Team Europe Beats Team USA In Second Annual Finance Cup

July 15, 2016 | By New York Tennis Magazine Staff


Credit photos to Oleg Tolstoy

The second annual Finance Cup took place this past weekend as Team USA headed across the pond to take on Team Europe at the Queen’s Club in London, England.

“David [Anving] and I met up last year when we were in Paris for the French Open, and I invited him and his crew to come over and play our Wall Street crew during the U.S. Open,” said Team USA captain Jeffrey Appel who, along with Anving, founded the Finance Cup which began last year. “We hope this will be a tradition that carries on for many years and many more young people can benefit from what we do.”

The teams are made up of former top college and professional players who made the transition to the finance world, whether it is on Wall Street or in the City of London.

“It’s great to meet people from both the United States and all over Europe,” said Anving, the Team Europe captain. “There are always links between all of us. Even if you don’t know some of these people coming in, you have common friends and so it’s really about getting people together. Jeffrey and I are both contacted a lot by younger kids, former players, who want to get into the finance industry. We have a big group of people here, so you make a lot of new friends and connections, and from that respect it’s great.”

What began as a way to get together with friends and colleagues has turned into a pretty intense rivalry amongst the two teams. Last year, the Wall Street squad from the United States defeated Team Europe 8-1 at Sportime Randall’s Island in New York in the inaugural Finance Cup, so the European team was out to avenge that loss this time around.

The teams were split into three different categories: out of college to 36-year-olds (Open), 37-year-olds to 46-year-olds (Mid-Age) and 47-year-olds plus (Senior), and featured six former NCAA champions, professional players and even a former Grand Slam doubles champion in Richey Reneberg.

Playing on its home turf, Team Europe did what they set out to do, exacting revenge from last year’s defeat with a 7-3 triumph over Team USA.

The clinching match came in the Open Division, as Jamie Baker and Barry King defeated Kaes Van’t Hof and Drew Courtney 6-4, 6-3.

“It was great to be involved in this and was even better to clinch it,” said King, a former ATP ranked professional and Davis Cup player from Ireland. “It was a great experience to play against two former NCAA champions, and it was a pleasure to play with Jamie. We did feel a bit of pressure towards the end, and we knew how important this match was in the overall scheme of things when the crowd got a bit louder. We kept it simple and I was able to serve it out.

We were delighted to be a part of this event and want to be a part of it again next year in the states.”

The home court advantage certainly played a factor in Team Europe’s victory, especially in Zoltan Csandi and Ludovic Walter’s 6-4, 1-6, 6-3 victory over Amer Delic and Mac Styslinger in the Open Division.

“There were 20 miles per hour winds, it was the best of what the British Open golfers have to deal with,” said Csanadi. “We tried to take our chances when they came. We had some opportunities on second serves to pull the trigger and we were able to pull it out in three sets.”

“It is nice to get some revenge on him,” Walter said of Delic. “Last year they gave us a pretty good beat down, so it was nice to bounce back with a win. It’s much easier when you don’t have to take a six or seven hour flight and deal with the jetlag.”

TeamEurope's Christer Gardell and Team USA Captain Jeffrey Appel.

Despite the defeat, Appel and the rest of Team USA had an outstanding week in London, and are ready to reclaim the Finance Cup title next year.

“They brought out a really good group of players. They played really well and you have to give them a lot of credit,” said Appel. “They had some guys who really showed some tremendous skill out there and there was outstanding tennis played.

The level of play has greatly improved and many of us have become good friends in a short time. Besides being great tennis players they are also great people. We look forward to playing them again next year.”

 

Video courtesy of SuperProductions18

 

Below are the complete results of the matches from this year’s Finance Cup:

Round 1:

Open—Zoltan Csanadi/Ludovic Walter (Europe) d. Amer Delic/Mac Syslinger (USA) 6-4, 1-6, 6-3

Mid-Age—Oliver Freelove/Lassi Ketola (Europe) d. Thomas Blake/Kunj Majmudar (USA) 7-5, 6-3

Senior—Alfredo Caturano/Zubin Irani (Europe) d. Walter Dolhare/Steven Hentschel (USA) 6-4, 6-4

Senior—Christer Gardell/Jan Vrbsky (Europe) d. Bill Ackman/Pablo Salame (USA) 6-3, 6-3

 

Round 2:

Senior—Eoin Collins/Richey Reneberg (USA) d. Martin Persson/Mario Visconti (Europe) 7-5, 6-1

Open—Jason Pinsky/Marc Powers (USA) d. Luben Pampoulov/Nejc Smole (Europe) 6-3, 6-3

Mid—Jonathan Pastel/Rodolfo Rake (USA) d. James Reynolds/Philipp Stockhoff (Europe) 6-3, 6-3

Senior—Rupert de Laszlo/Rajveer Ranawat (Europe) d. Jeffrey Appel/Pablo Salame (USA) 6-1, 2-6, 6-3

 

Round 3:
Mid-Age—John Doran/Tobias Hildrebrand (Europe) d. Kevin Kim/Graydon Oliver (USA) 6-4, 7-6(5)

Open—Jamie Baker/Barry King (Europe) d. Kaes Van’t Hof/Drew Courtney (USA) 6-4, 6-3

 

Exhibition:
Bill Ackman/Amer Delic (USA) d. Jan Olsson/Ludovic Walter (Europe) 6-4, 6-4 


Bill Ackman, at net, and Pablo Salame, baseline, get ready for a point during their Round 1 match. 


New York Tennis Magazine Staff
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