Team Feels the Tug of USTA Sectional

Tug Craig is still smarting from the misfortune that cost his Chatsworth men’s tennis team a shot at a national championship, but Tug’s Topspin will get another chance today.

Tug’s Topspin is one of 10 local adult teams entered in the U.S. Tennis Assn. sectional championships, a three-day tournament that opens today at Los Caballeros Sports Village in Fountain Valley.

“We were so discouraged, weren’t going to play anymore,” said Craig, 63, whose team was disqualified last year after winning the sectional.

“But we managed to get the guys back together. We decided we at least wanted to get back to the sectionals this year.”

The Southern California sectional is a 60-team tournament, with men’s and women’s squads placed in divisions according to ability.

Last year, officials watched Tug’s Topspin defeat a San Gabriel team in the final of the men’s 4.0 (or B) division, then disqualified the locals, saying that No. 1 singles player Bob Mullen of Sylmar was too good.

Craig protested, to no avail.

On the women’s side, team captain Jean Williams of Woodland Hills will lead Racquettes I, the Valley’s top contingent.

Like Tug’s Topspin, the Racquettes (14-0) have reached the sectional for the second consecutive year.

The men’s draw includes teams from Sunset Hills, Toluca Lake and Thousand Oaks. The women’s draw includes teams from Ventura, Thousand Oaks and Sunset Hills.