USTA/Eastern/Long Island 20th Annual Awards Dinner a True Success

A Message From USTA/Eastern/LI Region President Scott Axler

The Long Island Region Board of the United States Tennis Association/Eastern Section takes great pleasure in recognizing our top junior and adult awardees for their outstanding accomplishments both on and off the tennis courts. Your achievements are the result of your hard work and dedication. Each of you is an inspiration to the Long Island tennis community.

We are confident that your success will continue as you set new goals and challenges. Your efforts will serve as examples that will set the standards and motivate many others.

This year, for the first time, we opened the awards selection process to the Long Island tennis community, making the process more open and transparent. The tennis community responded and identified those who were worthy, submitting nomination ballots online. We thank you for your support and participation.

This year, we have added a new award in honor of the late Madeline Zausner, who, with her husband, Dick, owned the Port Washington Tennis Academy. Madeline focused her efforts on making sure that talented juniors could learn and play tennis, no matter their families’ financial abilities. She did this by creating tennis training scholarships for kids in need, and making tournaments affordable and accessible for juniors. We are proud to create this new award, which recognizes the region’s best tournament director, in Madeline’s honor.

We are very excited to announce the keynote speaker for this year’s awards dinner, the “Haitian Sensation,” Ronald Agenor. During his 19-year career, Ronald was a top-20 tennis player who defeated Andre Agassi (three times), Jimmy Connors, Yannick Noah, Brad Gilbert and Mats Wilander, among many others. He won three ATP tour titles, was a quarterfinalist at the French Open and reached the fourth round at both the U.S. Open and the French Open in 1988. Ronald holds the record for the longest match in the history of the French Open in the number of games (71) since the open era and recorded the second fastest serve of the year in 1991 with 128.6 mph. In 1987, he made history by playing against France’s Yannick Noah in what would be the first all-black male ATP Tour tennis final in men’s professional tennis history. Ronald retired from professional tennis and opened the Ronald Agenor Tennis Academy in Los Angeles in 2002.

Ronald Agenor will discuss Haitian earthquake relief and how the tennis community can help. The son of a former United Nations Diplomat and Minister of Agriculture of Haiti, he has long been a strong advocate on behalf of Haiti and the Haitian people. We look forward to hearing his comments and thoughts about the disaster in Haiti.

Continuing in our mission to support the people of Haiti, your Region is working to support the Haitian-American Alliance, a group of doctors who provide medical services to amputees in Haiti. Stay tuned to our Web site, www.longisland.usta.com, for more information.

Scott Axler, President
USTA/Eastern/Long Island Region

20th Annual Awards Dinner Sponsors

Corporate Sponsors
Adidas

Advantage Tennis

Applebee’s

Daniel Burgess—Awards Dinner Chair

Carefree Racquet Club

COSTCO Inc.

Dunlop

Eastern Athletic Club

Gamma Sports

Golfsmith

Grand Slam Tennis

Head/Penn

Hicksville Community Tennis Association

Houlihan’s

IHOP

Joel Dinoffer—On court/Offcourt

Joel Ross Tennis Camp

L’Oreal

Long Beach Tennis Center

Long Island Display Connection

Mary Rose Inc.

Modell’s Sporting Goods

Nassau County Credit Union

New York Sportimes

Mike Pavlides—Grant Committee

Peter Kaplan Westhampton Camp

Pilot Pen Tennis

Prince

Professional Tennis Registry, PTR

Point Set Racquet Club

Port Washington Tennis Academy

Robbie Wagner Tennis Academy

Roger Wootton Tennis Academy

Jessie Rubin

Melanie Rubin

Starbucks

Stop & Shop Supermarkets

Tennis Industry Association

The Bayou Restaurant

Total Tennis Camp

UBS Financial Services Inc.

USPTA Eastern Division

USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center, Home of the U.S. Open

USTA Eastern Section

USTA National QuickStart Program

Volkl (Bag Sponsor)

USTA/Eastern/Long Island Region 20th Annual Award Winners

Prestigious Award Winners
Arthur Ashe Multi-Cultural Award
Daniel Burgess of Freeport, Tennis Pro at Pointset Racquet Club, Oceanside

Charles Karp Memorial Award for Overcoming Adversity Awards
Jasmine Arama of Valley Stream
Jack Gearns of Garden City

Hy Zausner Lifetime Achievement Award
Robbie Wagner of Glen Cove, Founder of the Robbie Wagner Tennis Tournament Training Center

Vitas Gerulaitis for the Love of Tennis Award
William Mecca of Garden City

Annual Award Winners

Adult Volunteer of the Year Award
Mike Pavlides of Massapequa

Anuj Agarwal Sportsmanship Award
Noah Rubin of Merrick, Merrick Avenue Middle School

Corporate Award
Channel 55, Melville

Innovative Tennis Program of the Year Award
Matt Swift of Amityville, Stop World Hunger Tennis Tournament,

Jennifer Sherry Sportsmanship Award
Sophie Barnard of Mill Neck

Junior Team Tennis Award
Hicksville Community Junior Tennis Team, Terry Fontana, Coach

Junior Volunteer of the Year Award
Ross Binder of Merrick, Merrick Avenue Middle School

Madeline Zausner Tournament Director of the Year Award
Scott Axler of Huntington

Outdoor Site of the Year Award—Nassau
Oceanside High School, Denise Kiernan, Athletic Director

Outdoor Site of the Year Award—Suffolk
Mt. Sinai School District, Scott Rheh, Athletic Director

Retail Facility of the Year Award
Top Spin Pro Shop

Rose Buck Scalmandre Award
The Albornoz Family of West Babylon

Scholastic Coach of the Year Award—Nassau
Christine Roblin of Floral Park, Franklin Square, Sewanhaka Central High School District

Scholastic Coach of the Year Award—Suffolk
Mike Drozd of Baiting Hollow

Special Community Service Award
Long Island Tennis Magazine, Wantagh

Special Community Service Award—Nassau
Rossana Weitekamp of Malverne, Director, Malverne Tennis Program

Special Community Service Award—Suffolk
Jason Pasion of North Babylon

Tennis Club of the Year Award—Nassau
Port Washington Tennis Academy

Tennis Club of the Year Award—Suffolk
East Hampton Indoor Tennis, Wainscott

Tennis Family of the Year Award
Dave McKean & Sue D’Alessandro Family

Tennis Official of the Year Award
Joe Brattoli of Syosset

Tennis Player of the Year Award
Charles H. Hurme of Huntington Station

Tennis Professional of the Year Award
Jason Wass of Farmingdale

USTA/Eastern/Long Island Region 20th Annual Tennis Achievements

Men’s Open/Singles
-Men’s 25/30 Gary Mcnulty, World Gym, East Setauket
-Men’s 35/40 Adrian Chirici, Robbie Wagner Tournament Training Center, Glen Cove
-Men’s 55 Mark M. Harrison, Nassau Indoor Tennis, Inwood
-Men’s 60 Richie Bustamante, East Norwich

Men’s Open/Doubles
-Men’s 35 Eric Forman, Port Washington & Robert J. Janecek, Locust Valley
-Men’s 40 Joseph Perri, Floral Park & Mitch G. Pessin, Dix Hills
-Men’s 45 Clifford M. Berck, Great Neck & Mitch G. Pessin, Dix Hills
-Men’s 55 Barry Brahver, Lawrence & Ben Adler, Brooklyn
-Men’s 65 Robert McKenna, Hicksville & Ronald Rebhuhn, Westbury

Women’s Open/Singles
-Women’s Open #2 Joan Manfredi-Carter, Woodbury
-Women’s 60 Peggy Gluck, Syosset
-Women’s 50 Eileen Walker, Patchogue

Women’s Open/Doubles
-Women’s 65 Joan K. Nevins, Forest Hills & Peggy Gluck, Syosset

Long Island Regional League Awards

-Women’s 5.0 Gina Marie McNulty, Nesconset
-Men’s 4.0 (Won Nationals) Adam Kolenberg, Merrick
-Men’s Senior 4.5 Robert Slater
-Women’s Senior 3.0 Janet Chase, Wantagh

USTA/Eastern/LIRegion 20th Annual Scholastic Tennis Achievements

Boys’ Singles Champion—Nassau and New York State
Daniel Kreyman of Long Beach High School

Boys Singles Champion—Suffolk
Brett Gordon of Commack High School

Boys Doubles Champions—Nassau
Steven Milo & Rickey Wang of Syosset High School

Boys Doubles Champions—Suffolk
Zach Dean & Bryan Roberts of Commack High School

Girls Singles Champion—Nassau and New York State
Blair Seideman of Jericho High School

Girls Singles Champion—Suffolk
Robyn Romanoff of Middle Country High School

Girls Doubles Champions—Nassau
Melissa Edelbaum & Paige Mintz of Roslyn High School

Girls Doubles Champions—Suffolk
Lindsay Kantor & Brooke Pottish of Westhampton High School

2009 Long Island Region Top Two Juniors by Age Group

Boys 10-and-Under
#1 Cannon Kingsley Northport
#2 Justin Ilan Lempert Roslyn Heights

Boys 12-and-Under
#1 Stephen Gruppuso Bayport
#2 Curran Varma Manhasset

Boys 14-and-Under
#1 Drew F. Feldman Port Washington
#2 Daniel Sliwowski Islip

Boys 16-and-Under
#1 Pasha Shapouri Albertson
#2 Sean Jagi Chhugani Roslyn

Boys 18-and-Under
#1 Scott Johnson Northport
#2 Benjamin Bogard Lido Beach

Girls 10-and-Under
#1 Lea Ma Dix Hills
#2 Nicole Kielan Valley Stream

Girls 12-and-Under
#1 Michelle Haykin Great Neck
#2 Vanessa L. Scott Dix Hills

Girls 14-and-Under
#1 Cameron Leigh Moskol Wantagh
#2 Emma R. Brezel Port Washington

Girls 16-and-Under
#1 Amy Ginny Naula East Hampton
#2 Veronika Paikin Valley Stream

Girls 18-and-Under
#1 Veronika Paikin Valley Stream
#2 Eliza J. Budd Locust Valley