Bailey & Lauer defend their Peachtree Invitational Title

Jay Bailey & Peter Lauer successfully defended their Peachtree Invitational title for this, the 2nd annual regional paddle tournament in Atlanta on January 14th. Playing to some 50 spectators on a beautiful sunday afternoon, they edged past Mark Schmidt & Carlos Engel 6-2, 6-4. This year's tournament, oversubscribed with 19 teams for a 16 team draw, had excellent competition from Atlanta & beyond. The event featured players from Boston, New Jersey, Cleveland, Charlottesville and Philadelphia.

Most apparent in this, our second year, was how improved the level of play was from last year, as well as the addition of several hot AA tennis players to the draw. New entrants this year included Paul Mancini, Robby Weiss and Dennis Fine plus returning tennis stars Ellis Ferreira, Carlos Engel, Michael Rollauer, Mark Avedikian, Berni Staub and Todd Assini. Clearly the sport of Platform Tennis is catching on with the tennis players around the city.

Courtesy of Mori Luggage & Gifts, there were prizes to go around in this triple elimination event, that also featured a great party at Peter Lauer's house and raffle prizes gallore from sponsors including Wilson, Ferreira Tennis, Play it Again Sports of Buckhead, Georgia Commerce Bank & Uline Packaging.

Tournament Director Peter Lauer remarked "this tournament is a hit, and has created National Buzz in Platform Tennis circles. We hope next year to expand to a 32 team tournament if we succeed in building 2 courts at Cherokee Town Club...the demand & interest is clearly there".

Druid Hills Wins the 2nd Annual PPL Cup

The 2nd Annual Peachtree Paddle League Cup was awarded to Druid Hills late Saturday afternoon on the 24th of February, in what could not have been a closer & more exciting finale. 50 players competed for their teams in 16 matches - the outcome came down to the last match at Ansley.

A point was awarded for each set won, plus another point for winning the match. The final team scores for the event were:

- Druid Hills 15
- Driving Club 14
- Cherokee 13
- Ansley 12

The perpetual cup, will reside for the next year at Druid Hills under the care of their captain and star player, Jay Bailey. We'd like to thank all the players who competed, the fans who came out to watch, and each of the captains for their leadership throughout the season.

We'd also like to thank our generous and loyal sponsors, for it is their support that makes this League something special.

Georgia Commerce Bank
Premier Platform Tennis
Uline Packaging
Play it Again Sports of Buckhead
Taylor Consulting
Mori Luggage & Gifts
Wilson
Ferreira Tennis
Endos Promo
American Platform Tennis Association

On another note, 3 teams from Atlanta will represent the Southern Region of the American Platform Tennis Association, for the annual Presidents Cup in NYC on Friday March 23rd.

1. Bailey/Lauer
2. Laschinger/Staub
3. Engel/Schmidt
4. Bowen/Tulenko
5. Galloway/Brown

Each region sends 5 teams to the event, which is structured as a round robin, with all #1 teams from each region playing each other, all #2’s and so on. Wish our players luck.