This was certainly some of the BEST tennis in South County that I have ever seen!  In a whirlwind turn of events the tournament went off, a few glitches, but I do believe that a good time was had by players and spectators alike.

Sixty-one participants from all over took part this weekend. Curt Bennett was here fom Hawaii, that just might take the prize for distance traveled.  However, California, New Jersey, Maryland and MA were also represented.

Curt Bennett, a left-winger, had a very successful three year run with Brown University that saw him named to three All-Star teams before he made the leap to the NHL with the St. Louis Blues in 1970-71. Bennett also played for the New York Rangers and the Atlanta Flames. An avid tennis player, Bennet was taken out in the semi finals of the Men's 4.5 Singles by Bradley Shapiro, nephew of Norm. 

Brad Shapiro's run for the Men's 4.5 Singles title was ended in the finals by South Kingstown's own Alex Chavez.  Alex is a USPTR pro for South Kingstown Parks & Recreation, and a former player from the South Kingstown High School team.  Alex beat Brad in straight sets 6-3 6-3.

Mark Keil, former ATP, player was on hand this weekend and played in both the Men's Open and Doubles divisions. Mark, otherwise know as the “Journeyman”. Keil’s greatest professional achievements on the singles tour was at the Queen’s Club Championships in 1991: his 6-2, 7-6(2) victory over Hall of Famer, Pete Sampras, then ranked 8th in the world. Keil later carved a career for himself in the doubles tour, reaching a career-high ranking of No. 32 in 1995. He has doubles wins over Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, Andre Agassi, Gustavo Kuerten and Mark Philippoussis. He won five ATP Tour doubles titles in his career.

Mark lost his semi final Men's Open Singles match to our local high school phenom, Kyle Burke.  The 3 set match took over 2 and 1/2 hours to play, with the score being; 6-3 3-6 7-6 (4).  Kyle is the current RIIL state boys singles champion with 2 titles under his belt, and also part of the South Kingstown High School Boy's Team that has 10 consecutive state team titles.  Kyle Burke went on to win the Men's Open Title in the finals against Roger Williams number 1 singles player, Brad Bolte from New Jersey, in straight sets 6-0 6-1. 

In April the Commonwealth Coast Conference  released its All-TCCC Men's Tennis Team, and four Roger Williams student-athletes were named All-Conference, with three of the four receiving honors for their play at both singles and doubles. Leading off the honorees was senior Brad Bolte (Augusta, N.J.) who earned a spot on the First Team for singles.  Playing primarily as the No. 1 seed, Bolte compiled an impressive 10-7 (7-1 TCCC) record through the end of the regular season. 

Mark Keil and Craig Shapiro (Norm's eldest son) lost in the Men's 4.5 Doubles final to Roger Williams University team members Jason Dono and Brad Bolte, scores were 7-5 6-1.

The 4.5 Women's Doubles title was won by local USPTA pro, Collen Haxton and her partner Kengy Bell.  They beat local Narragansett Park and Recreation's Pro, Kara Biller and her partner Deb D'Orsi in three sets 6-4 2-6 7-6.

Kara Biller did not leave the event empty handed, she and her partner Andrew Shumate won the Mixed Doubles title for 9.0 and below.  Andrew is going to be a Junior at SKHS and played number 1 doubles for the South Kingstown team.  The won in a third set against Bob Burian and Michelle Reid, a USPTA pro from Rally Point.

Rob Henderson from Warwick became the Men's 3.5 title winner during the round robin event winning matches over Dave Marcle, Dave Sterling and Tom Schneider.

The Providence Journal's sports columnist John Gillooly and his partner Christian Allen also played a round robin event for the Men's 3.5 Doubles title.  They reigned supreme over teams Ray Carr/Wayne Johnson, Joe & Glen Gama, and Charlie Baud/Don Scott.

The Day I Beat Pete Sampras On Grass; posted by Mark on www.tennisgrandstand.com 

   

 

It was on this day in tennis history, June 11, 1991 when Mark Keil, ranked No. 224 playing in only his second career ATP tour event, staged a staggering upset of future seven-times Wimbledon champion Pete Sampras 6-2, 7-6 in the first round of the Stella Artois Championships at Queen’s Club in London. Following the win over the No. 8 ranked player in the world, Keil entered the post-match press conference and asked reporters, “Is this where I am supposed to sit. I have never done this before.” Asked what his previous claim to fame had been prior to beating Sampras, Keil responded, “Nothing.” Keil, the producer and star of the tennis documentary “The Journeymen” (click here to order), takes readers back to that occasion in this week’s blog.

After losing early in the French Open, I headed to play a Challenger in Surbiton, England the second week of the French. I partnered with Doug Flach, the former All American out of the University of Tennesse, and brother of former U.S. Davis Cup doubles standout Ken Flach. We lost first round to James Blake’s nutritionist Mark Merklein and the soft spoken Michael Sell, 6-2 in the third.

The next week - who would have thunk it - but I beat the greatest player ever to play the game, Pete Sampras. Yes, I am still milking this occasion, and until a better moment in my life shows up, it has to be done. When I arrived that day in June in 1991, I stayed at a bed and breakfast in Wimbledon village. I was travelling with Craig Boynton, an American who now coach’s Mardy Fish. He got sick that week, and was watching movies from dusk till dawn. The day before I played Pete, I hung out with a friend Allysa Rappaport. She was backpacking around Europe. She was a nice girl. Her dad started the Outback chain of restaurants. What a great flavor of the week. I tried to resume a relationship with her when I got back to my homebase of Tampa, but to no avail. The morning of my match was a glorious one, and I warmed up with Brad Pearce, a Mormon from Utah who was a quarterfinalist at Wimbledon once. He told me I had a chance. That was all I needed. I proceeded to play lights out on the best grass court in the world still to this day. The only moment of the match I regret was not looking him in the eyes when I shoke his hand. I must admit the match changed my life, some for the good, some for the bad. I let my ego get in the way of my career, and subsequently did not break into the top 100 in singles. The next few months I felt like since I had beaten the No. 8 player in the world, I didn’t need any help. I was main draw of ten challengers in singles after that. I should have had my coach at the time Allen Webb come with me, to get past that last hurdle. When you break into the top 100 in singles, it’s like getting invited to the best dance. After a celebratory dinner with my pal and fellow player T.J. Middleton and Allysa and her friend Marybeth, I had the huge challenge of playing Malivai Washington the next day. The former star from the University of Michigan couldn’t handle my aggressive play in the first set. I won 7-6. “I’m going to win the tournament now” That’s what I thought and I’m sure everyone in the crowd read my mind. He then beat me 6-3, 6-2. It’s a week I won’t forget.

Former ATP star, Mark Keil, otherwise know as the “Journeyman”. Keil’s greatest professional achievements on the singles tour was at the Queen’s Club Championships in 1991: his 6-2, 7-6(2) victory over Hall of Famer, Pete Sampras, then ranked 8th in the world. Keil later carved a career for himself in the doubles tour, reaching a career-high ranking of No. 32 in 1995. He has doubles wins over Stefan Edberg, Boris Becker, Andre Agassi, Gustavo Kuerten and Mark Philippoussis. He won five ATP Tour doubles titles in his career.

 

High School Sports News   01:00 AM EDT on Sunday, May 25, 2008

South Kingstown boys tennis coach Andy Carr, left, consults with Cliff Bueno deMesquita, one of his players during Friday’s state title match.

The Providence Journal / Glenn Osmundson

You can’t plan on becoming a high school coaching legend at 38 years of age.

Legends are built over a period of time, usually a lifetime.

You need to direct a lot of your teams to state championships to become a high school coaching legend and normally there isn’t enough time to do it before your 40th birthday — especially if you’re coaching at a public high school these days.

You can’t expect to develop the type of hometown reputation where, even though you’re still in your 30s, everybody from grammar school kids to grandparents knows you’re the coach.

You can’t, that is, unless you’re South Kingstown’s Andy Carr.

Friday afternoon, Carr, the head coach of the South Kingstown boys tennis team, directed the Rebels to their 10th consecutive Division I state title.

It’s the longest string of undisputed, consecutive state titles by a public high school sports team in the 70-plus years that the R.I. Interscholastic League has been holding state team competition. True, Coventry High has 16 straight state championship wrestling banners hanging on its gymnasium wall, but in 1990, the ninth year of that string, the Oakers shared the state crown with Warwick Vets.

The South Kingstown tennis team has been the only Division I champion for a straight decade.

You don’t win state team tennis titles without some great individual players, and Carr certainly has had some of the best players in Rhode Island in his lineup over the years. In six of the last nine years, a South Kingstown player has won the state singles title. But ask the South Kingstown players, the parents, school administrators, even opposing coaches, why the Rebels keep winning and they will tell you the foundation of their amazing success is Carr.

He’s now in his 13th year as the Rebels’ mentor and has directed his teams to titles in 11 of those 13 seasons. In his first year as head coach in 1996, South Kingstown won the Division II state title. A year later, the Rebels moved up to Division I, and in 1999 they began their record title run.

He takes teenagers who have been playing the individual sport of tennis since they were in kindergarten and gets them to think in terms of team pride, even with some teammates who hadn’t picked up a tennis racket before they reached high school. The star singles players have provided numerous points through the years, but several times the deciding points in state-title matches have come from singles or doubles players who didn’t start playing tennis until Carr, a South Kingstown middle school teacher, introduced them to the sport in either middle or high school.

Carr doesn’t have a name for it, but for a decade South Kingstown tennis players haven’t had any problem understanding his coaching philosophy.

“It’s the expectations he puts on his players. He expects you to excel in school and outside of school. I’m not sure other coaches do that,” said Kyle Burke, the Rebels’ top singles player and the defending state singles champion.

“Everyone is serious at practices because he expects you to behave as an adult,” Burke continued. “That’s what makes the difference in terms of maturity when we come out on the court and are ready for the pressure. We have been put under pressure all season by the team, the coach and the legacy we are trying to fulfill.”

Somehow, a member of Generation X with a Greatest Generation work ethic has convinced New Millennium teenagers to buy into the philosophy that hard work can be enjoyable.

“It’s very important to his kids. They really care,” Terry Lynch, South Kingstown athletic director, said about Carr’s quest for constant improvement. “He does all the little things. You go to one of his practices in the gym when it’s raining out and it’s just like being choreographed. They are doing all kinds of things to get better. He just works at it so hard. It’s very important to him, and his kids really respect him. What he says is gospel.”

In a sense, it’s a coaching career that may have been predestined. After all, he grew up as a coach’s son.

His father, Ray Carr, had a 30-year coaching career that included coaching football, wrestling and tennis at North Kingstown High, as well as a highly successful tenure as the Community College of Rhode Island tennis coach in the 1980s and early 1990s.

“My father has been the biggest influence on me by far, but I first got into it because I love the sport,” said Andy Carr, who started his coaching career as a South Kingstown assistant a year after he graduated from the URI in 1993.

“I had no idea what it was going to be like,” said Carr, an All-State tennis player at Narragansett High. “You get into it because you like athletics, and I like to compete. It’s another way of competing, even though you’re not playing. But I appreciate it so much more now than I did when I first started in the ’90s. The experience and the influence you can have on kids. … It’s definitely worth all the time we put in.”

He never planned it to be more than an athletic exercise, but in the process he and his players have done more than simply put a bunch of championship hardware in the South Kingstown High trophy case. The high school tennis team has become a South Kingstown source of pride.

“Our town rallies around us,’ said Burke. “If anyone mentions tennis in our town they immediately think of our high school team. I think the community should rally around the high school, and I don’t think you get that with private schools.”

“We have good people who support the program and are excited about tennis,” said Carr. “They have a good [recreation] program down in South County. If you can get a few good athletes every year that get into it, you have a good program.”

And, if you have a 38-year-old coaching legend.

jgillool@projo.com

High School Sports News 07:23 AM EDT on Saturday, May 24, 2008

 

BY JOHN GILLOOLY
Journal Sports Writer

 

 

Andrew Burnap after clinching a win at 3rd singles

The Providence JournaL / Glenn Osmundson

PAWTUCKET –– It never seems to come easy, but in the end the state’s top boys high school tennis title always comes to South Kingstown — at least for the past decade.

The Rebels made it 10 in a row yesterday as they completed a perfect season with a 5-2 victory over Barrington in the title match of the Division I state tourney at Slater Park.

The Rebels picked up the four points they need for the title by sweeping the four singles matches then added another point with a victory in the second doubles match en route to their 16th victory in 16 matches this season.

In the past couple of years, the Rebels won the state title match after losing to their title-round opponent during the regular season. This year, South Kingstown defeated Barrington twice during the regular season, but just like their 4-3 victory in the first regular-season meeting, nothing came easy for the Rebels yesterday.

Heck, even the Rebels’ top player –– state singles champion Kyle Burke –– was forced to work longer than normal before he registered South Kingstown’s first point of the match.

Burke, who will play in the title match of the state singles tournament tomorrow, rolled to a 6-0 victory in the opening set of his first singles match against Will Conaway and also took a 4-1 lead in the second set. But then Conaway began slicing and chipping his way back into contention.

Employing an extremely effective slice backhand, Conaway battled back to deadlock the set at 5-5. Then, after Burke took a 6-5 lead and had match point in the 12th game, Conaway battled back and even the set again at 6-6.

Conaway actually was only two points away from deadlocking the match as he took a 5-4 lead in the 12-point tiebreaker. But Burke, who is undefeated this season, closed out the match by winning three straight points.

Burke’s victory evened the team score at 1-1. Barrington had jumped out to a quick 1-0 lead when the Eagles’ top doubles team of Sam Jerome and Ben Lucock posted a 6-1, 6-3 victory over the Rebels Aaron Carey and Andrew Shumate.

Burke’s straight-sets victory took better than 90 minutes and it was more than 30 minutes later before another match finished. Finally, Andrew Burnap gave South Kingstown a 2-1 lead with a 7-6 (7-5), 6-4 victory over Matt DelSesto at third singles. A few minutes later, Jake Bueno-deMesquita upped South Kingstown’s lead to 3-1 with a 6-3, 6-4 victory over Jeff DeNunzio at second singles.

“Those were huge victories,” South Kingstown coach Andy Carr said of Bueno-deMesquita and Burnap’s triumphs. “Those were two matches that on paper could have gone either way. When we got those two points, along with Kyle’s victory, that put a lot of pressure on Barrington.”

The honor of clinching the title went to sophomore Cliff Bueno-deMesquita and he certainly put in a full day’s work en route to his victory at fourth singles. Bueno-deMesquita, the younger brother of Jake, posted a 6-3 decision in the first set of his match with Gates Jerome, but then Jerome evened the issue with a 7-5 victory in the second set. Jerome also battled back and sent the third set into a tiebreaker after trailing by as much as 4-1. But Bueno-deMesquita quickly took the lead in the tiebreaker en route to a 7-4 victory.

That gave South Kingstown a 4-1 lead and the title. A few minutes later the Rebels second doubles team of Eric Troob and Mike Mulroy made it 5-1 with a 6-3, 6-4 victory. The duo of Pat McLaughlin and Sam Triebwasser registered Barrington’s second point with a straight sets victory at third doubles.

“They came a long way,” Carr offered about the 2008 Rebels who lost four starters from last year’s state championship team, including two of last year’s top four singles players.

 

Burke, SK def. Conaway, 6-0, 7-6 (7-5); J. Bueno-deMesquita, SK, def. DeNunzio, 6-3, 6-4; Burnap, SK, def. DelSesto, 7-6 (7-5), 6-4; C.Bueno-deMesquita, SK, def. G. Jerome, 6-3, 5-7, 7-6 (7-4); S. Jerome-Lucock, B, def. Aaron Corey-Andrew Súmate, 6-1, 6-3; Troob-Mulroy, SK, def. Chris Robinson-Tom VanHentenryck, 6-3, 6-4; McLaughlin-Triebwasser, B, def. Yosuke Kurokawa-Alex Kam Division I Boys Tennis

S. Kingstown 5 v Barrington 2

jgillool@projo.com