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1961 Local Tournament - 13 August

Men's singles: Makram Alamedddine d Raymond Anid 61 79 60; Jo Jabbour d Francis Samuel 46 62 75; Youssef Zeydane d N Kobeyssi 108 1311; Edouard Samuel d Jo Homsy 62 62;

¼ f : Karim Fawaz d Alameddine 61 61; Y Zeydane d Jabbour 16 63 63; E Samuel d Sami Sawaya 63 60; Christian Duverneuil d Paul Caramé 62 64; ½ f : E Samuel d Y Zeydane 64 64 64; K Fawaz d C Duverneuil 46 75 46 62 64; Final : K Fawaz d E Samuel 36 63 26 61 61;

Men's doubles ½ f : Zeydane-Caramé d Jabbour Duverneuil 26 62 97 86; F =

1961 International Tournament - August 28.

Men's singles = R Krishnan d Christian Duverneuil (Fr) 61 61; John Newcombe (Australia) d Alberto Arilla (Sp) 63 57 64 ; Fred Stolle (Australia) d Jaidip Mukerjea (India) 75 64; Ivo Pimentel d Badreddine el Sayyed (Eg) 36 75 61; M Santana (Sp) d Makram Alameddine (Leb) 62 62 ; J E Mandarino (Brazil) d Akbar Ali (India) 46 64 75; Ken Fletcher (Australia) d Eduardo Soriano (Arg) 60 75; Bob Hewitt (Australia) d Hassan (Eg) 63 86;

¼ f : Ramanathan Krishnan (India) d Ken Fletcher (Australia) 64 63; Fred Stolle (Australia) d Ivo Pimentel 63 64; Manuel Santana (Spain) d John Newcombe (Australia) 64 64; Jose Edison Mandarino (Brazil) d Robert Hewitt (Australia) 75 64;

½ f : Stolle d Krishnan 911 63 68 63 63 Santana d Mandarino 62 61 62

Final : Manuel Santana d Fred Stolle 63 810 16 63 63

Men's doubles Final : Hewitt-Stolle d Newcombe-Fletcher 97 64 36 63

Ladies singles : C Coronado (Sp) d Mounira Zeydane (Leb); A Stupp d Suzan Butt (Canada); P Balling d Birgit Marten (Sp); Doris Schuster d Robin Blakelock (GB) ; ½ f : Balling d Stupp; Coronado d Schuster;

Final : Carmen Coronado (Spain) d Pia Balling (Denmark) 62 61

Mixed doubles f : C Coronado-Mandarino d D Schuster-J Newcombe

Santana was the 1961 Roland Garros reigning champion, a title he will conquer again in 1964, and will later in his career reach the top of the world rankings in 1966 after winning Wimbledon. He was a graceful clay court touch player who will also magically secure the title at Forest Hills in 1965, and of course Wimbledon in 1966.

Stolle won Roland Garros in 1965 and the US title in 1966 in Forest-Hills , New York, succeeding to Santana who had won in 1965.Stolle lost 3 consecutive finals at Wimbledon (1963-64-65).He became world no 2 (or 4) in 1964 and no 3 in 1965, then reached the top in 1966 when he held the no 1 or 2 world ranking.

John Newcombe, barely 17 years of age, lost his ¼ final to Santana, which meant that the future 1966 Wimbledon champion beat the future 1967 champion (and 1970-1971) on the courts of the High School. Newcombe, his career astride the amateur and Open eras, will go on to win so many major singles and doubles championships, and be amateur no 1 in 1967, but also Open World no 1 in 1970 , 1971 and part of 1973 (the beginning of the ATP computerized rankings)

The men's final of Brummana 1961 was delayed for two hours as both Santana and Stolle had to recover from the "tourista" they got whilst wining (arak ?) and dining at the Park hotel of Brummana.

The Men's doubles final of Brummana grouped 4 Australian players who will eventually total 38 Grand Slam tournaments doubles titles, together mostly. In singles, Newcombe will be world no 1 in both amateur and Open years, = 1967, 1970 and 1971, winning Wimbledon 3 times, the US Open twice , the Australian twice, nothwithstanding his excellent Davis Cup record.

One week earlier, in Istanbul, Turkey, Fred Stolle beat Manuel Santana 62 63 63 ! Then Stolle lost the ½ to Ken Fletcher who in turn lost the final to Bob Hewitt. One week after Brummana, in Athens, Greece, Stolle beat Santana again 63 46 63 62, only to lose the final to Bob Hewitt. In the Ladies singles, Robin Blakelock had won the title over Doris Schuster 57 63 61.

Ken Fletcher, who never fulfilled his potential in singles, despite his devastating forehand drive, will nevertheless turn out to be a great mixed doubles player, winning 10 mixed Slam titles, all with the All-time great Margaret Smith-Court, and 2 men's doubles titles. He will also beat Howe and Stolle to reach the Australian championships singles final in 1963, losing to Emerson.

Bob Hewitt , of the famed return of serve, (and the tempers !) will later win ALL 4 Grand Slam titles in Men's doubles and Mixed doubles, in amateur and in Open times.

Carmen Coronado ended up marrying Ed Mandarino. Mandarino's win over Hewitt was a major upset by all standards, and showed that the Brazilian's skills on clay were higher than elsewhere, and he will return to Brummana with increasingly good results, eventually winning the title in 1968 and losing the 1969 final to that same Hewitt !