{"id":456103,"date":"2026-02-08T09:23:33","date_gmt":"2026-02-08T09:23:33","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/456103\/"},"modified":"2026-02-08T09:23:33","modified_gmt":"2026-02-08T09:23:33","slug":"green-family-celebrates-tennis-tournaments-50th-anniversary","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/456103\/","title":{"rendered":"Green family celebrates tennis tournament’s 50th anniversary"},"content":{"rendered":"

It was parent against child, husband versus wife, cousin creaming cousin. But before things went south with pop, whack and thwap, a poem was read. <\/p>\n

\u201cWho would win? Who would lose?\u201d Ellen Rosenzweig, 68, the poem\u2019s author, read to dozens of family members. \u201cYou\u2019d think it wouldn\u2019t matter. But not to this competitive family, for the losers would simply be shattered.\u201d <\/p>\n

So began the 50th anniversary of the Green Family Tennis Tournament, held at Jericho-Westbury Indoor Tennis on Jan. 24. <\/p>\n

Since 1976, the annual tournament has been equal parts competition and reunion. Whether players could swing a racket or not \u2014 participation was once mandatory \u2014 the score was always love-love. In-laws and distant relatives are simply called cousins, uncles or aunts. Nonplayers catch up with each other in the spectator area, and the day ends with a post-tournament dinner, hosted by a family member with a big dining room. <\/p>\n

After dessert, the two winners are announced. Their names are later added to the tournament trophy, which each champion keeps at home for six months. <\/p>\n

For the anniversary, players wore commemorative T-shirts of the family tree\u00a0featuring three Green siblings whose descendants now span four generations \u2014 82 family members so far. Underneath that shirt, several wore the 25th anniversary T-shirt. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe are a family of traditions and doing things together,\u201d said David Green, 61, of Old Bethpage, a retired commercial real estate broker. \u201cIt\u2019s the commitment to the continuity of our family values.\u201d <\/p>\n

A SPECIAL MOMENT \"A<\/p>\n

A group photo of the family, who played the doubles tennis tournament at Jericho-Westbury Indoor Tennis on Jan. 24. Winners get their names added to the trophy. Credit: Howard Simmons<\/p>\n

During the 50th gathering, there was an almost unnoticed moment worthy of a Wimbledon highlight reel. <\/p>\n

As youngsters ran and the adults gabbed around them, Stephen Green, 89, \u2014 the tournament\u2019s founder and the last surviving member of his generation \u2014 held hands with Avery Bromberg, 14, an eighth grader from Bellmore. She\u2019s the first member of the fourth generation to compete, and, like other Green descendants, had dreamed about finally being old enough to do so. <\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m so excited to play this year,\u201d Bromberg recalled telling her \u201cUncle Steve,\u201d who then replied, \u201cI\u2019m so excited for you to carry on this tradition.\u201d <\/p>\n

No one ever thought the family would still be playing five decades later, least of all Stephen Green: \u201cThat\u2019s like a dream world,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Perhaps the highlight of the 50th matches was when Adam Green, 61, known for his killer instinct, careened into the next court and onto a bench there as he chased the ball. <\/p>\n

His fellow family members didn\u2019t mind the interruption. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe see friends and neighbors that share stories of animosity and trouble at family get-togethers,\u201d said Adam of Commack, a retired nuts and dried fruit importer. \u201cWe don\u2019t have any of that. We enjoy each other\u2019s company. We laugh like crazy together. The fact that we happen to have a love of tennis is just a side note.\u201d<\/p>\n

THE MAN BEHIND THE TOURNEY \"Jennifer<\/p>\n

Jennifer Green-Kravitz and her uncle, Stanley Green, during the 1976 tournament Credit: Green Family <\/p>\n

A fierce competitor by nature, Stephen Green was known as a lover of many games, from Monopoly contests in high school to bridge tournaments later in life. <\/p>\n

After taking over his father\u2019s dress manufacturing company in Manhattan\u2019s Garment District in the early 1960s, which he said he hated, he started thinking of how to combine family time with tennis time. <\/p>\n

The tournament was embraced by his siblings and their spouses, Stanley and Arline Green and Bette and Jerry Klaif. <\/p>\n

\u201cIt really seemed natural because we had a big family that was very close, and we all loved to play tennis,\u201d he said. <\/p>\n

Stephen Green, a meticulous planner, drafted the doubles tournament bylaws. He made himself and Stanley lifetime members of the board of directors. Only descendants of his parents, Murray and Dora Green, and their spouses could participate. Players had to be at least 15, unless, like Bromberg, they showed \u201cexceptional ability and maturity.\u201d No one living under the same roof could be paired together. <\/p>\n

Green said he wanted everyone in the family to win at some point, so for years, he ranked the players and paired the weak with the strong. Some feigned injury to be paired with a skilled player. Others said they weren\u2019t feeling well. <\/p>\n

\u201cPeople will do anything sometimes to get their names on the trophy because they\u2019d go 20 years and never see their name on the trophy,\u201d Stephen Green said. He then confessed for the first time, without naming names: \u201cI may have bent the rules a little bit to help the people who deserve to be on the trophy, but they didn\u2019t make it legitimately.\u201d <\/p>\n

One never did. His sister, Bette, was considered one of the family\u2019s best athletes, but she died of cancer without claiming the title. When she was diagnosed, Green created the Lifetime Achievement Award in 1990 for her and she passed away shortly afterward. \u201cShe was probably the best athlete of the whole group,\u201d her brother said. <\/p>\n

EVOLVING RULES \"Adam<\/p>\n

Adam Green, a perennial winner of the tournament, on Jan. 24. Credit: Howard Simmons<\/p>\n

Rules have loosened over the years, but one issue remains disputed \u2014 whether family members are mandated to play during their teen years. <\/p>\n

Katie Sussman, 40, a special education teacher from Great Neck, recalled having a \u201ccrying fit\u201d in the ninth grade because she had to play at the tournament and miss a party. <\/p>\n

\u201cI was the only one who didn\u2019t like tennis,\u201d she recalled. <\/p>\n

In college, Sussman rebelled. \u201cThe first year I didn\u2019t do it. I was the only one in my generation who didn\u2019t do it,\u201d she said. \u201cThe next year, people started dropping like flies. They said, \u2018Oh, if it\u2019s not mandatory, I\u2019m not going to do it.\u2019 \u201d <\/p>\n

When Newsday wrote about the event\u2019s 25th anniversary, with a photo of her father, Larry Rosenzweig, the teenage Katie was mortified about the family tradition: \u201cI thought we were like the \u2018Brady Bunch.\u2019 Now I think it\u2019s cute,\u201d she said. <\/p>\n

In 2005, the family shifted to a round-robin format to avoid predictable outcomes dominated by perennial winners like Adam Green, known for his powerful shots. <\/p>\n

\u201cThere are some very exciting matches that are high-level play,\u201d Sussman said. \u201cThere\u2019s some exciting matches of much less accomplished players, but just the fact they\u2019re playing together is very nice. There\u2019s a Jewish term called \u2018kvelling.\u2019 It means feeling good about something. Everybody is just enjoying the fact that there\u2019s a sweet foursome of kids out there.\u201d <\/p>\n

THE PENTATHLON \"Tournament<\/p>\n

Tournament founder Stephen Green, 89, in plaid shirt, listens with others as Ellen Rosenzweig reads a poem she wrote about the competition at the beginning of festivities. Listening, from left,\u00a0Stephen’s nephew Steve Sandler,\u00a0and grandchildren Dana Kravitz\u00a0and\u00a0Gabriel Green.\u00a0 Credit: Howard Simmons<\/p>\n

The tournament is not the only tradition that\u2019s a family hit. <\/p>\n

Stephen Green was batting a thousand when he, with the help of family members, mounted their very own Olympics a few years after starting the tennis tradition. <\/p>\n

They called it the Pentathlon. <\/p>\n

For a single day every two summers, teams of family members competed in various games at Stanley and Arline\u2019s 2-acre home in Muttontown, complete with tennis court and swimming pool. Croquet on the lawn. Table tennis at the house. Swimming. Relay races. Darts on a bull\u2019s-eye board hung between the house\u2019s cedar shingles. Basketball throws in front of the garage. Badminton at the tennis court. Horseshoes over a sandbox. <\/p>\n

Just like the Olympics, they\u2019d have a parade during the opening ceremony. Stephen Green and several other family members would interview players and comment as sportscasters during The Games, with jokes at players\u2019 expense. <\/p>\n

The Games ended in 2012, but the stories live on. <\/p>\n

Like the time Stephen Green tried to win a kayak race \u2014 actually on inflated rafts in the swimming pool \u2014 but when he put one foot into the raft, he plunged into the water. <\/p>\n

FAMILY LORE \"Layne<\/p>\n

Layne Sussman awaits her tournament. Most family members don\u2019t compete until they are 15. Credit: Howard Simmons<\/p>\n

It\u2019s the memories that make the tradition dear, not the tennis or games, which are just a side note for the Green gang as they laugh and reminisce. <\/p>\n

In an oft-told story, all-around good athlete Peter Kravitz secretly trained for tennis glory. And one year a nine-month pregnant Linda Sussman won the tournament because under the rules, she got a strong partner. <\/p>\n

\u201cPutting these things together takes a lot of time and effort and coordination,\u201d Linda Sussman noted. \u201cIt exemplifies how much we love each other and how strongly we feel the bond to keep the family together. Outsiders might think it\u2019s a little wacky and zany. For us, it exemplifies the very best of what a family can be.\u201d<\/p>\n

Correction: A previous version of this story misidentified Jerry Klaif and Larry Rosenzweig.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"It was parent against child, husband versus wife, cousin creaming cousin. But before things went south with pop,…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":456104,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[72],"tags":[3006,109548,99,129231,428,109549],"class_list":["post-456103","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-tennis","tag-family","tag-lilife","tag-sports","tag-sports-and-fitness","tag-tennis","tag-togetherli"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456103","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=456103"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/456103\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/456104"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=456103"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=456103"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=456103"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}