with most of the eastern teams making the trip to the Midwest. There may have been a lack of upsets and emotional letdowns, but there was an abundance of excitement and unbridled enthusiasm in the air.

All of the top eight seeds advanced to the quarter-finals, including the top three ranked teams in the country, Chris Gambino/David Ohlmuller, Scott Mansager/Flip Goodspeed, Scott Estes/Scott Mackesy. Chicago talent was strong in the men’s draw with four seeded players Scott Bondurant, David Keevens, Mike Rahaley, and Bill
Fiedler.

The match of the tournament was, without a doubt, the semi-final battle between newcomers David Caldwell/Blake Cordish and current National Champions Flip Goodspeed/Scott Mansager. The two-hour, three-set knock-down, drag-out fight left Goodspeed/Mansager bruised for their finals rematch with the APTAs #1- ranked doubles team Ohlmuller/Gambino.

Mansager dominated the first set with powerful returns that kept the top-seeded team off balance. Goodspeed played flawlessly both at the net and in the back-court. At the same time, Gambino/Ohlmuller did not play anywhere near to their potential.

The second and third sets looked more like a rematch of last year’s Charities final where Gambino and Ohlmuller defeated Goodspeed and Mansager 6-2,6-4, This time around the last two sets went 6-2,6-3.

With another Charities win under their belt, Gambino and Ohlmuller have set themselves up early in the year once again as the team to beat. At the same time, on the women’s tour, Sue Aery and Gerri Viant have told the field that they’re back and that their goal is to recapture the National Championship.

Source: Platform Tennis Magazine, Vol. 6, Issue 3, December, 2004