a trip down memory lane

“A T RIP D OWN M EMORY L ANE ”
25
YEARS AT
S EASCAPE
By Nate Abaurrea, photos by Joyce Tarter Rideout
I
t is hard to believe it has been a quart
r er century
r since the
Comeri
r ca Bank Challenger began way
a back in 1988. As
we venture into a new era here in 2012, it is time to tak
a ea
tri
r p down
w memory
r lane, and look back on some of the
highlights of profe
f ssional tennis on the Central Coast.
Since its’ humble beginnings in the late 80’s, the
Challenger has gone on to become a highly anticipated
and respected event on the profe
f ssional circuit. Gaining
that status was anything but easy.
y In a tennis climate
where tournament hosts come and go quicker than John
McEnroe’s temper,
r maintaining a spot on the tour is
something to be proud of on its own merits. Seascape
Sports Club has epitomized the word stability
t through the
course of the Challenger’s 25-year history
ry. Paul Kepler
and Judy We
W lsh hav
a e been at the fo
f refr
f ont since the early
day
a s, and the tireless work of these individuals has yi
y elded
the number one thing that keeps a tournament afl
f oat: a
great event that fe
f atures quality
t tennis.
When you take a look at the tournament alumni list,
reactions can vary
r fr
f om an approving head-nod to a
complete jaw
a -drop. Jimmy Arias, Wa
Wayne Ferreira, Patrick
Raft
f er,
r Michael Chang, John Isner,
r James Blake, Robbie
Ginepri, Milos Raonic, the Bry
r an brothers, and of course
Andy Murray
a hav
a e all display
a ed their talents on the hard
courts of Seascape. Of all those incredible names, Raft
f er,
r
Bob Bry
r an, and the Scottish born Murray
a are the only
ones to wi
w n the singles title, Raft
f er in 1993, Bry
r an in 2000,
and Murray
a doing so in 2005.
“Andy was the fi
f rst fo
f reign-born play
a er to be granted a
wildcard berth,” Paul Kepler said. “I had to clear it with
the USTA
T prior to the tournament. He and his coach,
Comerica Bank Challenger
2012
3
Mark Petchey,
y ate at the same restaurant every
r night.
They were extremely superstitious, and clearly,
y it paid
off
ff.” The restaurant was called “Il Pirates”, and it was
located in Capitola. For any play
a ers looking fo
f r that same
lucky
k edge as Murray
ay, you’ll hav
a e to look elsewhere. “Il
Pirates” is no longer open.
Seeing Murray
a in the Wi
W mbledon Singles Final against
Roger Federer this past July was an aw
a esome thrill fo
f r
anyb
y ody involved with Seascape. Despite the loss to the
legendary
r Federer,
r Murray
a became the fi
f rst British born
play
a er to make the fi
f nal at the All England Club since
1938. He is well on his way
a to perhaps becoming the
greatest British tennis play
a er of all time.
American great Michael Chang play
a ed at Seascape on
three occasions, and had an immense love fo
f r the area,
and alway
a s seemed to be draw
a n back to it. His three
appearances were part of his late career comeback eff
ffort,
play
a ing in 1999, 2002, and 2003. I serv
r ed as a ball boy
Continued on page 6
2005 Comerica Bank Challenger Champion, Andy Murray was the 2012
Wimbledon Finalist and the first British born finalist since 1938.
Michael Chang always took the time to sign autographs at Seascape.
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Comerica Bank Challenger
2012
25 years, continued from page 4
during his fi
f rst appearance at the Challenger,
r and his down
to earth nature was a marv
r el to behold. Seldom hav
a e we
seen a play
a er insist on stay
a ing aft
f er a match to sign an
autograph fo
f r every
r single kid in attendance. He became
one of the most respected fi
f gures at the Club, as it is so
rare to see play
a ers of his stature fo
f r more than just the one
year. While Chang showed much love and support fo
f r the
grassroots of tennis, he was still a very
r cautious individual.
“It was rumored but never confi
f rmed that the fi
f rst time
Chang was at Seascape, he had his own security
t team
prepared to accompany him,” Paul Kepler said.
Local sports broadcaster,
r and tennis enthusiast Hunter
Finnell recalled a story
r of Chang that was especially
endearing.
“I had my tw
t o young children interv
r iew him one aft
f ernoon
f r a piece that would be airing on the local news,” Finnell
fo
said. “Every
r one loved it, particularly because Michael
treated my children like they were esteemed journalists.”
Finnell, who has been around the tournament as both a
broadcaster and a fa
f n, had nothing but the highest praise
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Comerica Bank Challenger
2012
ffor Chang. “He was truly dedicated to Seascape. It was a
pleasure watching him play.”
Michael Chang even mentioned Seascap
a e in his book “Holding
Serv
r e”, commenting on the breathtak
aking beauty
t of the Santa Cruz
County
t setting. Pri
r or to his ap
a pearances at the Challenger,
r Chang
reached as high as #2 in the AT
A P Wo
W rld Ranki
k ngs, and is still the
y ungest ever play
yo
a er to wi
w n a Grand Slam, tak
aking the French
Open title in 1989 at the age of 17. He is a member of the
International Te
T nnis Hall of Fame, inducted in the class of 2008.
While Chang and Murray
a are brilliant play
a ers, there is not a
shadow of a doubt that the most successfu
f l singles play
a er to ever
take on Seascape was Patrick Raft
f er. The Australian is the only
Challenger alum to ever hold the #1 overall singles ranking in
the world. Aft
f er winning the singles title here at Seascape in
Continued on page 9
Michael Chang reached as high as #2 in the ATP World rankings.
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Comerica Bank Challenger
2012
7
overall doubles ranki
k ng in the
world on multiple occasions.
They were both selected to
the AT
A P “Te
T am of the
Decade” in 2010.
25 years, continued from page 7
1993, Raft
f er went on to become
one of the greatest Australian
play
a ers in history
ry, tw
t ice winning
the U.S. Open in his illustrious
career,
r and appearing in tw
t o
Wimbledon fi
f nals as well.
However,
r the most remark
r ab
a le
story
r ab
a out Raft
f er is that back in
1993, he jumped into the
limelight by upsetting Ameri
r can
icon Pete Sampras, just 6 weeks
aft
f er wi
w nning at Seascap
a e.
Now if you are a doubles
enthusiast reading this, surely
l
y u must be wai
yo
a ting fo
f r a tri
r bute
to the Bry
r an brothers. Bob and
Mike Bry
r an hav
a e won an
unbelievab
a le 11 Grand Slams as
a tandem, and hav
a e held the #1
Alumni Bob and Mike Bryan were both
selected to the ATP “Team of the Decade”
Patrick Rafter was the only Aptos player to reach World #1.
Kevin Kim won the Singles
Championships in 2004 and 2008 .
Their Seascape track record
includes
two
doubles
championships, coming in
1998 and 2000. The 2000
edition of the Challenger
was essentially a Bryan
f mily party,
fa
y with Bob
Bryan taking the singles
title in a legendary three
setter against Kevin Kim,
winning 6-4, 6-7, 6-4 in the
Sunday fi
f nale (Kim of
course went on to win in
2004 and 2008, joining Jeff
f
Salzenstein as the only two-
Jeff Salzenstein was a two time
Singles Champion at Seascape.
Comerica Bank Challenger
2012
9
25 years, continued from page 9
Analog solutions for a digital world
time singles champions.) Bob Bryan’s
improbable week back in 2000 was just
the second time in tournament history
that a player won both the singles and
doubles crowns (Alex O’Brien was the
other,
r winning both brackets in 1992).
Chris Guccione became the third to
accomplish the fe
f at in 2009, with help
f om fe
fr
f llow Australian left
f y,
y Carsten Ball.
Continued on page 10
Chris Guccione won Singles and Doubles in 2009,
the third Seascape player to acheive this.
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Comerica Bank Challenger
2012
Carston Ball won the 2009 Doubles
with Chris Guccione.
25 years, continued from page 10
Wouldn’t that be a dream doubles match? The Bry
W
r an
brothers in their prime, head to head with Guccione and
Ball, the only players to ever win three straight
championships at Seascape, going fo
f r an unprecedented
f urth in a row in 2012. Who would win that hyp
fo
y othetical,
dream doubles match? If only we could fi
f nd out…
It is quite noteworthy that this past June, the Bry
r an
brothers were overtaken in the world doubles rankings,
being temporarily surp
r assed by Max
a Mirnyi
y and Daniel
Nestor.
r Nestor ironically is also a play
a er wi
w th Seascap
a e
history
ry. The Canadian won the singles championship in
1995, culminating wi
w th a three set fi
f nal against fo
f rmer
NCAA National Champion Chris Wo
W odruff
ff. Nestor is the
only doubles play
a er in the history
r of tennis to wi
w n all fo
f ur
Grand Slams, every
r Masters Series event, and an Olympic
gold medal. Originally born in Belgrade, Serbia, Nestor
moved to Ontario as a young child, and at the Sydney
Olympics in 2000, he stood tall on the 1st place podium, as
the sounds of “O Canada” greeted his gold medal victory
ry.
As we look back on the last 25 years, there are so many
great matches that come to mind. A truly memorab
a le
match of tennis should hold the test of time, and intricate
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Daniel Nester won the Singles in 1995. Later he eventually won all 4
Grand Slams and an Olympic Gold in doubles.
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PERCENT OF TOP 10 PLAYERS
WHO LEARNED TO PLAY ON
HARD COURTS:
12%
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top 10 since rankings were kept, 91 of
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Comerica Bank Challenger
2012
11
details should stay
a planted in the minds of audience
members fo
f r years on end. In that regard, there is one
match that most defi
f nitely takes the cake. It was play
a ed
back in 2009, a fi
f rst round aff
ffair betw
t een Frenchman
Arnaud Clement, wh
w o came into the tournament as our
highest ever ranking play
a er at time of entry
r at #53 in the
world, and Alex Bogomolov Jr.
r The three and a half hour
epic match had every
rything that you could ask fo
f r in terms
of drama. Some of the fi
f nest
tennis was accompanied by
outrageous theatrics fr
f om both
play
a ers. Clement lost a tight fi
f rst
set, and at one point, down 4-1 in
the second fr
f ame, threatened to
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The final score was 13-11 in a tie-break
with “Bogey” winning.
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Comerica Bank Challenger
2012
leav
a e the court, even beginning to pack up
his racket bag, aft
f er a close call fr
f om the
umpire went in fa
favor of the man
aff
ffectionately known as “Bogey”. An irate
Clement eventually calmed down, at least
enough to miraculously fi
f ght back and
take the second set, all wh
w ile fr
f equently
voicing his extreme displeasure wi
w th the
match off
fficial. In the third and fi
f nal set,
the Frenchman took Bogomolov the
distance, eventually losing in a 13-11 tiebreak. That fi
f nale still remains one of the
most intense, pressure packed ten
minutes of tennis ever seen at the
Challenger.
r The spectators wh
w o stay
a ed
late into the evening to watch it play
a out
took in one of the greatest spectacles the
tournament has ever off
ffered in 25 years.
Alex Bogomolov finally upset Clement 13-11
in a final tie-break.
running Challenger event
in the world. Ta
T ke a good
look at these young men.
Remember these play
a ers
that you are getting to
watch. Yo
Y u never know
which one will fo
f llow in
the fo
f otsteps of Raft
f er
and Murray,
y and use
Seascape as the ultimate
stepping-stone to tennis
stardom.
Arnauld Clement entered Aptos with the
highest ever ranking.
All of these play
a ers and stories are what
make up our history
r here at Seascape
Sports Club. The 2012 edition of the
Comerica Bank Challenger is sure to be
another exciting week, and come
Sunday
ay, we will all hav
a e another chapter
of stories to include when we take our
next trip down memory lane. Who
knows, you could be watching a fu
f ture
W mbledon champion, or a prospective
Wi
U.S. Open king. One of these play
a ers
could easily go on to become one of the
best in the world. That is the beauty
t of
this tournament, now the longest
Comerica Bank Challenger
2012
13