With the presence of #1, #3, #8, #11, and #17 players in the APTA rankings the Patterson Club Open will begin the NRT 2011-2012 platform tennis season this Sunday in the best possible way: the tourney will feature some of the best players in the country and some of the best raw talent yet to be discovered. Big time paddle is back in Fairfield County and in a BIG WAY.

At the end of last season, the men’s final in Chicago was played by four players born outside of the United States. We recently saw how two foreign born players won for second year in a row the St-Germain Classic. The first NRT of the season will now be witness to what could be the tournament with the most nationalities taking part in a 32-draw size.

Besides having many players from both Region 1 and Region 2, the Patterson Club Open could easily be nicknamed the “United Nations Paddle Tournament”. Players born in 12 different countries (including the Unites States) will be showing their skills this coming Sunday in Fairfield County.

The following countries will be represented on the courts:

  • Argentina
  • Australia
  • Bosnia & Herzegovina
  • Brazil
  • Colombia
  • England
  • France
  • Morocco
  • Peru
  • South Africa
  • Sweden
  • United States

Any dark horses? Will all favorites make it through the first round? Take your pick. With all matches scheduled to start at 8:00 am, first round match-ups and locations are as follows:

NRT Main Draw 1st Round 
New Canaan Field Club
Easterbrook-Jonason (1) vs. Lee-Muldoon
Caserta-Ribchinsky vs. Levanat-Rhazali
Hiscox-Morneau vs. Bergman-Milot
Stein-Stern vs. Atkinson-Crosta

Woodway Country Club
Falatek-Najdek vs. Doran-Spyratos
Longua-Wilson vs. Jellinek-Newman
Lindsay-O’Brien vs. Gedney-Kelley
Caldwell-Catter vs. Cochrane-Palmer (4)

Country Club of New Canaan
LeFevre-Misitrano (3) vs. Lorenzetti-Wilkinson
Binkowski-Fitzgerald vs. Fairchild-Seiler
Cartier-Porter vs. Clarke-Teglas
Magner-Vasudeva vs. Arraya-Gillespie

Country Club of Darien
Fried-Pierce vs. Cassas-Slobin
Smith-White vs. Goncalves-Grangeiro
McKessy-Mueller vs. Johnson-LePivert
Holmes-Holmes vs. Caldwell-Cordish (2)

New Canaan really CARES
The FCPTL gets up early for breakfast

Patricio Misitrano