Von Cramm Cup 2007 – Men’s 60+ played in
Christchurch, New Zealand:
a report from the captain Alan Walsh
 The Australian Championships held in Perth gave players their
final opportunity to impress selectors for 2007 Von Cramm Cup team
selection. The Men’s 60+ singles event, always strong, attracted
twenty six (26) entries including world no. 1 Hugh Thomson, Gary
Penberthy (WA) and Graham Wurtz (VIC), with Alan Gooch (WA) coming
into the age group for the first time.
(click for a larger image)
Seven of the eight seeds made it through to the quarter-finals
with Terry McLellan not causing any surprise by his presence. Hugh
Thomson beat Phil Higgs 7/5, 1/6, 6/4, Gary Penberthy beat Graham
Wurtz 7/5, 7/6, Terry Smith beat Terry McLellan 4/6, 6/3, 6/1 and
Alan Walsh was perhaps fortunate when Alan Gooch withdrew through
injury.
Gary Penberthy advanced to the final with a win over world
champion Hugh Thomson 6/4, 2/6, 6/4 and Terry Smith gave himself
the chance to defend his title by defeating Alan Walsh 5/7, 6/4,
7/6. In a memorable final, Gary Penberthy became the 2007
Australian champion defeating Terry Smith 6/4, 2/6, 6/4.
An examination of the scores indicates the closeness of the
contest increasing the difficulty of the task for the selectors.
Hugh Thomson was anxious to represent Australia but had to wait
the mandatory three years to be eligible. Phil Higgs had nominated
but was uncertain about his availability for business reasons and
Graham Wurtz failed to nominate and appealed for special
consideration which was denied.
The team to represent Australia in the Von Cramm Cup 2007 to be
played in Christchurch New Zealand was announced as 1. Terry Smith
(VIC), 2. Alan Walsh © (NSW), 3. Phil Higgs (ACT) and 4. Terry
McLellan (QLD) with Ian Davis (NSW) as reserve. Selection for the
no. 4 position is always tight and Ian must have felt himself
unlucky as he and Alan were an established doubles pair and had
made the final at the championships.
Notwithstanding that the surface was to be the unfamiliar plexi-pave,
a fast surface and Slazenger balls were considered to be to our
advantage. It was somewhat disappointing to find at our first
practice session that the courts were slow and therefore to the
benefit of the European clay players. Nonetheless we gave
ourselves the best chance by practicing hard over three days in
our distinctive ‘Australia’ practice shirts.
The all important captains’ meeting found that the ITF had
ranked Australia in 4th position behind USA, Germany &
France, followed by Sweden & The Netherlands. The Netherlands
challenged our position as they beat us for 5th place
in 2006 but they had no support from the captains. Great Britain &
Canada challenged again as they did last year and were placed in
the same group as Sweden & The Netherlands respectively. With the
seedings settled the draw out of the hat took place and was to our
liking with New Zealand & South Africa filling the places in Group
3, with Australia.
We had the bye on Day 1 and took the chance for more practice
while New Zealand had a convincing 3-0 win over South Africa. We
met New Zealand on the next day and the captain decided that Phil
Higgs was the better option for No. 2 singles and Phil won 6/3,
6/3 in a competitive match. Terry Smith won comfortably 6/1, 6/2
and Alan Walsh & Terry McLellan did the same 6/2, 6/1 in the
doubles. The same team was nominated for South Africa and Phil won
6/4, 6/3, Terry Smith 6/1, 6/0 and Walsh & McLellan 6/0, 6/0 for a
Group win and to proceed to the quarter-final.
Great Britain was to be our opponent as they had a 3/0 win over
the no. 5 seed Sweden. We knew our best chance was to win both
singles as Richard Tutt & Keith Bland were the reigning world
doubles champions. Keith Bland is such an explosive player and can
beat anyone on his day. However, Phil played steady tennis to win
the no. 2 singles 6/1, 5/7, 6/2. Terry Smith played great tennis
to beat a very in-form Richard Tutt 6/4, 6/3 for us to advance to
the semi-final. Alan & Terry McLellan were on-fire to win the
doubles 6/1, 6/1 to make it a clean sweep. (This quarter-final win
was all the more meritorious because Tutt & Bland later both made
the semi-finals of the singles and the final of the doubles.)
The USA team comprised of four players who were ranked in the
top 5 of the individual singles, so we knew our task would be
difficult. Phil was on top of Michael Beautyman whilst serving at
4/3 30/15 in the first set when he played an out ball and went on
to lose this point. He eventually lost this game and his momentum
to go down 7/5, 6/2. In one of the best ever sets of Men’s 60+
tennis, Terry Smith did everything but win the first set against
Brian Cheney going down 7/6 after holding four set points; Brian
won the points rather than Terry making any errors. Brian
continued to play excellent tennis and wrapped up the match 7/6,
6/1. The US completed the clean sweep with Hugh Thomson & Jimmy
Parker beating Alan Walsh & Terry McLellan in the doubles 6/4,
7/5.
Germany beat France convincingly in the other semi- final for
us to play France for 3rd or 4th position.
France had fielded the same team in the previous three Von Cramm
Cups for 3rd position each time so we knew our task
would be difficult. Phil Higgs played the match of his life to
beat Michel Berges 6/4, 6/4 followed by Terry Smith beating
Francois Pierson 6/3, 6/1. Pierson can be such a dynamic player
and Terry had the answer every time the standard of play was
lifted. By agreement the doubles wasn’t played as Australia had
wrapped up 3rd position and the bronze medal.
Many players said that had we been in the other half of the
draw we would have beaten Germany and played off in the final.
Notwithstanding, we had finished a fantastic 3rd place
out of 18 teams, the best for some years. If there had been a
medal for playing in the right spirit, it would have been gold for
Australia as the conduct of the team was exemplary. Team spirit
was excellent and there was great encouragement from the support
team of Colleen, Heather & Barbara. A great result from a great
team.
Alan Walsh, Captain, Von Cramm Cup Team 2007.
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