Kenneth Guendel

Kenneth Alan Guendel, 55, of Keedysville, Maryland died on Tuesday, May 25, 2010 at his home.

Ken was a lifelong tennis professional, USPTR and USTA member.  He worked over 22 years at the Aspen Hill Club in Silver Spring, Md., most recently as Director of Junior Tennis.  He was the recent recipient of the MATEF Courage Award and the 2008 USTA/Mid-Atlantic Lifetime Service Award.Ken was the Montgomery County Tennis Association Board Member of the Year in 2006, as well as the first annual USTA Maryland Teaching Pro of the Year in 2003. He was nationally ranked in Men's 40's singles, was a member of the USTA/MAS Talbert Cup Team, twice a Bronze Ball recipient  at the USTA National 45 Grasscourt Doubles, Philadelphia, PA with partner Claude England. He was also a member of the USTA/MAS Atlantic Coast Cup Team (45’s).

Ken loved writing both and professionally. He interviewed numerous tennis professionals on tour as well as his family members. Ken published many articles in Tennis Pro Magazine, Mid-Atlantic Matchpoint Magazine, USPTR Magazine, Tennis Week and Racquet magazines. He also had a successful tennis print ad campaign example published in Mid-Atlantic in 1999.

Throughout his career Ken was a speaker at many conferences including the 1998 USTA National Tennis Teachers Conference, the USPTR International Tennis Symposium and the 1998 USPTR Mid-Atlantic Tennis Symposium. In 1997 he was a speaker at the USPTR New England Tennis Symposium, and the USPTR Drills and Skills Workshops.

In the early nineties, Ken was a member of the Washington D.C. 35's Cup Team and the Assistant Coach then the Head Coach for the USTA Player Development Program (ATC).

Ken was highly active in the Wheelchair Tennis Community. From 1991-1993 he was a member of the Board of Directors, for the Nations Capitol Wheelchair Tennis Association. From 1990 to 1993 he was the Tournament Director for the Nations Capitol Wheelchair Tennis Classic. Ken also coached many Wheelchair players throughout his career, including the US Wheelchair Team, Swiss Open Championships, Geneva in 1991, which included his good friend, Ryan Martin, 1991 World A Division # 1, US Olympic Festival Champion, 1993 Maccabiah Games Gold Medal. Ken also volunteered his time at Walter Reed Medical Center in Washington D.C. as recent as 2009 teaching injured soldiers tennis.

Before moving to Maryland, Ken, a Long Island, New York native, was a Tennis Pro at Central Park Tennis Courts, Crosstown Tennis Club, and he was the Head Tennis Pro at Tower Tennis Club, all in New York City. In Hewlett Harbor, New York he was the Head Tennis Pro at Seawane Country Club. He also was the Sales and Operations Assistant, Avon Tennis Championship at Madison Square Garden.

Ken was the  Head Junior Tennis Coach at the Guayaquil Tennis Club, in Guayaquil, Ecuador, fulfilling an eight month contract for Dennis Van der Meer, after he attended the Dennis Van der Meer Tennis Academy. He also was recognized in 1982 for the Guayaquil Tennis Club’s junior program in the national sports magazine ESTADIO, 12/82 in the cover story.

Ken also lived in Virginia Beach, Virginia where he was a Tennis Pro at the Owl Creek Tennis Center and he was the Head Tennis Pro at Tidewater Jewish Community Center in Norfolk, Virginia where he founded, published and edited The Tidewater Tennis Guid e . He produced this annual publication which listed all local facilities and received national recognition for his work in the USTA publication, NETWORD in 1980.

Aside from his many impressive and coveted accomplishments in the professional tennis world, Ken was a loving, caring and amazing person. His hobbies included: drawing, woodblock carving, gardening, golf, bird watching, fishing, scrabble and many other board games, reading especially Aldous Huxley and Sherlock Holmes novels. He enjoyed playing tennis with his children as well as taking them shopping and out for ice cream. Many found memories were had at the "Broken Bridge" a river by his house in Laurel, Maryland.

He is survived by his wife of 27 years, Lydia Aleshin; his children, Alexandra, Larissa and Serge Aleshin-Guendel; his mother, Janet (Fryba) Guendel; and his sisters, Deborah Boyce, Marci Guendel, Alison Redding, Cynthia Clark and their families.The family will receive friends on Thursday, May 27 from 7 - 9 p.m. and on Friday, May 28 from     2 - 4 and 7 - 9 p.m. at Bast-Stauffer Funeral Home, 7606 Old National Pike, Boonsboro, Md. The family will also receive friends on Saturday, May 29 from 1 - 2 p.m. with a funeral service to be held at 2 p.m. at the Orthodox Church of St. Matthew, 7271 Eden Brook Drive, Columbia, Md.  The V. Rev. Dennis Buck and The V. Rev. Raymond Velencia will officiate.  Interment will follow at Fairview Cemetery in Keedysville, Maryland.