The Older Bronson Gets, the Better He Gets on Court

Peter Bronson, the guy with the foul-smelling energy drink, is making up for lost time on the tennis circuit.

Bronson has played the sport since he was 13, as a youth in Milwaukee. But his only national experience was an 18-year-old age-group tournament in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 1964.

That is, until he “matured.”

Bronson was the fifth-seeded player in the USTA 50-55 hardcourt championships at the Lindborg Racquet Club in Huntington Beach. He had problems Friday with Jim Parker of Houston, who beat him, 6-3, 6-3, in the quarterfinals of the men’s 50 singles.

The tournament, which holds singles and doubles finals Sunday, features some of the top senior players in the USTA.

On Friday, Bronson’s concern was twofold. His opponent, first, then the whereabouts of his energy drink--his own concoction. He finally located the two bottles near the sign-in table.

“It has a lot of things in it, but it’s the amino acids that give it that rotting flesh smell,” Bronson said. “But it recharges you. I’ve offered it to opponents, but once they smell it, they don’t want to go near it.”

Bronson doesn’t seem to need such an edge.

Last week, he played in a 45-and-older tournament in Westlake. Next week, it’s the Gordon Cup in Cleveland--a senior match between the United States and Canada and the oldest cup competition in the world, according to Bronson.

Not bad for someone who took 17 years off.

“Some of us have aged better than others, I guess,” said Bronson, who is a real estate broker and tennis instructor in Phoenix.

Bronson began playing tennis because “the fat kid on the block needed somebody to beat. So he took me out and beat me.”

Bronson improved, but he stopped entering competitions after the Kalamazoo tournament.

“I just didn’t think it was right for me,” Bronson said.

But he continued to hone his game at clubs and competed in local tournaments.

In 1979, Bronson, then in Phoenix, decided to give a 35-and-older tournament a try. He had been a pro at several clubs, in Wisconsin and Arizona.

“I went down to Tucson and beat a couple seeded players,” Bronson said. “I started thinking that this was pretty good.

“I hope that fat kid can’t beat me now.”

Bronson is the fifth-ranked player in the 45-and-older division, even though he is 50. He is also a finalist for the final spot on the Dubler Cup team, which will play in Austria in September.

Bronson was a three-time 40-and-older national hardcourt champion, from 1988-90, when the tournament was in Flushing, N.Y.

“Actually, there are so many distractions there that it brought everyone down to my level,” Bronson said. “There are sometimes airplanes flying overhead and they’re building bleachers. One year, we could only play between 11:30 a.m. and 1 p.m. because they had a youth camp there. So if you didn’t get your match finished before 1 p.m., you had 1,000 kids with tennis rackets clamoring at the fence.”

About the only competition he has missed is the seniors division for the U.S Open tournament. He said he is ineligible to compete, because he has never played on a national circuit professionally.

No matter, he has plenty of other tournaments and enough “energy” drink to cover them.

“I think they’re starting a 90-and-up tournament,” Bronson said. “Now you can play until the day you die.”

Notes

David Bohannon of Garden Grove reached the semifinals of the 50 singles with a 7-5, 6-3 victory over Charles Hoeveler of Ross, Calif. In the 55 singles quarterfinals, Bob Duesler of Newport Beach defeated Geof Grant of Sausalito, 6-4, 3-6, 6-2. The singles semifinals start at 10 this morning.