Eastern 4.5 team claims third at 2026 USTA League National Championships

Another week, another Eastern team in the Top 3. Just seven days after USTA Eastern’s 18 & Over 3.5 Men’s squad reached the podium at the 2026 USTA League National Championships, the section’s 40 & Over 4.5 Men’s team—based out of Fairfield, N.J.—achieved the same result, scoring a third-place finish in their division at the event, held October 16-18 at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla.

“We won the 18 & Over 4.5 Men’s championship 10 years ago, and we hoped to do the same in 40 & Over a decade later,” the team’s captain Ray Kaplan said. “Falling short was disappointing, but I’m proud of this team and what we accomplished together.”

Indeed, the Fairfield group showed a great deal of fight and resillience as a unit. On multiple occasions over the course of their campaign they faced tough setbacks, and each time, they found a way to rebound. Right out of the gate, they lost their first round robin match, coming up just short to opponents from USTA Southern, 2-3. (The 40 & Over 4.5 division plays one singles court and four doubles courts per match.) The outcome was a bit of a blow to their chances of reaching the knockout stages of the event; they’d have to win their remaining matches decisively—and hope for mistakes from other teams—to advance.

“After the Southern loss, I kept reassuring the team that we could still make the semifinals,” Kaplan said. “I thought a team with one loss and 13 or 14 individual court wins would have a good chance of advancing. I’m not sure everyone believed me at first! But I kept telling them we were still in it and needed to focus on winning the remaining matches.”

The momentum would ultimately be short-lived, however, as a tough USTA Florida contingent would dash the Eastern players' hopes of contending for a second national championship in a heartbreaking semifinal bout. Knotted 2-2 in the scoreline, the match ultimately came down to just two points and a netcord in the last doubles court.

“We were at 8-8 in the deciding match tiebreaker,” Kaplan recalled. “A net cord went Florida’s way to make it 9-8. A couple of inches could have changed that point, and possibly the outcome, but that’s tennis. If you want to win nationals, you have to have superbreakers go your way. Unfortunately this one didn't go our way, but it was a great battle. It was a tough loss, and credit to Florida for coming through a very close match.”

Understandably, the Eastern players were disappointed. But once again they resolved to keep fighting as they prepared to take on USTA Northern California for the third-place hardware.