ITF

WINTER 2017 NEWS ROUND-UP Autumn was a busy period for the ITF Seniors Circuit, with two of its most prestigious events being staged in Florida and attracting hundreds of competitors, among them many former pros. The new USTA National Campus in Lake Nona hosted the ITF Super-Seniors World Championships for ages 65-85 in October. For the ITF Super-Seniors World Team Championships in the first week, 123 teams from 31 nations converged on the clay courts, with nine cups being contested. American teams made the most of their home advantage, winning seven titles. They swept the women's events, taking home the Kitty Godfrey Cup (65), Althea Gibson Cup (70), Queen's Cup (75) and Doris Hart Cup (80). US men won the Britannia Cup (65), Gardnar Mulloy Cup (80) and the inaugural Men's 85 trophy. Spain's men won the Jack Crawford Cup (70) and Australia's men the Bitsy Grant Cup (75). In the following week's Individual Championships, the men's singles champions were Australia's Andrew Rae (65 age group), Spain's Jorge Camina Borda (70), Netherlands' Ed Sasker (75), USA's King Van Nostrand (80) and USA's George McCabe (85). The women's winners were Czech Republic's Jana Sedlackova (65), Netherlands' Ellie Krocke (70), USA's Donna Fales (75), USA's Roz King (80) and Canada's Muffie Grieve (85). Two weeks later, the younger 50-60 age groups assembled in Miami Beach for the ITF Seniors World Championships. There were 118 teams from 33 nations in action for the ITF Seniors World Team Championships, where USA and Australia were the big winners. The American men's 55 team lifted the Austria Cup, while the hosts' women's 60 team won the Alice Marble Cup for the second year running. Australia enjoyed success with their men's 60 team, who won the Von Cramm Cup, and their women's 55 team, who won the Maureen Connolly Cup. In the 50 age group, Germany's women lifted the Maria Esther Bueno Cup, and Italy's men claimed the Fred Perry Cup. In the Individual Championships, the men's singles honours went to Italy's Marco Filippeschi (50), USA's Mike Fedderly (55) and Australia's Glenn Busby (60). The women's singles champions were Belgium's Klaartje Van Baarle, who picked up her fifth World Individual title by winning the 50 age group, Germany's Helga Nauck (55) and USA's Diane Barker (60). For full details of all the winning teams and individuals across singles, doubles and mixed doubles competition, visit www.itftennis.com/seniors. FLORIDA HOSTS FLAGSHIP ITF SENIORS EVENTS ITF WELCOMES NEW DEVELOPMENT OFFICERS MARIA ENDS CHAIR UMPIRE CAREER Pascal Maria stepped down from his role as a chair umpire at the end of 2017. The 44-year-old Frenchman, who was one of just 27 Gold Badge chair umpires in the world, worked his last ITF event in South Africa in November, teaching the next generation of officials at a level 2 officiating school in Stellenbosch. Maria had been a member of the ITF and Grand Slam officiating team since 2002, chairing 14 Grand Slam singles finals, nine Davis Cup by BNP Paribas finals and the men's Olympic singles final at Rio 2016 between Andy Murray and Juan Martin del Potro. He also umpired the famous Wimbledon final between Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal in 2008, and the five-hour-53- minute epic between Nadal and Novak Djokovic at the 2012 Australian Open. Maria will continue to work a limited number of weeks as a tournament referee around his new position as International Liaison at the Federation Francaise de Tennis. Three new ITF Development Officers have been appointed, with positions filled in Europe, Southern Africa and Pacific Oceania. Vitor Cabral will take up the position of Development Officer for Europe from the beginning of 2018 and Tapiwa Masunga becomes Development Officer for Southern Africa from December 2017. Gary Purcell has been in position as Development Officer for Pacific Oceania since September. Cabral, Masunga and Purcell joined their colleagues at the annual Development Officers meeting at the ITF's Head Office in London in late October. All three new Development Officers have strong backgrounds in playing and coaching tennis. Cabral, who is from Porto, has worked with the Portuguese Tennis Federation for 25 years and is also a university teacher in tennis, training methodology, physiology, biomechanics and sports management. Masunga attended the ITF Training Centre in Pretoria as a junior before going on to play college tennis in the United States at Florida State University. She worked for the Intercollegiate Tennis Association before moving back to her home country of Botswana, and has recently worked at both the Botswana Tennis Association and the Botswana National Olympic Committee. Purcell has many years of experience in coaching both in his native Ireland and in Australia. He has been tournament director for a wide range of Australian junior and professional tournaments including the Melbourne Wheelchair Open in 2016 and 2017. Women's 50 World Champion Klaartje Van Baarle 38 ITFWORLD WINTER 2017 The ITF Development Officers in London

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