Unranked New York Racquet & Tennis Club head rackets and real tennis professional Tim Chisholm upset his New York colleague and former World Champion Neil Smith in five games here today in the final of the US Professional Championship. The scores were 5/15, 3/15, 15/8, 15/12, 15/11.

Chisholm, 33, is ranked second in the world in real tennis. He narrowly lost a challenge match against World Champion Rob Fahey this winter seven sets to six.

Smith, 40, former head rackets professional at the New York Club was World Rackets Singles Champion in the years 1999-2001. He and Shannon Hazell were World Doubles Champions for a decade from 1992 to 2001. Smith, who lives in Pennsylvania, retired as head professional in New York a few years ago, but still comes to the Club several days a week during the season to lend a hand to his successor.

Smith won the 2003 US Open Singles defeating world number-two ranked Guy Smith-Bingham in a semifinal and the number-one ranked Harry Foster in the final.

Smith is ranked fourth in the world after Foster, Smith-Bingham, and reigning World Champion James Male.

Chisholm's victory in the US Pro at Tuxedo comes in only his third rackets competition ever -- all this season. In February, he reached the final of the Western Open where he lost to Smith. In the April US Open Harry Foster beat him in a quarterfinal.

Chisholm does not feature in the World Rackets Rankings of the top fifteen players. In New York he plays regularly with Smith, World Championship challenger Jonathan Larken, world number five, and world number seven, Guy Devereux.

The "Rankings" are a semiofficial product of the fertile brain of Mr. Tim Cockroft of KBC Peel Hunt, generous sponsors of this website and the game. Mr.Cockroft has refused to reveal to this correspondent the formula by which he derives his rankings. They are somewhat controversial. For example, the World Champion, James Male, is ranked only third. And the biggest upward move in the rankings versus last year, a staggering twenty-one places, was that by, you'll never guess whom, why, mirabile dictu, Tim Cockroft, himself!

Back to Tuxedo. Tim Chisholm, in an exclusive interview with us, conceded that he was too loose in the rallies in the first two games, hitting many balls onto the back wall which Smith killed with ease. He told us that he then moved up the court and shortened his game.

Smith led 8/4 in the fifth and final game was but was unable to close the show. Said Chisholm,"I might have been a little fitter."