Photo at left is Alex Swetka and his wife, Sally, at the March General Meeting. The following information was written by Alex Swetka in February 2010

Q: Are you a native Californian?

Alex: I was born in Clairton, PA.  Football was king.  Didn’t know what a tennis court looked like in those days.  Clairton is about fifteen miles south of Pittsburgh.  A hard-working, steel town of about twelve thousand.  Came to California just before World War II.  Worked at a gas station.  Enlisted in the Navy in November 1941.  After six years in the Navy, moved on to California in 1947.  Have been here since.

Q: When did you start the tennis shop?

Alex: I taught  5^th grade in San Francisco during the years 1958-1972.  I thought that I would like to get out of teaching and be my own boss.  I didn’t have any skills so I asked my wife what could I do.  She said you are a tennis player, lets open up a tennis shop in Mountain View.  So in 1969 we opened on Latham St. near Escuela.  We moved to our present location about ten years ago.

Q: When did you take up tennis?

Alex: I started tennis when I went to San Francisco State in 1948.  They had tennis courts on campus and I saw them and decided to take up tennis.  I remembered buying my first racket.  A ¾ heavy.  I think the seller had that racket in the shop and couldn’t sell it so I was the victim.  Played on the team, was #1 my senior year.  Didn’t know too much about tennis.  Never took a lesson.  Don’t recommend it.

I continued to play tennis after leaving S.F.State and started playing in local tournaments.  Didn’t do too well because I needed to actually learn how to play.  Played a lot at Golden Gate Park courts.  Continued playing tournaments in 35’s & 45's.  It wasn’t until I was 65 years old when I played my first National.  A National is when players from all over the U.S. play.  I've done well in the Nationals in the 65's, 70’s, 75’s, 80’s and 85’s for about 20 years now.  I've traveled all over the world playing for the U.S.T.A. on teams representing the U.S.   Those were the days.  My wife traveled with me.  My best year was 2008 winning eight gold balls.  The 90’s age group still has me having success.

Q: What is a gold ball?

 You win a gold ball, the size of a marble, when you win a National tournament.  I started late but to date I have about sixty gold balls.  I also have quite a few silver (runner up) balls.

Miscellaneous

When I was on the 65’s U.S. team, we went to Europe to play.  It was on clay.  I had never played on it, so I actually had to learn how to play on it.  A player from Sweden, who had played Davis Cup, would just crush me in the early years of the 65's.  After one of these matches, he came up to me and told me that I was a one-dimensional player and he didn’t think much of my game.  But after a few years of playing on clay, and, in my last year of the 65’s, I met him in the finals of the World Cup.  I beat him in three sets.  I kept my mouth closed.  I remember that match!  (Lots of other matches, I have forgotten).

In celebration of another overlong, self-congratulatory, but utterly fascinating Academy Awards presentation, here are three movies that feature memorable tennis scenes. Please feel free to send us emails with your own favorite tennis movie scenes or tennis scenes in other arts, history, religion, mythology, politics, science, etc. We hope to make this column interactive and fun.

Strangers on a Train (1951). Alfred Hitchcock’s adaptation of a Patricia Highsmith tale concerns a murder pact bewteen two men, one a psychopath, the other a world champion tennis player. The scene where the latter crushes his opponent as fast as he can in order to save a situation that has spun out of control is both absurdly funny and grippingly tense. Stars Robert Walker as Bruno, the psychopath, and Farley Granger as Guy, the tennis star. After this movie, you’ll never think of the word “criss-cross” in the same way again. Climactic scene at a merry-go-round is one of the Master’s best.

Blow-Up (1966). Michelangelo Antonioni’s homage to swinging sixties London charts the adventures of a photographer who stumbles onto a murder that may or may not have happened. During the film, a group of mimes simulate a tennis match that seems to have something to do with the difficulty of fully grasping reality. But forget the message and just enjoy the camerawork,  the acting, and arguably the strangest tennis scene you’ll ever see. Stars Vanessa Redgrave and David Hemmings as the photographer. And don’t miss the wild club scene with rock ‘n’ roll legends, The Yardbirds. The 1981 Brian De Palma movie Blow Out starring John Travolta is based on this classic film that sill holds up after all these years. 

The Muse (1999). A fair-to-middling Albert Brooks movie with Sharon Stone as a muse who helps such directors as Rob Reiner, James “Avatar” Cameron, and Martin Scorsese overcome their creative, moviemaking blocks. The tennis scene which occurs about an hour into the movie is hilarious. Jeff Bridges and Albert Brooks discuss how to flatter and influence a muse, while Bridges hits serve after serve into the net, frustrating Brooks who waits futilely to return one…just one.

Matchpoint (2005) A one-time tennis pro, Chris Wilton was used to falling just short in his life. But when he befriends Tom Hewett and marries his sister, Chloe, the doors are opened to the kind of money and success that Chris had once only dreamed of having. Chris should have settled for happiness, but he is torn by his attraction to Tom's impossibly beautiful and alluring fiancée, Nola. The attraction turns to an obsession that forces Chris to make a critical choice. Now everything in his life hinges on whether or not Chris falls short again--and if his luck runs out.

 Donations for the General Meeting

The following companies generously donated goods and/or services for our General Meeting on March 2.

The Ritz-Carlton, Half Moon Bay - Kevin Harrington
http://www.ritzcarlton.com/en/Properties/HalfMoonBay/Recreation/Tennis.htm
- (650) 712-7663

Mountain View Tennis - David Panconi
http://www.mountainviewtennis.net/Home.html - (650) 967-5955

Swetka's Tennis Shop
www.swetkas.com - (650) 968-8952

Andre Agassi Foundation
http://www.agassifoundation.org/

Vive Sol Restaurant
www.vivesol.biz - (650) 938-2020

Tied House Cafe & Brewery
www.tiedhouse.com - (650) 965-2739

Frankie Johnnie & Luigi Too
www.fjlmountainview.com - (650) 967-5384

Kapp's Pizza Bar & Grill
www.kappspizza.com - (650) 961-1491

Trader Joe's provided water.

Starbucks provided the coffee.