Parsons Tops Full Singles Draw

Despite the concerns about the possible rain all weekend, the tournament went off without a hitch and was the most successful to date. Having achieved a full 32-person draw, the pace of activity was high from beginning to end. What was particularly gratifying was the success at both ends of the “ranking” scale. At the top end, we had a number or new additions that resulted in a top quality quarterfinals and semis/finals that took the tournament (and the sport of platform singles) to another level. At the same time, with the large draw, the 16 first round losers who were placed in the Consolation round had a very competitive tournament within a tournament.

George Hamilton decided to act as videographer again this year so I look forward to seeing his next installment. [2008 video] He captured much more action this time around, filming much of the three-set final thriller between Mark Parsons and Mike Cochrane.

One of my favorite comments came from a semi-finalist (former top tennis player who just took a head pro job on Long Island), who couldn’t stop analyzing his hard fought match against Mike Cochrane. After staying to watch the entire finals, he came by and said, “I have learned so much today – my only regret is that I have to wait a year to put my new plan to the test”.

I also ran into a couple of APTA folks during the weekend, who stopped by to check out the action. Rich Lombard came by for the second year and asked if I would try to put something together about platform singles for the History of Platform Tennis coffee table book. It is good to see the buzz increasing about this form of platform which was founded simultaneously with the game of doubles and was always envisioned as an integral part of the game.

Full Draw