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Archives
Update on the dBI Tennis Challenger in May
Things are looking up as far as planning. Having dBI as the title sponsor makes a big difference, as far as planning at this stage. We are making good progress with resurfacing the courts, might have the US Open Series blue painted on them. Not a big deal, but refreshing. We are also looking into alternatives for the bleachers. We are continually making new relationships with sponsors. That being said, we've got some great opportunity in front of us but we could use some more help. Contact us to volunteer and help us go forward with the event. There are lots of great ideas out there, but often we can't act on them due to priorities and limited resources. Also, not too early for ball kids (call 748-4231).
Local tennis scene is getting ready to kick into the busy season. High School boys tennis is in full bloom as familiar names try to take the next step... a tough one. Ryan Kovaleski (of Windsor) completed an undefeated regular season... Tim Klee (of ESS) is the top seed of Section 4 class A. The usual tournaments getting lined up, USTA leagues shuffling team members, and even talks of new youth and box leagues. Need some lights though! (Its on our list)
The clay season is started at the pro level. Nothing like the uniqueness of the red dirt matches... that show significantly different characteristics of players. Early bird injuries that just can't take the extra-pounding and early bird exits that just can't take the adjustment. Thank goodness for the Tennis Channel and its clay season.
Phillip Simmonds would be the big headline so far on the clay, winning the clay challenger in Mexico. Recall he made the 2nd round of qualifying last year in Binghamton. Rik De Voest and Alejandro Falla have also posted recent Challenger wins.
Andy Murray has news beyond the surface... he and well-liked coach Mark Pechey have split ways on "a difference of opinions". Would be interesting to hear Mark's perspective. This, a critical time of year, a month after Murray won his first title in San Jose beating Roddick and Hewitt. Since that title, Murray has been in a bit of a lull... 1st round exits in 3 out of 4 tournaments, winning 2 out of his last 8 matches... albeit, all at the top level. An interesting crossroads for his career.
Dmitry Tursunov has also posted a recent headline. Our top seed in 2004 (and best ever ranked player, at the time of playing Binghamton), won yet another 5 set thriller. This time it was Davis Cup, Tursunov clinched the tie for Russia, beating Richard Gasquet of France. Dmitry has done extremely well in 5 setters, with only one loss when going the distance, to Grosjean last year in Wimbledon. He also had a pretty popular week on the ATP website for his "blog" during a week in Portugal.
Here's looking to the French, enjoy the dirtball! Qualifying has TV coverage this year (although, not in the US), good idea. Plenty of good close matches in qualifying. We'll likely see plenty of our guys from last year making their way through qualifying and even in the main draw.
