The Senior World Championships (50-60 years old) was held last week in Palm Beach County, Florida.
For the six events, more than 450 athletes competed in one of four categories, vying for the Fred Perry Cup (M50), Maria Esther Bueno Cup (W50), Austria Cup (M55), Maureen Connolly Cup (W55), Von Cramm Cup (M60) and lastly the Alice Marble Cup (W60).
In the Sunshine State, Canada sent six teams of four players to compete across all six divisions. The most outstanding performance by the Canadian squad was by the Women’s Over 60 team, consisting of Erin Boynton, Michelle Karis, Kathy Mueller, and Cora Wills who were able to place sixth in the tournament. Another top performance by the Canadians was played by the Men’s Over 50 squad, consisting of Alexandre Blaettler, Hannes Blum, Glen Harwood, and Ben Woo, finishing 11th overall out of 24.
Two teams that were able to finish in 13th place in the Over 55 category are:
- Women’s Over 55: Johane Mui, Rosie Schaich, Adrienne Simmons, and Allison Taylor
- Men’s Over 55: Craig Hiddleston, Andre Lambert, Christian Laurin, and Martin Lemay
Finally, the remaining squads composed of the Women’s Over 50 and Men’s Over 60 teams were able to place within the top 20 of their respective categories. The lineups were:
- Nadine Cuerrier, Caroline Frenette, Susie Lang-Gould, and Mariana Pulvirenti (Women’s Over 50)
- Robert Foy, Marc Pepin, Graham Watt, Cary Willson (Men’s Over 60)
Singles succes
In other news, an incredible achievement coming from the Super-Senior Championships, is the performance by Keith Porter who won the Men’s Over 70 singles Championship final. Porter won against Rolf Thung of the Netherlands (2-6,6-0,6-1). This is an outstanding accomplishment by Porter and Canadian Tennis as he is now a World Champion in Super-Senior Tennis. The last Canadian to hold this title was Kenneth Dahl in 2016.
In addition, one of the stars from the Women’s Over 60 singles squad, Boynton, reached the semi-finals at the World Individuals Championships. Despite losing her match to No. 2-seed Liselot Pretchel of the Netherlands, Boynton won’t be leaving empty-handed, as she was awarded the bronze medal. Another remarkable accomplishment for Canadian senior tennis.
