Dinerman’s A History Of Princeton Tennis Released Dateline April 26, 2021 --- Rob Dinerman’s latest racquet-sports history book, A History Of Princeton Tennis,
released this past week, chronicles the history of both the Princeton
men’s and women’s teams from their inceptions ---beginning in the late
1800’s for the men and starting with the inaugural 1970-71 season for
the women --- all the way through the pandemic-truncated 2019-20
season. The leather-bound 378-page book, which contains an eight-page
Appendix detailing the awards, national and Ivy League
championships and individual achievements of Princeton’s leading tennis
stars, provides in-depth coverage of virtually every significant dual
meet and tournament in each season, highlighting the players, coaches
and personalities that have made the tradition of Princeton tennis so
very compelling. In addition to a text enlivened with myriad anecdotes
and personal stories, the book features photos of almost every varsity
team, as well as an eclectic assortment of candid shots, many of them
positioned in the multi-page photo collages at the end of every chapter.
Princeton’s tennis tradition is very impressive. Its men’s teams have
captured 24 Eastern Intercollegiate Tennis Association (EITA)
championships, the most of any team in the Ivy League, including seven
in a row from 1974-80 and two runs of five straight (1950-54 and
1961-65). Four of its players earned All-America honors and five won
intercollegiate national singles titles. It is the only Ivy League
school to have attained a season-end national team ranking in the top
10, and it has done so twice, finishing eighth in 1979 and ninth in
1980. And in the years prior to the inauguration of official national
team rankings in 1977, the team twice finished in the top ten at the
NCAA Championships, placing seventh in 1962 and sixth in 1963.
Its women’s teams have won 15 Ivy League
championships, including four out of five during the 2015-19 time
frame. They dominated Eastern college tennis throughout the 1970’s and
early 1980’s, winning their first 39 dual meets from 1971-75 and
capturing 10 consecutive Middle States Tournament titles (1971-80),
five straight Seven Sisters Tournament titles (1974-77 and 1979; it was
not held in 1978) and four in a row Eastern College Athletic Conference
titles (1979-82). They have earned a berth in the NCAA team tournament
on nine occasions, including five times in the six-year period from
2014-19.
Three of its coaches, namely John Conroy (1946-71), David
Benjamin (1974-2000) and Louise Gengler (1979-2004), held that role for
25 years or longer, amassing 77 years of service between them, and a
number of the players they coached subsequently earned top-40 rankings
on the professional circuit. Both the Princeton men’s and women’s
tennis teams were on their way to exceptional and possibly historic
seasons prior to the mid-March decisions by first the Ivy League and
later the NCAA to cancel the remainder of the 2020 spring schedule in
response to the Coronavirus pandemic. The men’s team, which played 18
of its scheduled 28 dual meets, had compiled a 14-4 record and had
risen to No. 18 in the national college rankings, while the women’s
team was well on its way to making the 50th season of its existence the
best in the history of the program, having ascended to the No. 5
national team ranking, positioned behind only (in descending order)
North Carolina, Florida State, the University of Texas at Austin and
North Carolina State when the February 18th rankings were published.
Coaches Billy Pate and Laura Granville, both of whom have been at the
helm beginning with the 2012-13 season, were noteworthy for the
leadership, empathy and support they provided to their disappointed
players when the 2020 spring schedule was called off shortly before the
Ivy League matches had been scheduled to begin. Both are optimistic
that their respective teams will be ready to lead the Ivy League pack,
and make an impact nationally as well, once play resumes as expected
this coming autumn.
Anyone wishing to acquire a copy of A History Of Princeton Tennis can do so by clicking on the link.
