Indoor National Tournament Notes

Upchurch's and Specht Fall in Indoor Nationals

Boise--Grant Upchurch had accomplished a life-time goal: to win a match in a National tennis tournament, in fact he's done it twice! He won his first round match last year and this year in hard- fought gritty matches, but that luck ran out this morning when he lost to silky smooth 9th seed Miguel Phelps of Prescott, Arizona.

Phelps continually hit big first serves, dropped the ball on a dime, where ever he wanted, and ran Upchurch all over the court, leaving the gritty Boiseian no margin for error. When the dust cleared Phelps walked off the court with 6-1, 6-0 win. Upchurch put in an amazing match and showed grit today but Phelps was too much; nonetheless Upchurch was still the talk of the tourney.

Joel Specht played amazing tennis in this National Championship. His match yesterday was a triumph of will for the veteran tennis player. Today he was down early but caught fire and completely turned the match around and even dominated play winning the first set 7-6. But Specht met his match with Leslie Curtis of Shaker Heights, Ohio. Curtis dug in, continually changed strategy before securing a 6-4 victory in the third.

Chris Bennett, last years champ is not much different than any other player at the BRSC. He is modest and unassuming, not what you'd expect from one of the best seniors in the world. In between matches we chatted about tennis, equipment and fitness. I asked if he had any tricks of the trade in terms of Senior tennis survival.

"I don't think there are any tricks anymore, the internet pretty much took care of that, If I need to know anything I go there," he chuckled. "I'm aware of what I need to attend to," he says. Bennett says the pickle juice trick for cramps works. He says its important to keep hydrated and powered up for matches. We both complained about shoes and racquet's and how manufacturers continually change their lines. "I was playing with a racquet that went out of production five years ago, I finally found another that I could use," he says.

He says if you want an edge in tennis to work for it, he says working out, lifting weights and doing cardio will give you the edge needed to win matches, he explained it all about avoiding injuries. I asked about this jovial bunch of players in BRSC clubhouse. He says the camaraderie of the senior tour is one of the big draws for him. He says it's a big fraternity of good friends and good times.