08 September 2011 / Categories: Recent Results and Events, 2011 USA regains Ted Avory Trophy in Washington A very strong USA team took revenge for their defeat at Stoke Park in 2009. This time the USA beat GB convincingly by 36-18 (detailed results to follow), bringing the overall tally to 4-4 after eight matches for the Ted Avory Trophy. The match was played at the beautiful Chevy Chase Club in Washington, which was also the venue of the IC week in 2008. The Club has since spent $10 million to improve the tennis facilities to an outstanding level. The GB team had an eventful journey to get to Washington, as more than half of the team did not make it to New York, where we were going to spend a few days on our way to Washington and to watch the US Open. Hurricane Irene put a stop to that unfortunately. The train journey from New York to Washington was also cancelled, but in the end all players reached the destination in time, albeit nobody got there in the way it was originally booked. The Americans wanted to make sure that the Trophy was not going back to the UK and had come up with a strong selection with good back up when their players got injured. GB was less lucky. We were already plagued by injuries before we left, which required some last minute replacements, and we were in addition unlucky to suffer further damage in Washington. This weakened us in particular on the ladies’ side. Nevertheless Shirley Fox and Christine French (strongly back after a long absence) scored some notable wins. The men fared better with some really good wins and some very narrow defeats. Most of the team members and their partners were accommodated with members of the Chevy Chase Club, which was much appreciated by all of us. We were able to thank them warmly at the BBQ to which they had been invited. All the housing had been organised by ex-President of the IC of the USA and also previously board member of the Chevy Chase Club, Les Nicholson. He was also instrumental in obtaining the Club’s permission to use the Club for the matches, meals and social functions. At the official dinner Les Nicholson was –belatedly- made an honorary member of the IC of GB and Henk Nijeboer of the IC of the USA. While some of us will be nurturing their injuries for a while, all of us are looking back on a very successful, albeit eventful, week in the USA. Please click here for Thursday's Draw Sheet >> Please click here for Friday's Draw Sheet >> More images on Flickr available here >> Previous Article PUBS Fixture Next Article 28 May - Over 30 and under 30 match Print 4746