Landings Hosts USTA Jr. Regional Florida Open

The biggest junior event in Southwest Florida is set to begin this Saturday at the Landings Yacht, Golf, & Tennis Club in Fort Myers.  Top level juniors from all over the country will descend on the Landings to compete in the Florida Open, a USTA Regional Tournament Segment, which was formerly a National event.

Approximately 250 players from 21 states and Puerto Rico will be contesting Boys’ and Girls’ 16s and 18s Divisions from Saturday July 7 through Tuesday July 10. For years the Florida Open has been a tennis highlight of the summer in Fort Myers, utilizing up to nine different sites to host matches and provide practice courts for tournament participants. This time around there will be seven sites, including: Landings, Breckenridge, Colonial, Gulf Harbour, Heritage Palms, Lexington, and Pelican Preserve. Cypress Lake will assist with practice courts.

Parker Woodall

Local area players in the Boys’ 18s include: Parker Cuevas-Woodall and Josh Wardell of Fort Myers; and Jack Haffey, Oliver Landert, Alex Sweet, and Jorge Vargas of Naples. Cuevas-Woodall is the News-Press High School Player of the Year, and Wardell is USTA Florida’s fifth-ranked player in the Boys’ 18s. In the Boys’ 16s Brandon Wortkotter of Fort Myers; and Jack Flagg, Alan Sweet, William Shisler, and Alejandro Vargas of Naples are scheduled to play.

Thandiwe Kangwa- Photo
Courtesy of
Lindsay Terry-News Press

In Girls’ 18s, Vivienne David, Hailey Grillo, Mary Haffey, Nikki Kallenberg, and Anastasia Kondrasov of Naples are scheduled to play. Kallenberg is No.15 and David is No.20 on USTA Florida’s latest Tentative Ranking List. Ja’Cara Gillis, Thandiwe Kangwa, Rebecca Morse, Chandler Novoa, and Sydney Nowak of Fort Myers are vying for the Girls’ 16s title.

If you are interested in the history of the event, click here. To access the draws (available Thursday the 5th) and starting times, click here. For additional tourney info check out the Florida Open website. Hope to see you out there. Game, set, match...T. A.