As USTA League embarks on its 35th anniversary season in 2015, let’s reflect on some very impressive records – or at the very least “interesting” factoids. 

 

Shot for Shot

 

Longest known match tiebreak: played in NorCal and ended at 26-24.

 

Longest point: 318 shots, played by two singles players in USTA Southern Women’s 3.5 Final in Columbia, S.C.  Each shot was counted out loud by Tournament Referee Donna Bailey and more than 100 spectators.  The previous point was 75 shots before a let was called!

 

Life = League Tennis

 

USTA League stalwart Nancy Trimble, from Frederick, Md., has competed on nearly 150 teams over the last five years – that includes 38 in 2013 in which she played 197 matches!

 

Carol Bandy, from Tucson, Ariz., played on 57 teams in 11 years between ages 62-73.

 

Two women from NorCal have played more than 800 matches*: Greta Rzepski with 821 and Pearl Leung with 807.

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Nancy Vineyard, from Knoxville, Tenn., won a sectional championship match playing with four joint replacements: two knees and two hips.

 

Captain, My Captain!

 

David Bennett of Portland, Ore., has captained at least one team every year since 1990.

 

Most national championships in a single year: Captain Hector Baez of San Juan, P.R., was a non-playing team captain of 11 teams in 2014, and seven of them went to Nationals!  One team was the finalist team in 18 and over ladies 3.0 and the other was the finalist team in Mixed 18 and over 8.0 division. At the same time the Nationals were going on, his World TeamTennis team competed in its national competition in Indian Wells, Calif., in the 3.0 division.

 

Team Spirit

 

A team out of Olympia, Wash., attended Sectionals for 16 straight years. On its “Sweet 16” Sectional, the squad finally won and made it to Nationals.

 

Step aside Bob and Mike Bryan. Judy Sigel Freeman and Jill Sigel Greer of Edina, Minn., (aka “real Minnesota twins”), competed in their fourth USTA League National Championship this year at the 55 & Over 8.0s in Surprise, Ariz.

Local league with the biggest challenge in advancing beyond local play? Atlanta Winter Women’s 3.5 level, where in 2014 your team had to be the best of 173 teams! The W3.5 level had a total of 7,595 registrations between winter and summer seasons and weekday and weekend flights.

 

Numbers Game

 

Bonnie Vandegrift, current USTA League National Committee Chair, from Asheville, N.C., skyrocketed up the NTRP ranks in record speed, rising from 2.5 to 5.0 in five years! She says she is now happy to be heading back “down” the NTRP ladder as an undefeated 4.0 in the 18s and 55s in 2014.

 

Most USTA League registrations in a single year: 868,701 (as of Dec. 3, 2014).

 

Sideline Success

 

Jay Witmer of central Pennsylvania has been a local league coordinator for 31 continuous years, since 1983.

Jana Hirst, Portland, Ore., enjoyed a trip to the US Open this year for overseeing the largest increase in league registrations in one year (up 1,797 registrations) out of 329 local league areas.

 

Mary Goins has been USTA South Carolina League Coordinator for 22 years.

 

Longest career as Section League Coordinator: Sheila Banks from USTA Pacific Northwest, 30 years between 1982 and 2012.

 

*Since we started record keeping in 1998.