Champions Crowned at the Long Island Tennis Magazine Thanksgiving Challenge
The 4th Annual Long Island Tennis Magazine Thanksgiving Challenge presented by Orlin & Cohen Orthopedic Group brought together tennis players of all levels for a great day of Men’s and Women’s Doubles Tournaments.
Held on the heels of Thanksgiving, a sold-out draw of players came out to Sportime Syosset to compete and work off those big holiday meals. Featuring good competition on the court and a festive, social atmosphere off it, the Thanksgiving Challenge was the ideal way to wrap up the 2025 Long Island Tennis Magazine Event Series and bring the tennis community together during the holiday season. All players received complimentary gift items from Orlin & Cohen Orthopedic Group and a pizza lunch. In addition, there was great prizes and a media session for the winners.
Ryan Casserly & Kevin Stanis have competed in many Long Island Tennis Magazine Challenge events in the past, and can now call themselves Challenge Champions. The duo teamed up to win the Men’s Doubles 7.0 – 7.5 championship, hanging on to win 7-6(6) over Andrew Kupfer & Thomas Montanaro in the finals.
“The level of this tournament was really good, we had a lot of competitive matches which prepared us for a tight final like that,” said Stanis.
In the back-and-forth final, Casserly & Stanis were up 5-1 in the deciding tiebreaker only to see that lead evaporate as the tiebreaker evened at 5-5. But a few points later, they were able to close it out to win their first title together.
“We talked out our strategy on a lot of the points, and just tried to execute,” said Casserly. “He was able to finish at the net today, and I couldn’t, so I played mainly at the baseline and we worked well together doing that.”
Communication and teamwork were also key factors for Lavinia Barrientos & Laila Mahran, who came through to win the Women’s Doubles 7.0 – 7.5 division. The pairing defeated Kathy Rzonca & Aki Bowman 6-3 to win the championship.
“Playing with her (Laila) and winning,” Barrientos said of her favorite part of the tournament. “We practice and play doubles a lot together, but we don’t normally play tournaments together.”
Mahran added:
“Our teamwork was such a big factor. We communicated well, and we’ll have to come back and defend our title.”
In the Men’s Doubles 8.0 – 8.5 division, Danny Axelrod & Sean Tuthill had a simple yet effective strategy: hold serve, and make less errors than their opponents.
That proved vital as the pairing defeated Neil Hyman & Chris Kolesnik 6-2, the defending champions of this division from the September Tennis Challenge, to claim the title.
“In short formats like this, holding serve is key because you don’t have a lot of games to work with in the round-robin stages,” Axelrod said. “We just tried to make fewer errors and remain consistent, the longer we played and deeper we went, we were able to feel it more and got aggressive.”
Axelrod & Tuthill complement each other on the court, as Tuthill explained:
“He has a bigger forehand, and my backhand is good, so we work well together. We don’t get to play together too often, so it was great to be able to team up for this, and even better to win it.”
Trinity Chow & Amanda Foo hadn’t played a tournament together in a long time, but the cousins quickly rekindled their on-court chemistry and captured the title in the Women’s Doubles 8.0 – 8.5 division. They defeated Lisa Rudloff & Josie Rudloff 6-2 in the finals.
“It was a lot of fun getting to play with my cousin. We haven’t played together in awhile so it was great,” said Chow. “We met some new people and reconnected with some older friends.”
Foo added:
“We just took it one shot at a time, and tried to stay positive the whole time. Even if we made a mistake or missed a shot, we just laughed it off and moved on to the next point.”
The Thanksgiving Tennis Challenge was the final installment of the 2025 Long Island Tennis Magazine Event Series, putting a bow on another successful year as we prepare to continue to grow our events in the New Year.
“To get a sold-out draw into this tournament on a holiday weekend was a real success. I believe this is an indication that players see the professionalism and quality we bring to the events we host, and that they have a great time on and off the court,” said David Sickmen, co-tournament director of the Long Island Tennis Magazine Challenge. “I certainly want to thank our host facility, Sportime Syosset, for being such gracious hosts and Mike Kossoff for helping us put on this special event, as well as my co-director Michelle Stoerback, whose passion and energy for adult tennis is second to none. We also want to thank our Presenting Sponsor, Orlin & Cohen Orthopedic Group, for their support of this event. We look forward to more community involvement moving into the New Year, and are excited to see everyone on the courts at our events in 2026. We will host four LI Tennis Magazine Challenge Events in addition to the rest of our event series staples.”
CLICK HERE TO SEE MORE PHOTOS FROM THE LITM THANKSGIVING TENNIS CHALLENGE
