THE LAST TENNIS TOURNAMENT IN LOS ANGELES BY DR. DON BROSSEAU AKA 10SCHIRO

Written by: Tennischiro on 15th July 2014

THE LAST TENNIS TOURNAMENT IN LOS ANGELES BY DR. DON BROSSEAU AKA 10SCHIRO

epa03669611 Two tennis balls drop on the water covered court while the start of the Fedcup Tennis matches between Switzerland and Australia is delayed due to heavy rain in Chiasso, Switzerland, 20 April 2013. Switzerland will face Australia in the the FedCup World Group Play-offs 20 and 21 April. EPA/KARL MATHIS |

Actually, there are no tournaments in Los Angeles anymore that afford the chance to earn ATP or WTA points. Carson is an independent incorporated city, but at least it is in Los Angeles county and we think of it as part of Los Angeles. This coming week’s (qualis start Sunday, July 13) is the USTA PLAYER DEVELOPMENT WOMEN’S $50,000 CLASSIC. Seems like a mouthful, but it doesn’t look like there is a local sponsor.

The acceptance list shows players with WTA rankings at the entry deadline from 128 (that would be Aussie Olivia Rogowska who just won Sacramento and will be moving higher, but is still just outside the top 100) to 343 (Russian Daria Gavrilova) got straight into the main draw. You will find plenty of local talent who developed in Southern California: two-time NCAA champ Nicole Gibbs, Sacramento finalist, Julia Boserup and USC former number one, Maria Sanchez. You will find at least 10 more Americans in the main draw and another 2 dozen fighting for the last spots in the draw, including former American stars like Melanie Oudin and Alexandra Stevenson.

Go to the ITF tournament site, http://www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/women%27s-tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100032270, and you will find drop down menus for the acceptance list and also the draws which should be posted shortly, if not already up. If you hit on the player’s names you will be taken right to their individual pages where you can see more details about these players. When you look at the ACTIVITY drop down menu, you will see the unbelievable itinerary these girls have to follow to earn their WTA points and climb the ladder to the main tour. You’ll also find much younger gems in that qualifying draw. To find the actual schedule of play, hit the ORDER OF PLAY drop down menu. On that one, always make sure you are looking for the right day. The schedule is up for Sunday’s qualifying matches. The “LIVE” link up above will take you to live scoring of the matches as they are under way as well as up to date daily results.

But back for just a minute to that last statement, no tournaments in Los Angeles. Actually, the Indian Wells tournament in March for men and women and the women’s event in a couple of weeks at Stanford are the only main tour WTA or ATP events within 1000 miles of Southern California. The men’s minor league circuit has 3 $10K events in Claremont, Costa Mesa and Irvine next September as well as two $15K events in Calabasas and Bakersfield last March. Then there are 3 ATP $100K Challengers in Aptos, Sacramento and Tiburon in August and September as well as one $50K event in Napa.The women had a $50K Challenger in Sacramento last week and the only reason this event is here in Carson is a devastating fire destroyed the clubhouse at the Yakima Tennis Club two months ago. This tournament will be back in Yakima next year. There was a $25K Challenger in Rancho Santa Fe in February followed up by another event the next week in Surprise, AZ. In September after the US Open, the women have a $25K Challenger in Redding, CA followed by a $75K event in Albuquerque and a $50K event in Las Vegas.

As I said, that is all the WTA and ATP pro tennis events within 1000 miles of Los Angeles. In recent years we had WTA events in Manhattan Beach (which moved regrettably to Carson) and also a long standing event in La Costa. The Pacific Southwest tournament was the forerunner of the LA tournament that was at UCLA until 2 years ago. Barry Mackay kept the Pacific Coast Championships alive as the San Jose event until it was sold last year and left this hemisphere. There used to be a major ATP event in Scottsdale that moved to Las Vegas before it died. I’ve been to major pro tournaments before the advent of the ATP tour at the Forum, the old Pan Pacific auditorium, and even the Los Angeles Memorial Sports Arena. I remember driving to Newport Beach to watch Laver play in a pro tournament there in the 60’s. My favorite was watching early round matches at the LA Tennis Club in the Pacific Southwest when I could sneak down to the good seats and hang over the railings to be close to my idols on the center court there as dusk covered the court in shadows. The pro tour always went from the US Open to the Pacific Southwest here to the Pacific Coast at the Berkeley Tennis Club up in NorCal.

And now the city of Los Angeles doesn’t have a single major tennis tournament. The best we can do is three $10K Futures and a $15K Future for the men in outlying areas (Calabasas, Claremont, Costa Mesa and Irvine). The only reason we have this single event in Carson is someone else dropped the ball and the USTA didn’t have anywhere better to put it. I ran a little backyard event in the Hamptons for 20 years on the backyard courts of three brothers. The last 15 years that I ran the event, we donated net to children’s charities over $15, 000, 000 dollars. No that is not a misprint. I can show you the 501C3’s.

Southern California is bigger than this. We love tennis. We have some great venues. I hope you will come out and support the USTA PLAYER DEVELOPMENT WOMEN’S $50,000 CLASSIC at the Home Depot Center in Carson. BTW, its’ free (except they will get you for parking.) This is summertime. If you have a young tennis player in your family, this is a great opportunity to get out and see what this game is all about. These players are great athletes and they will be playing exciting matches. If you go to Carson, you will get very close to the action. They will be playing 16 qualifying matches on Sunday and 8 more on Monday. The main draw will start on Tuesday. You’ll also be able to roam the back courts and see these players getting their practice and preparation in. Don’t miss it.

If you like to cheer for the home team, there are plenty of locals in the qualifying. Arcadia’s

own “Little Giant” , Danielle Lao who graduated from USC last year has been moving up the rankings quickly since she started playing pro events last fall. Danielle plays second after 10 on court 5. The daughter of the owner of the Studio City tennis shop, Tennis Ace, Sabrina Man-Son-Hing takes on up and coming 18 year old, Peggy Porter in the first round of qualis. Sabrina and Peggy play the first match on court 3 at 10:00 AM. La Habra is represented by 19 year old Krista Hardebeck. Krista plays first on court 2 at 10:00 AM against Sarah Stadfelt. USC’s own Zoe Scandalis is there as well. She plays the fourth match on court 5 and not before 4:00 PM against Jessica Lawrence. And those are just the Southern Cal names I recognize. So come out and see some great tennis!

PS For those of you not in Southern California, please excuse my addressing our locals. We have a large SoCal following on this site. But the plight of professional tennis in not just Southern California, but the entire western half of the country is a serious issue for the continued well being tennis as a whole.

10sChiro

to see other articles by 10sChiro, go to

https://archive.10sballs.com/category/columnists/dr-chiro/

https://archive.10sballs.com/author/don/

For more information about about lessons with TennisChiro or his videotaping and analysis service, just dial **tennispro on your cell phone. You will get a text with his email and phone number.

Topics: 10sChiro, Atp, Carson, Dr. Don Brosseau, Itf, Tennis, Tennis News, Usta, Wta

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10sBalls_com says:

July 15, 2014 at 2:41 pm

THE LAST TENNIS TOURNAMENT IN LOS ANGELES BY DR. DON BROSSEAU AKA 10SCHIRO- http://t.co/FLDsUIHukw #tennis #LosAngeles #Carson #USTA #WTA