National Championships and coverage of the Men’s and Women’s Nationals

PTN Spring 1995 covered the Men’s and Women’s Nationals:

For one 96-hour period, all platform tennis roads led to New Jersey, as the Garden State Nationals and concurrent President’s Cup events were hosted to perfection by Montclair Golf Club and Short Hills Club.

Players and spectators came from every point of the compass, and play reached its usual outstanding levels. But there were differences this year. For one, the Children’s Specialized Hospital of Mountaindale (NJ) was the recipient of the generosity of the sponsors and advertisers who supported this year’s Nationals, and received in excess of $10,000.

Another new wrinkle at this year’s event was the presence of the omnipresent eye – television. Spearheaded by sports editor Paul Spychala, Suburban Cablevision taped both the men’s and women’s finals for showing to some 2.5 million subscribers on its system. The tapes were also made available to outlets in several other regions, including Philadelphia and Boston.

On the court, there were upsets galore, top teams rose to the top, and three-set matches and tight finishes were commonplace. David Ohlmuller and Bruce Kelsey continued their late season surge and staked their claim to the title of “platform’s best” by dumping defending champions Peter Gruenberg and Art Williams in a match that had a little bit of everything.

For the second year in a row, Nyack’s (NY) Gerri Viant and Plainfield’s (NJ) Sue Aery confounded the status quo and knocked off the top-seeded duo of Robin Fulton and Diane Tucker. All season long it seemed like those two teams were at loggerheads when push came to shove in the finals of various events.

Source: Platform Tennis News, Spring & Summer 1995