2008 Diamond Jubilee
Diamond Jubilee Celebration
The US IC celebrated its over 75 years of existence by holding a Diamond Jubilee celebration at the Chevy Chase Club near Washington, DC in the last week of August, 2008. The IC’s of 21 countries participated in the Jubilee by entering teams in one or more of four tournaments and attending various social events to mark the occasion. The event included 56 teams, about 200 players and captains and a number of accompanying persons.
For the first time in the history of all the IC’s around the world, a single event included play for four of the major IC tournaments: the Windmill Trophy, for men’s open division and 45’s; the Christiane Mercelis Trophy, for women’s open division and 40’s; the Columbus Trophy, for men’s 55’s and 65’s; and the Carreta Trophy, for women’s 50’s and 60’s. The Windmill, Mercelis and Columbus tournaments had full draws of 16 teams each, while the Carreta had one of 8. In fact, two of the tournaments had waiting lists of teams that would have liked to have entered. The size of the draws was limited by the number of courts available, which for the first three days included those of 4 clubs in addition to those of the host Chevy Chase Club.
The teams came from all over the world: Argentina, Australia, Bahamas, Barbados, Belgium, Brazil, Canada, France, Germany, Great Britain, Hungary, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Russia, South Africa, Sweden, Switzerland and the U. S. The caliber of the teams was very high, and included many former Davis and Fed Cup players and such well known tennis names as Jeremy Bates and Nick Fulwood from Great Britain, Catarina Lindquist Ryan from Sweden, Michel LeClercq from France, and Richey Reneberg and Fred McNair from the United States.
In addition to the main draws, each tournament included first and second round Consolation draws, with the idea that teams coming from around the world should know that they could expect to play at least 3 times. Unfortunately, while most teams did get to play that often, steady rain on the last two days precluded finishing the Consolation tournaments. All the main draws, however, were completed, with the finals being played indoors in a shortened format.
The Windmill Trophy was won by Great Britain, beating the United States in the finals. Sweden triumphed over Germany to win the Mercelis Trophy. The United States won both the Columbus and Carreta tournaments, over France and Great Britain, respectively. The draws and individual scores are posted under the heading for those tournaments.
Social events played a major role in making the celebration a success. An opening reception at the Chevy Chase Club on a beautiful night and with drinks and delicious “finger food” set the mood. The next night, the teams were entertained at dinner at 11 separate private parties given by volunteer hosts. Those dinners were said by the visitors to be a major highlight of their Jubilee experience. On the next day, almost 150 of the visitors took an evening bus tour of Washington sights, such as the Capitol and the Lincoln and Viet Nam Memorials. Finally, came the gala celebration dinner, again at the Chevy Chase Club. Some 290 people attended the dinner, which featured Ireland’s Katherine Hunter singing “Molly Malone”, some remarks by the Jubilee Chairman, Broward Craig and the US IC President, Les Nicholson, and congratulatory statements by representatives of several of the visiting teams. The trophy presentations took place at the final luncheon following the finals of the tournaments, which were played on the morning after the Gala,
The Diamond Jubilee was a great success, and thanks are due to many people who worked hard to make it happen. The funds to underwrite the event came primarily from generous individuals, as well as contributions from the WTA and the ATP. Gift bags and their contents, a great hit with the participants, were obtained by the hard work of one of our members and his wife. A number of volunteers, along with the Sports+Plus representative, dealt with multitudinous administrative matters. The above-mentioned party hosts contributed greatly to the visitors’ enjoyment, the staffs of the Chevy Chase Club and the Bethesda Hyatt Hotel went out of their way to facilitate matters, and Lee Adams, the Club’s Tennis Director, and Fred Kovaleski, the Referee, managed to make the tournament proceed smoothly despite the weather problems. and the number of matches involved.
Professional photographers were engaged to take pictures of the teams, the action and the related events. Many of them may be viewed on the internet by going to www.imagequix.com, typing “q9mcg9f” under “Event Guests” and clicking on “Intl Lawn Tennis Club” in the list that comes up.
Click here to see the program for the event.
 |
||||
| Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | ||
| August 26 | August 27 | August 28 | ||
| USA | ||||
| A Congressional | USA | |||
| 8:30 AM | ||||
| Israel | ||||
| USA | ||||
| E | ||||
| Congressional | ||||
| Belgium | 8:30 AM | |||
| B Congressional | South Africa | |||
| 11AM | ||||
| South Africa | ||||
| Chevy Chase | USA | |||
| Great Britain | ||||
| C Congressional | Great Britain | |||
| 11AM | ||||
| Bahamas/Barbados | ||||
| Great Britain | ||||
| F | ||||
| Congressional | ||||
| Canada | 11AM | |||
| D Congressional | Germany | |||
| 11AM | ||||
| Germany | ||||
| |||||||||
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | ||||||
| August 25 | August 26 | August 27 | 8/28/2008 | ||||||
| USA | |||||||||
| USA | |||||||||
| A Congressional | |||||||||
| Ireland | |||||||||
| USA | |||||||||
| I Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| Luxembourg | |||||||||
| Netherlands | |||||||||
| B Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| Netherlands | |||||||||
| 1 Chevy Chase | USA | ||||||||
| Argentina | |||||||||
| Argentina | |||||||||
| C Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| Canada | |||||||||
| Switzerland | |||||||||
| J Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| Belgium | |||||||||
| Switzerland | |||||||||
| D Chevy Chase | Chevy Chase | ||||||||
| Switzerland | |||||||||
| USA | |||||||||
| Germany | |||||||||
| Germany | |||||||||
| E Kenwood | |||||||||
| Israel | |||||||||
| Great Britain | |||||||||
| K Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| Bahamas/Barbados | |||||||||
| Great Britain | |||||||||
| F Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| Great Britain | |||||||||
| 2 Chevy Chase | France | ||||||||
| Brazil | |||||||||
| Brazil | |||||||||
| G Columbia | |||||||||
| South Africa | |||||||||
| France | |||||||||
| L Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| Russia | |||||||||
| France | |||||||||
| H Edgemoor | |||||||||
| France | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | ||||||
| August 25 | August 26 | August 27 | August 28 | ||||||
| Netherlands | |||||||||
| Netherlands | |||||||||
| A Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| Bahamas/Barbados | |||||||||
| I Chevy Chase | Netherlands | ||||||||
| France | |||||||||
| France | |||||||||
| B Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| Russia | |||||||||
| 1 Chevy Chase | Germany | ||||||||
| Luxembourg | |||||||||
| Luxembourg | |||||||||
| C Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| Italy | |||||||||
| J Chevy Chase | Germany | ||||||||
| Canada | |||||||||
| Germany | |||||||||
| D Chevy Chase | Chevy Chase | ||||||||
| Germany | |||||||||
| Sweden | |||||||||
| Sweden | |||||||||
| Sweden | |||||||||
| E Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| Israel | |||||||||
| K Chevy Chase | Sweden | ||||||||
| Belgium | |||||||||
| Great Britain | |||||||||
| F Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| Great Britain | |||||||||
| 2 Chevy Chase | Sweden | ||||||||
| Hungary | |||||||||
| South Africa | |||||||||
| G Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| South Africa | |||||||||
| L Chevy Chase | USA | ||||||||
| Ireland | |||||||||
| USA | |||||||||
| H Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| USA | |||||||||
| |||||||||
| Monday | Tuesday | Wednesday | Thursday | ||||||
| August 25 | August 26 | August 27 | August 28 | ||||||
| USA | |||||||||
| USA | |||||||||
| A Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| Hungary | |||||||||
| USA | |||||||||
| I Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| Bahamas/Barbados | |||||||||
| Luxembourg | |||||||||
| B Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| Luxembourg | |||||||||
| 1 Chevy Chase | USA | ||||||||
| Belgium | |||||||||
| South Africa | |||||||||
| C Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| South Africa | |||||||||
| Germany | |||||||||
| J Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| Ireland | |||||||||
| Germany | Chevy Chase | ||||||||
| D Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| Germany | |||||||||
| Great Britain | |||||||||
| Great Britain | |||||||||
| Great Britain | |||||||||
| E Kenwood | |||||||||
| Israel | |||||||||
| Great Britain | |||||||||
| K Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| Argentina | |||||||||
| Italy | |||||||||
| F Congressional | |||||||||
| Italy | |||||||||
| 2 Chevy Chase | Great Britain | ||||||||
| France | |||||||||
| France | |||||||||
| G Columbia | |||||||||
| Switzerland | |||||||||
| France | |||||||||
| L Chevy Chase | |||||||||
| Canada | |||||||||
| Australia | |||||||||
| H Edgemoor | |||||||||
| Australia | |||||||||