Wow, what a gorgeous day for tennis. On this past Friday, I got to fulfill my role as spectator at the USTA North Carolina Super Seniors State Championships in Pinehurst. Over seventy Super Senior teams from around the state gathered in Pinehurst to determine the best of the best in geezer tennis. The event got underway on Friday and matches were scheduled throughout the weekend. I showed up part-way into the eleven o'clock match, the first that my boyfriend was scheduled to play. Temps were hovering at the 60 degree mark, the sun was dazzling, the sky crystal clear and Carolina blue. A breeze kept it fairly interesting and teams representing the best of North Carolina's Super Seniors served up exciting tennis for the scattered on-lookers. Win or lose, it's always fun to watch quality tennis, and it was available everywhere.
As it turns out, a gorgeous weekend for chasing fuzzy yellow balls provided excitement, drama, the thrill of victory and the agony of flexing aging joints in 35 degree temperatures. The action continued through the weekend, as Super Senior State Champion teams, who had gathered in Pinehurst from all over the state, played their hearts out through Sunday morning, with winners of the round robin play scheduled to finish up their group play in order to qualify for Sunday's Super Senior finals.
Court assignments in hand, they headed out to tennis centers all over town for the first day of Super Senior round-robin play. While matches were happening at five sites around the area, all of the remaining matches for my boyfriend's team were held at the Pinehurst Resort and Country Club tennis center, with their gazillion clay courts and buffet barbeque among the pine needles.
My boyfriend's regular Raleigh team didn't make the North Carolina Super Senior State Championships, so he claims his waiver status got him picked up by the Pinehurst team. In actual fact, he plays with a group of Pinehurst guys often, as he spends most weekends with me in Whispering Pines, and when his regular Super Senior team finished the season out of the finals, he made a phone call. He ended up playing three matches and the team had a great time! (That's code for "didn't win.")
The North Carolina Super Senior State Championships has become a much anticipated event for the Super Senior players across the state and appears to have found a home in Pinehurst, with its abundant clay courts, great restaurants, and as it turns out, near perfect fall weather.
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