Decatur Tennis Twins Lead Team USA

BERLIN- Two former Stephen Decatur High School tennis standouts, twins Chris and Greg Zielinski, class of 1998, have continued to succeed on the court and off, leading Team USA to victory in an international tennis tournament in Amsterdam.

The Zielinski twins, now both captains and C-17 pilots in the U.S. Air Force, went 4-0 in doubles competition at the Component Command Ramstein Air Force International Tennis Tournament in Amsterdam on September 9-12. The 1998 Decatur grads hold seven high school state championships between them along with numerous Maryland and Delaware junior championships.

Upon graduation from Decatur, both entered the U.S. Air Force Academy where they continued their tennis careers. Each lettered all four years at Air Force and were both named All-Mountain West Conference in their junior and senior years. Chris and Greg Zielinski are now captains in the U.S. Air Force and are C-17 pilots stationed at McGuire Air Force Base in New Jersey.

At the international air force tournament last month, the Zielinski’s competed as doubles and swept four matches to help Team USA win the competition over a field that included teams from the UK, Belgium, Germany, Poland, and the Netherlands.

During an early round loss to Belgium, the Zielinksi brothers won the only match for Team USA, which was enough to advance the Americans in the tournament. The twins then swept their next three matches against the UK, the Netherlands and Poland as Team USA came away with the championship.