The USTA (US Tennis Assoc) governs tennis in the US, the ITF (International Tennis Federation) governs tennis globally and runs the World Championships each year somewhere across the globe.
The USTA classifies tournaments from Levels 1 (National Championship) down to the smallest Level 7. The World Championship is a special category of it’s own above Level 1. The bigger the tournament, the more ranking points you get for winning matches. Each year, the USTA has 3 National Championships for each age group, one on each surface, grass, clay and hard courts.
At National Championships, tournament players aspire to win a gold, silver or bronze ball representing 1st, 2nd or 3rd place. These have been the ultimate prizes for tournament players for decades.
Growing up Joe prioritized football, basketball and baseball, but always enjoyed playing tennis in the summers for fun, along with Ms. Wilder’s group lessons at Weaver Park.
Joe never played junior tournaments but did play on the high school team. Paul Sheets and Joe made it to the finals of state their junior year and lost in the semis their senior year.
Joe graduated from R. E. Lee in 1985 and West Point in 1989. While in the Army, and after, he played all the rec-type sports, softball, flag football, volleyball and basketball. In 1998 he became very serious about triathlon for several years.
In 2006 Joe rediscovered tennis. He’d been away from the game for close to 20 years, so he took lessons, practiced and began playing lower level tournaments.
In 2017, he played a Level 2 tournament in Atlanta against the #1 seed, Oren Motevassel. Joe lost 6-3, 6-2 but was thrilled with that result. Oren and Joe became friends, Oren would watch his matches along with Joe's wife Suzie and pass along helpful coaching tips.
In 2018, Oren and Joe decided to play together at the 2018 Clay Court National Championship. With low expectations, they were surprised to win a silver ball (2nd place losing in finals 7-6, 7-5).
In 2020 (during the COVID shutdown of tournaments) they decided to play some tournaments in the 50s to prepare for the first year in the 55s. Again, they were surprised to make it to the finals (another Silver Ball) of the 2021 Grass Court National Championships held in Providence, Rhode Island for the 50+ age group and were 4th place in the Hard Court 50s National Championships in October in Peachtree City, Georgia.
In 2022, they are undefeated and have won three Level 2 tournaments in Naples FL, St. Petersburg FL and Baton Rouge. The team's confidence coming into the World Championships was high as they drew a first round bye. In the 2nd round they defeated a team from Portugal 6-2, 6-4 and defeated a team from Mexico 6-1, 6-1 in the 3rd round. The quarterfinal match against a team from Finland went to a tie breaker and after being down 2-7, Joe and Oren ran off 8 straight points to win the match. The semi-final round against a team from the Netherlands also reached a tie breaker. The pair won the final round in straight sets 6-0, 6-2.
Joe and his wife Suzie also won a Silver Ball at the Husband-Wife Hard Court National Championship for the 50+ age group in 2021. Joe has also won 13 City Championships over the years in ALTA (Atlanta Lawn Tennis Association) leagues.
Joe and Suzie live in Peachtree City, GA where Joe now owns a financial services firm with 3 partners.
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