UPCOMING TENNIS EVENTS IN GREATER FORT MYERS-NAPLES

There's a lot coming up folks, and it starts tomorrow! I'm sure there must be more out there, but this is what I've got for now. In chronological order, events coming up include:

Wednesday & Saturday Dec. 18 & 21

Mediterra Events

Mike Baldwin

New Director of Tennis Mike Baldwin, whom you may know as the Chairperson of the USPTA Grand Prix, is firing up the tennis at Mediterra. This coming Wednesday, Mediterra, an award winning tennis facility, will be hosting the Naples Pro League. Similar to the extremely popular Southwest Florida Pro League, the top Collier County pros will be competing for “pride and prize money,” according to Mike. Pro League matches will begin at 5pm and 6:30pm, and food and drinks will be available on site for spectators.

Alejandro Falla

As good as the local pros are, I suspect that the pros Mike has coming in for the ATP Pro Exhibition on Saturday, December 21 (next Saturday!), among the top hundred in the world in singles and doubles, will provide a different level of tennis entertainment. Among the pros that will be on hand are Santiago Giraldo (No.69 in singles), Alejandro Falla (No.99 in singles, and with ties to local community), Juan-Sebastian Cabal (No.44 in doubles), Robert Farah (No.48 in doubles), and others.

I hate to give up lessons, but how could I possibly miss this! Action begins at 10:30am and ends at noon. Gale wanna go watch the pros is Naples? How about you Lil? This really is a can’t-miss opportunity, so hope to see you there. You can find out more by calling 239-254-3039.

Friday, Jan. 3

Southwest Florida Team Tennis (SWFTT)

Armor Persons & T. A. down
Pat Glaunert & Oliver Stenger in SWFTT match

With 10 teams in its second year of play, the Southwest Florida Team Tennis League (SWFTT) is in full swing, with its next match on Friday, January 3, 2014. Last season’s Inaugural Champs, Beachview, has the early season lead with 15 points; The Strand is second with 13 points and The Hideaway sits in third with 12. Click here for everything SWFTT, including Team Rosters, Standings, Schedule, etc. Roster spots are still open for players rated 4.0 and above. Call (239-671-5646) or email (flatsfishr@aol.com) Blake Matherly for more info.

Tuesday - Sunday, Jan. 7 - 12

Super Seniors Coming to SW Florida

Jeff Timmer

The Annual West Coast Swing of the USTA Florida Super Senior Grand Prix is just about around the corner, and this old man is going to make his super senior debut at the West Coast Super Senior Grand Prix at Colonial (Designated), January 7 - 12. Director of Tennis Jeff Timmer, his staff and the members at Colonial will host the initial Grand Prix event for the eighth consecutive year.

Steve Shortridge

Colonial’s own Steve Shortridge posted a big win last year in the opening tourney, winning the 60 Singles event. Pelican Preserve’s Bob Green also had a good run, making it to the Final before falling to Steve in straight sets. We hope that Fred Drilling, the top-ranked player in USTA Florida’s Men’s 70 Singles ranking, who reached the final of all five Grand Prix events he played last season, winning two, will seek to defend his Colonial win next month.

In all, there are seven Super Senior Grand Prix events scheduled for Southwest Florida. Tournaments will be played in Fort Myers, Naples, Sarasota and St. Pete. I’ll see what condition I’m in after the first and go from there.

Friday, Jan. 10

Southwest Florida Pro League (SWFPL)
Your favorite local pros swing back into action in the SWFPL at Heritage Palms the second week of January. After four regular season events, the standings are ProGraphx in the lead with 25 points, Boston Retirement Advisors with 23, Harborside Dental with 20, and Johnny Malloy’s with 17.5. 

Paul D'Amico

Paul D'Amico (Director of Tennis) and his staff at The Landings did a terrific job as usual at the last stop of 2013, on Friday the 13th, and I expect Mike and Carolyn at Heritage Palms will do the same in the first matches of 2014. Matches usually start at 4pm and 5:30pm, but there’s no definitive schedule to report yet.

Sunday, Jan. 12

The Landings Event

Kimberly Jones & Paul D'Amico

Speaking of Paul D'Amico and his staff, as they have done since his arrival at The Landings two years ago, Paul D’Amico, Director of Tennis, continues to bring quality events to our community. In conjunction with the Landings Tennis Association’s 2014 kickoff tennis event, The Landings will host a Babolat-sponsored exhibition featuring four former Wimbledon participants, including a Wimbledon Champ!

Russell & Gourlay defeat Navratilova & Stove
in Final at Wimbledon in 1977

Joanne Russell, Wimbledon Doubles Champion with Helen Gourlay in 1977, and a former WTA top-25 player, will join The Landings own Kimberly Jones, another former WTA top-25 and Wimbledon participant, as the second woman on court. 

Mikael Pernfors

Michael Pernfors, a former ATP top-10 player, French Open Finalist and two-time NCAA Champion; and Tobias Svantesson, who reached as high No.64 in doubles and No.89 in singles on the ATP Tour, will complete the foursome. 

I had the pleasure of playing doubles with Tobias in the Florida Cup a few years ago, and he was still good enough to carry me, so you don’t want to miss this event. The exhibition will be from 1 - 2:30pm, and I hope to see you there.

Friday - Sunday, Jan. 17 -19

Three Oaks Illini Shootout

Pat Glaunert

Two other key additions to our tennis community, Pat Glaunert (Director of tennis) and Angie Guillette (Director of Events & Programming) are up to their usual tricks, bringing another mega event to the Barbara Manzo Tennis Center at Three Oaks Park, January 17-20. 

Angie Guillette

The Fighting Illini Invitational, featuring men’s tennis teams from the University of Illinois, University of South Florida, and University of Florida, will be another tremendous opportunity for our community to participate in an inspirational tennis event.

Coach Brad Dancer

In addition to terrific tennis, the University of Illinois Men’s Head Tennis Coach Brad Dancer, has donated a one-hour private lesson to be taken during this time. In addition, the University of Illinois Men’s Team will donate a ninety-minute "play Division I college tennis" session with one local participant and three Illini team members. These donations are for an auction to help raise money for the tornado victims in Washington, Illinois, about an hour away from the team’s campus. Stay tuned for more details about the auction as the event grows closer.

Miscellaneous

These last two tidbits don't have anything to do with upcoming events, but I wanted to get them in. 

USTA Mixed Champs

Andy Rundle & Terri Destoppelaire

I had intended to mention a while back that we had some repeat champions in our midst, as Terri Destoppelaire and Andy Rundle defended their NTRP State Closed 7.5 Mixed Doubles title in Boca Raton in late October. Congrats are definitely in order! Sorry I was late in acknowledging the accomplishment folks.

Voodoo Justice

And last and maybe even least, I got an email from the creator of the video below, asking if it was in poor taste. I’d love to let him know what you think. Check it out and make a comment on the blog or send me an email with your opinion
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OqF9dbbMa3s. Game, set, match...T. A.

THE HIDEAWAY TENNIS UPDATE

Hideaway Ladies Team Update

3.0 Team

The Hideaway 3.0 team has won two and split two of the seven matches played thus far, but with a shutout loss in its last match against third-place Gulf Harbour Racquettes, the team fell to No.17 of 22 teams in the League.  

Our 3.0 ladies did post a 3 courts to 1 victory over 11^th-place Lexington in their previous match and won three of four courts against 8^th-place Pelican Landing earlier in the season, so their current standing may be a bit deceiving. I’m looking for our 3.0 team to climb into the top 10 by season’s end. Our next 3.0 home match is tomorrow, December 2^nd at 10:30am. Click here for LCWTL team standings.

Bronze Team

Our Bronze ladies are sitting at No.14 of 21 teams in the League, after a shutout loss in their last match against Pelican Preserve, the top team in the Division. 

Despite losing all of the courts, it was encouraging, because three of the matches included tiebreak sets, including one that Pat Ben-Dov and Reggie Miskovish lost 6-4, 5-7, 5-10 on Court 2. 

The team also took three courts from 8^th-place Lexington Supershots and 9^th-place Legends in recent matches. Our Bronze team should rise in the rankings as well as the season progresses. Our Bronze team plays next at home against Colonial on Wednesday December 11^th, at 10:30am.

Copper Team

Our Copper team is also far down the leaderboard at No.19 of 22 teams, but are making a run, posting more points than its last two opponents. In their last match against 8^th-place Pelican Sound, our 

Copper ladies took 15 of 26 available points, and in their previous match, they won three of four courts against FMRC, which sits one spot ahead of The Hideaway.  With the next match against last-place Fiddlesticks, our Copper ladies are poised to continue moving up the ladder. The next Copper home match will be Friday, January 3^rd at 10:30am.

Hideaway Men’s Team Update 

SWFTT

The Hideaway’s Southwest Florida Team Tennis team led by Mike Stern will be playing home matches the next two Fridays (6^th & 13^th) at 2pm. In addition to Mike, 

three USPTA professionals Armor Persons, Larry Gagnon, and yours truly are also on the team. The pros are questionable for the next two matches because the Southwest Pro League will also be played on those days.

WATCHING THE ACTION

After three matches, The Hideaway sits in a four-way tie for 6^th, despite splitting the four matches with second-place Strand. The two upcoming matches are against The 

ATTENTIVE SPECTATORS

Vines on December 6^th, and against Miromar on the 13^th, both at 2pm. The Vines is one of the teams tied for fourth-place, while Miromar is tied with The Hideaway for 6^th. Click here for tem standings.

 70-Plus

Our Men’s 70-Plus Lee County team got off to a slow start at home in its first match against The Dunes, dropping three of the four matches played. As for Hideaway members on the team, 

Captain Ed Marcelo dropped his match on Court 4 and Rich Fell lost his match in straight sets as well on Court 3. The men play at home again on Wednesday, December 11, at 2pm against Bonita Beach, which is tied for second after one match. Click here for match scores.

USTA 3.5 55 and Over

Also captained by Ed Marcelo, The Hideaway’s 3.5 Men’s team will play its final match of the season against Fort Myers Racquet Club (FMRC) this coming Wednesday at FMRC. The team has won all five matches played, and even a loss against the team it has beaten twice won’t influence its standing as League Champions. The team may have to play for the right to advance to Daytona if they don’t win the Spring League.  I’m betting on our guys to pay for it all in Daytona.

Thanksgiving has passed, but I’d like to say “Thank You!” to all of our tennis members, particularly those who represent our Club in league play, and our team captains Pearle Warren, Lynne Price, Bert Ann Haas, Ed Marcelo and Mike stern who do an incredibly difficult job with very little thanks. Thanks to Sean Balliet and the pro shop staff, and to Tom Dudas and Janine Harrell. It wouldn’t happen without all of the above. Game, set, match…T. A.