Father-Son Doubles Promises interesting Matchups
By Rob Dinerman; SquashTalk © 2006; all rights of reproduction reserved.
May 5, 2006     

Second Annual Father & Son Championships Set For This Weekend

Former ISDA top-30 Noah Wimmer and his father, Robert, will attempt to defend the U. S. Open division (18-and-over) Father & Son title whose inaugural edition they won last year in a tight four-game final over Harvard all-American Will Broadbent and his father, Bill. The Broadbents unfortunately had to withdraw earlier this week due to a severe knee injury incurred by the junior Broadbent (who has already undergone surgery), but the Wimmers are expected to be strongly challenged by such standout entries in the 13-team Open field as Jack and Tim Wyant (who came within two points of a quarterfinal win over the Wimmers in a fourth-set tiebreaker in '05), Simon and Dillon Aldrich, who captured the 17-and-under flight last spring in a fifth-set final-round tiebreaker over their Apawamis club-mates Rob and Robbie Berner, and ISDA star Preston Quick and his father, Taylor, a former USSRA President.

Preston Quick has already accomplished one "family" national title this season when he and sister Meredeth weathered a pair of final-round fourth-game match-points against them and defeated Gary Waite and Jessis Chai in Philadelphia in early March in the U. S. National Mixed Doubles tourney. He and Taylor lost a five-game semifinal to the Broadbents last year, but this time Preston Quick comes into the event with a great deal of momentum in the wake of the World Mixed and Men's Open titles he won just last week in Toronto with Narelle Krizek and Chris Deratnay respectively serving as his partners in those events.

The six-team 17-and-under draw features the aforementioned Berners, who stood at 1-all in the best-of-nine tiebreaker session that was needed to resolve the fifth game of their pulsating '05 final before Dillon Aldrich erupted with four consecutive winners to close the match out. The 13-and-under flight consists of nine teams and includes some notable names, most prominently 1980's WPSA top-10 performer Larry Hilbert, the current head squash and tennis pro at the Piping Rock Club in Locust Valley, Long Island, who is entered with his son, Patrick, and USSRA Executive Committee member Peter Lasusa, who will be playing alongside his son, Tim.

In addition to this trio of competitive categories that produced such good squash last year, a "Century" flight for father/son entries with a combined age of at least 100 will be making its debut this weekend. Two multiple U. S. National champions, namely James Zug ('72 with Larry Terrell and '73 with Victor Niederhoffer) and Eric Vlcek ('98-01 with Father & Son tournament chairman Morris Clothier and '03 and '04 with Preston Quick) are entered in the five-team field.

The 33 entered teams, a slight increase over last year's total of 30, will be competing at the Racquet & Tennis, University, Union and New York Athletic Clubs, with all four finals set for late Sunday morning through early afternoon at R & T. This will be the last doubles tournament on the 2005-06 USSRA doubles schedule, a fitting closeout to what has been a memorable season for doubles squash both in New York and nation-wide. Squashtalk.com will be providing a mid-tournament report after Saturday's action as well as a fully summary of the Sunday finals.

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