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WESTON, CONN. The weather was warm enough Saturday to play full-court tennis. And players in the Connecticut State Mixed Platform Tennis tournament took advantage, most of them playing in summer outfits as they battled for the championships in two flights.
Players from Fairfield County and beyond smashed serves, whacked forehands and ran down lobs in courts in Weston, Fairfield, Wilton and New Canaan. Aspetuck Country Club was the primary host for the tournament, which included two draws and 58 teams.
Dariens Dave and Sheila Mueller, who play out of the Country Club of Darien, reached the championship of the B draw. Absolutely not, Sheila Mueller said when asked if she expected to be playing in the championship. There are a lot of good teams here. Her husband added: We had a couple of good matches. Its been very competitive.
The players mingled and enjoyed the warm afternoon even after they had been eliminated. Some teams played just a few matches, while others played throughout the day. The Muellers, who entered the tournament as the No. 8 seed, played five matches en route to the final.
We played in it a few years ago, Sheila said. We really didnt know how we would do this year.
While the atmosphere was competitive, there was also a party-like feel to the tournament. Paddle players are the best group of people youll find in any sport, Dave Mueller said. Platform tennis is commonly referred to as paddle tennis because the racquets are much smaller than traditional tennis racquets. The scoring is similar to traditional tennis. Players, however, can hit the ball off the walls that surround the courts, similar to racquet ball.
The tournament has been held for a number of years, but has flourished in the past few years since it moved to Aspetuck Valley under the direction of Juan Arraya, the director of racquet sports at the club. Arraya and partner Sheri She won their third straight mixed state championship. Results of the A draw and B draw of the tournament are available online.
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