Tennis vets gathered in CSL for Sam Brumer tournament tradition

BY MARTIN C. BARRY - The Chronicle

An amateur tennis championship that sees male players aged 45 and over compete for top honours in Côte St. Luc annually drew to a close last Sunday for another year.

The Sam Brumer Tournament, one of several competitions staged as part of the Quebec Provincial Championship for Veterans 45 and over, took place at the Côte St. Luc Tennis Club.

Players, ranging up to 75 years of age, came from all over Quebec to take part.

According to Maher Diab, who manages the tennis club, the players drawn to the competition may be amateurs, but at a level of skill that enables them to compete in tournaments. "They're good. They've been playing tournaments for a while," he said.

More than a half-dozen of the players came from Côte St. Luc or nearby Montreal Island communities. The tournament was named after the late Sam Brumer, a former Côte St. Luc resident who started it about 20 years ago.

Joey Richman, a well-known Canadian Jewish athlete and world-class tennis player of years past, has also been a participant. It is one of only three outdoor amateur tennis tournaments for older men that take place in Quebec every season.

"This is a tradition here," said Norm Yudin, one of the tournament's organizers. "We alternate between Dorval for the Quebec championships each year. This year it's our turn and we get a very big turnout. We have approximately 80 players — in the high seventies somewhere — which averages out to about 10 to 12 per category.

"It's the biggest tournament of the year in terms of turnout," he added. "It has the most points counting for your ranking if you're going to the national championships, which this year are in Vancouver … A lot of these guys are going to Vancouver for the national championships which are in August."

Sydney Azancot, 52, a Saint-Laurent resident who's been playing tennis since he was five years of age, was last year's top-rated player in the 50+ category. "I am competing in all the provincial tournaments and almost all the Canadian championships also," he said. Despite his proficiency at the sport, Azancot said he never seriously considered turning professional.