Palm Beach Invitational Pro Am Tennis Tournament April 1-2, 2017
The inaugural Palm Beach Invitational Pro Am was played on April 1-2, at the Phipps Ocean Park Tennis Center in Palm Beach, Florida. The event was held in conjunction with the Greene Institute's, managingthedisruption.com conference on April 3rd.
The event paired 16 tennis professionals with 16 amateurs, including several Palm Beach residents, in a regulation and consolation draw tournament.
Every player in the professional field held a world ranking at some point in their career including multiple Grand Slam (The Australian Open, The French Open, Wimbledon and the US Open) title winners. "For a pro am, especially a first year event, we were able to attract an amazing group of accomplished tennis professionals who also happen to be great people to compete with," according to John Lehmann, tournament director.
Headlining the professional field were Grand Slam title holders - including former two-time Australian Open singles champion, Johan Kriek, along with Wimbledon doubles champion, John Lloyd and US Open and French Open doubles champion, Dick Stockton. These great champions have long and rich careers with multiple victories over some of the game's greatest champions including Rod Laver, Bjorn Borg, Ilie Nastase,, Ivan Lendl, John McEnroe and many more. The field also included former top 10 WTA champion, Brenda Schultz-McCarthy, along with former top 30 player Ann Grossman-Wunderlich and former world top-tenner, Lisa Kerkorian.
In addition, the tournament featured an outstanding group of younger professionals who are a linked to today’s current players. Competing Palm Beach Invitational Pro Am professionals actual have relatively recent singles wins over superstars Roger Federer, Rafael Nadal, Stan Warwinka, Novak Jokovic, Andy Murray and Kei Neishikori.
Current tour star, Kevin Anderson, #10 in the world just over a year ago continues his return from injury and played in Palm Beach in between stops at the Miami Open and the US Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston. Other professionals included former top ranked Guillermo Canas, Robert Kendrick and Matija Pecotic.
The amateur field included a strong Palm Beach contingent including Jeff Greene, George Norcross, Joel Pashcow, Vahan Gureghian and Ross Neville. Also participating were former Treasury Secretary, Larry Summers, new World Team Tennis owner, Mark Ein, along with renown author and cardiologist, Arthur Agatstan.
The professionals and amateurs were evenly matched with almost half of the matches played going to 3rd set tiebreakers. Play began Saturday afternoon with the round of 16 matches featuring two, three-set matches with David Schneider and Arthur Agatstan defeating Wayne Odesnik and Larry Austin 7-6 in the third set and Johan Kriek and Mark Ein defeating Kevin Anderson and Vahan Gureghian also 7-6 in the third set tiebreaker.
The quarterfinal matches were extremely close with Lester Cook and Jeff Greene defeating Cyril Saulnier and George Norcross, 6-4, 3-6, 7-6. The team of Robert Kendrick and Svetlana Carroll (substituting for Larry Summers) barely edging Guillermo Cainas and Joel Pashcow 7-5, 3-6, 7-6. Other quarterfinal winners were Matija Pecotic and Arthur Agatstan, and the team of Dick Stockton and Lisa Kerkorian.
Each team in the field played multiple matches with Sunday’s play featuring the championship and consolation draws. In the battle for 5th place the team of Saulnier and Norcross edged out David Schneider and Mark Rattinger 6-3, 6-3. In the second consolation division, the team of John Lloyd and Arik Kislin came back to capture a close and exhausting match against Guillermo Canas and Joel Pashcow. In the battle for 12th place the team of Jonathan Schneider and Weng Chan defeated Diego Ayala and Ross Neville in a spirited three-set match, 6-2, 4-6, 7-6.
In the championship semi-finals Lester Cook and Jeff Greene won their second straight three-set match defeating Matija Pecotic and Arthur Agatstan 6-4, 3-6, 7-6. In the other semi-final Robert Kendrick and Larry Summers prevailed over Dick Stockton and Lisa Kerkorian 6-2, 6-3.
The third place match was won by Dick Stockton and Lisa Kerkorian who beat Matija Pecotic and Arthur Agatstan in straight sets, 6-4, 6-2
In the championship match Kendrick and Summers won the first set easily, 6-3. Cook and Greene then raced to a 5-0 lead in the second set before winning 6-2, setting up their third tiebreaker match in three matches. Cooke and Greene took an early 4-1 lead with Kendrick and Summers coming back at 4-3 before Cook and Greene closed them out 7-5 for a 3-6, 6-2, 7-6 championship win.
Winners Lester Cook and Jeff Greene were presented with crystal trophies and special, customized Palm Beach Invitational Pro Am commemorative tennis racquets. “It’s the first tournament I’ve ever won, I still can’t believe it” said Jeff Greene.
