Captain Alan Donnelly (Dublin), Matthew,
Travis McDonough (Nova Scotia, Canada)
and Joe Cummiskey (Dublin).
The Irish mens 40’s team!
The tournament started with round robin groups. Ireland was in a group with India and Austria. Ireland faced India first on the Monday. They beat them without any problems, 3-0.
The next day they faced Austria. The Austrian team included two ex-pro players. Their number 1 was Werner Eschauer. He reached a career high of 52 on the ATP tour! Luckily Matthew was to play their number 2. He was the small one, Gerald Mandl!! He is 6’3″ and had a career high of 186 in the world. Surprisingly Ireland lost 2-1 but as they finished second in their group they were in the top half of the play-offs. Austria went on to win the entire event in the 40’s, the Tony Trabert Cup.
On the Thursday Ireland was to play Switzerland for a finishing place of 8th-11th. Matthew played doubles again and although they won that match Ireland lost 2-1. This loss dropped them into a play-off for 12th and 13th place.
After a day off, Ireland faced their last matches. The team played Mexico. The Mexicans played their number 1, Ricardo Langre, against Matthew. He was a little bigger than expected! Ireland performed well and won 2-1. This left Ireland with their highest finish ever, 12th out of 23. A great finish to a great week of tennis. Well done lads!
Matthew didn’t get any rest. The next day he had his first singles match in the Individual Championships. His opponent was an American wild card named Anthony Cottone. It was a very tight match that lasted over 2 and 1/2 hrs during the intense heat of the day. Matthew finally won it 4-6, 7-6(3), 6-4. He didn’t have much time to celebrate his achievement as the very next day he faced Morgan Young from Australia world ranked number 25. He was seeded 7th. Matthew just couldn’t catch a break. Morgan was another guy over 6 feet. Matthew put up a hard fight but lost it 6-2, 6-3.
Due to Matthew’s hard work he has now gained world ranking points. Enniskillen’s Head Coach is now ranked 530 out of over 1,000 in the world in the mens over 40’s and in the same category ranked 366 in the world doubles! Congratulations Matthew!
The luck of the Irish was definitely with Matthew in America as 3 times he found himself on court beside the best female tennis players ever…the Williams sisters. Venus was even nice enough to pose for a photo with him! What a truly amazing experience. A massive thank you to all those who gave their time, energy and money to send Matthew to the World Seniors Championships 2014.
