DECEMBER '07: Wendell To Be Inducted Into the African American Ethnic Sports Hall of Fame

DECEMBER '07: 2007 Diversity Community Icon Award Winner!

JUNE '07: USTA National Indoor Mens 50 Doubles

Wendell and his partner, Ross Persons, battled against Ross's pinched nerve to take the National Indoor Mens 50 Doubles title in Portland, Oregon, in June of '07 (4-6, 7-6, 6-2). Ross's injury caused him to fall down several times during the match, but he refused to quit, and the first-time partners prevailed.

APRIL '06: The 2006 Fred Perry Cup took place April 17-22 in Pietermaritzburg, South Africa. The USA won, defeating France in the final. The doubles team of Wendell Pierce and Angel Lopez was undefeated.

Fred Perry remains the man against whom all British tennis achievements are judged. He was the last Briton to win the Men's Singles Championship at Wimbledon - where he was champion in 1934, 1935 and 1936. He won the US Singles Championship three times, and the French and Australian Championships. He also won 45 of 52 Davis Cup matches and played on the winning British teams of 1933, 1934, 1935 and 1936.

US WINS FRED PERRY CUP

On Wednesday, April 12, Wendell left Oakland for South Africa, having been selected to play in the Fred Perry Cup team competition. He flew to Johannesburg via Atlanta arriving on Friday, April 14. Another flight took him to Durban where the team was transported to their hotel, the Golden Horse Casino, Pietermaritzburg. The tennis club was a five minute shuttle bus ride away.

The Fred Perry Cup team competition started on Monday, April 17, with 15 teams divided up into four groups. The US was grouped with Italy, Slovenia and Austria; each match consisted of 2 singles and 1 doubles. The US won their division, defeating Italy 2-1 (Wendell was victorious in his doubles match), Slovenia 3-0 (Wendell defeated both his singles and doubles opponents) and Austria 3-0 (this time Wendell acted as coach for the team). In the semifinals against Spain, the US again won 3-0. In the finals on Friday, April 21, the US triumphed over France, 3-0 with Wendell playing in the doubles. On Saturday, April 22, the team returned to Durban for a free weekend.

THE WORLD CHAMPIONSHIPS

The World Championships commenced on Monday, April 23, Wendell played in both singles and doubles events. His opponent in the first round was Andre Erasmus from South Africa and after three sets 6-2, 4-6, 6-1 he went on to defeat Rodney Wutz (14) of Australia 6-4, 6-4 in the second round. In the third round he swiftly disposed of Thomas Emmrich (8) of Germany 6-1, 6-3. Advancing into the quarterfinals Wendell met the number one seed, Trebor Allan of France and sadly, he was defeated 6-1, 6-3. In the doubles event Wendell teamed up with Steve Yeswick from Canada. In the first round they defeated Gavin Sklar-Chik and Barry Snow from South Africa 6-4, 6-1 taking them straight into the quarterfinals where they met Trebor Allan and Marc Renoult (2) and here the competition ended for them when they were beaten 6-3, 6-4.

Congratulations to Wendell for finishing in the top 8 in the World in both the singles and the doubles and CCRC should count itself fortunate to have such a successful Pro.