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USTA Florida To Take Over Management Of Riverside Park Tennis Facility

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USTA Florida has expanded its facility management division, as the Vero Beach City Council voted unanimously to enter into a licensing agreement with the non-profit tennis association to manage Riverside Racquet Complex.  This will be the fourth USTA Florida-managed facility, joining Racquet Club of Cocoa Beach, Fort Walton Beach Tennis Center, and four tennis parks in Gainesville, that currently operate under the non-profit’s banner. 

“We got into this business five years ago to help save public tennis centers that were at risk of closing or struggling to keep players.  Today, tennis is booming, and we are expanding our business to help municipalities deliver the best possible tennis experience and programs to their communities,” said Phil Girardi, USTA Florida President. 

According to Girardi, Riverside is a perfect fit for USTA Florida to manage.  The city itself is home to a number of very active tennis volunteers, including USTA Florida Past President Nancy Morgan and current USTA Florida Board member Kainoa Rosa.  Riverside also has a vibrant community tennis association, led by Tim Palmer, who works tirelessly to advocate and deliver tennis programs at the park. 

“The partnerships that are already present in this community are truly special.  They provide a strong foundation for growth,” said Girardi. 

City officials shared a similar desire to expand programs and play at the facility, while keeping existing programs that residents have come to expect.   

“We have been working with the USTA-FL for over a year to get this agreement in place. They have a proven track record of working with other municipalities around the state, and we are thrilled to have them as our partner. USTA-FL will have the ability to bring new and improved programming to Riverside, particularly to our city’s youth, while maintaining the offerings our members and patrons currently enjoy. We feel that this partnership will be a win for our residents, and a major boost to tennis in Vero Beach,” shared Jim O’Connell, Director of the Vero Beach Recreation Department.  

Since USTA Florida took on its first facility in 2018, tennis participation in the state of Florida has grown by nearly half a million players.  The latest tennis participation study shows that more than 100,000 additional Floridians want to start playing tennis, if given the chance.  USTA Florida Past President, Dana Andrews, says Vero Beach is positioned well to serve both the existing members and reach new players. 

“I have truly enjoyed working with the volunteers and the city representative throughout this process.  When I first stepped foot in this park, I knew exactly why the residents love it.  If there was a postcard for Florida tennis, this place would be on the front,” Andrews said.  “We want everyone in the community to play here – tennis is the sport of a lifetime.”  

Riverside Racquet Complex holds a special place in Florida tennis history.  American champion Mardy Fish grew up playing tennis with his dad, Tom, on the Riverside courts, just across the street from his home.   

“As a tennis-playing Vero Beach resident for over 40 years, I am thrilled that USTA Florida will be taking over the management of the Riverside Park public tennis courts, because no organization knows tennis better than the USTA. Tennis is the ultimate family sport that can be enjoyed together, and Riverside Park is the place where I enjoyed playing the most with my family.  It’s where my two children, Mardy and Meredith, first learned to love the game. I know USTA Florida will bring excitement back to the Riverside Park courts to the benefit of all in our community who play tennis or wish to learn,” said Tom Fish. 

“My early dreams in tennis began at Riverside Park in Vero Beach and it led me down the road to be able to compete on Arthur Ashe Stadium, Centre Court at Wimbledon and many other wonderful places around the world and I hope that more players can start to realize their own dreams on those very same courts,” said Mardy Fish. “Me and my pals Robert Kowalcyck and Jake Owen and his brother Jarrod and all of our families spent so much time playing tennis at Riverside Park years ago and I know that the USTA Florida will do an amazing job to bring that excitement, joy and energy back and to even greater heights.” 

The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation is eager to expand youth play at the Riverside courts to bring back the high level of programming that the Fish family enjoyed decades ago. 

“So many more people in our community – kids and adults – will have the opportunity to be introduced to the game of tennis under the management of the USTA Florida, a world-class organization.  The tennis facility will finally be brought up to standards that match the beauty of the rest of the Riverside Park area.  This will all be done at a savings to our tax paying citizens.   We could not have asked for a better win-win situation,” said Lynn Southerly, executive director of the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation.     

As part of the agreement with the city, USTA Florida will resurface the four remaining tennis courts at Riverside this Spring.  The association plans to recruit a full-time head tennis professional and other staff in the coming weeks.  The goal is for the facility to be fully managed by USTA Florida in June.   

For more information on USTA Florida’s mission and to learn more about its facility management services, visit USTAFlorida.com.    

Riverside Park

Treasure Coast Tennis Association Year In Review For 2022

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by Tim Palmer

Treasure Coast Tennis Association

Lots of kids, loads of balls hit, many matches. That pretty much describes 2022 for the programs of the Treasure Coast Tennis Association, funded by the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation and the U.S. Tennis Association. Youngsters age four and up took lessons, played games, smiled for photos and, in general, had tons of fun on courts across Indian River County.

Tennis season got under way on March 1 with Love Serving Autism at Wabasso School. The school serves special-needs children, many of whom are on the autism spectrum. Weekly classes began March 1 and continued through April 12 for 30 students.

Vero Beach youth tennis season kicked off with a March 26 event called Come Try Tennis! at Riverside Park in Vero Beach. Twenty-four children took part on a Saturday afternoon.

CTT! was inspired by a report in Tennis magazine that America has been undergoing a tennis boom reminiscent of the 1970s. The Covid pandemic actually spurred growth in the sport as people realized that tennis is a safe outdoor activity with physical, mental and social benefits.

April marked the start of MFCF Spring Middle School Tennis League. A total of 92 middle schoolers took part in the six-team league. Schools represented were Saint Edward’s School (two teams); Oslo Middle School; Master’s Academy/Home Schooled; Storm Grove Middle School; and Sebastian River Middle School.

The league’s daylong season-ending tournament on May 14 at Riverside Park in Vero Beach drew more than 70 entries for singles and doubles competition.

TCTA summer junior tennis camps began in June at Riverside Park and Gifford Youth Achievement Center. Sessions in June and July hosted 35 players at Riverside Park, 42 players at GYAC. Summer tennis ended with a Riverside Park Play Day for 70-plus players from both sites.

After a break to get a good start in school, the fourth annual MFCF Fall Fourth- and Fifth- Grade League launched in early October. The league had five teams with approximately 40 players representing Dodgertown Elementary School; Osceola Magnet School; Master’s Academy/Home Schooled; Gifford Youth Achievement Center; and Glendale Christian School.

Fall tennis wrapped up with the league tournament on November 12 at Riverside Park. Two-dozen players took part.

Treasure Coast Tennis Association is very grateful to Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation for its support of junior tennis in Indian River County, and to our teaching pros, assistants and volunteers. 2023 is shaping up to be another banner year. We appreciate the help of the USTA as well! See you on the courts! For more information on our programs, contact me at tpalmer@socket.net.

Treasure Coast Tennis Association activities were aplenty in 2022

James Van Deinse Beats Former Top 400 Pro To Win UTR Tournament at Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club

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James Van Deinse won perhaps the biggest tennis match of his career Sunday afternoon and it just happened to be on the court at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club where he teaches lessons for hours each day.

Van Deinse’s 7-6 (5), 7-5 win in the final of the special Vero Beach Timber Ridge Tennis Open Universal Tennis prize money tournament came against Michal Schmid, a Czech player who ranked as high as No. 373 in the world and who has beaten current top star Diego Schwartzman of Argentina as well as former Grand Slam tournament semifinalists Jerzy Janowicz of Poland and Joachim Johansson of Sweden in his career.

“It was definitely one of the biggest wins in my career, if not the biggest,” said Van Deinse courtside after his final round win over Schmid that earned him a winner’s paycheck of $325. “I knew he was a great player. I knew he was a former top ranked player… just to see the ball that he hits, it’s a different ball. For me, the strategy was to fight and play my game. Not alter from my game because I knew he was going to hit his big shots and I was able to play almost perfect tennis, my style. It was able to pull me through.”

The tournament was a specially organized event run on the Universal Tennis (UTR) platform by Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships co-tournament director Randy Walker, designed to give local players more competitive opportunities. The Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club will also host for the first time the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour event in late April of 2023. Van Deinse won four matches over two days to win the title, also including a semifinal win over his older brother and club co-owner Joseph Van Deinse by a 6-0, 7-5 margin earlier on Sunday.

Net money received from entry fees of the tournament were split between the winner and runner-up. Schmid received a runner-up check for $125.

En route to the final, Schmid, who received a first-round bye, registered a 6-1, 6-1 quarterfinal win over James Bragg, fresh off reaching the semifinals of the 2022 USTA National Men’s 50 Clay Court Championships, and a 6-4, 6-3 semifinal win over Mason Cisco, the No. 1 player on Vero Beach High School boy’s tennis team.

Van Deinse held two set points with Schmid serving at 5-6, 15-40 in the first set but the Czech ripped four straight winners to hold serve and force the tiebreaker and extended his point win streak to seven taking a 3-0 lead in the tiebreaker. Van Deinse was able to claw back to win three of the next four points, but a double-fault while trailing 3-4 put him down 3-5. Schmid, however, committed errors on the next three points, missing a drop shot, a backhand wide and forehand in the net before Van Deinse sealed the 7-5 tiebreaker win with an ace out wide that cleared the line out wide on the ad side.

In the second set, Van Deinse broke to take a 3-2 lead, but Schmid broke right back for 3-3. Van Deinse then broke Schmid again and was able to consolidate the break by holding serve for a 5-3 lead. Van Deinse held three match points in the following game – losing one on a let cord – but Schmid was able to hold serve to force Van Deinse to serve out the match. Perhaps with the lost match points still in his mind from the previous game, Van Deinse was unable to serve out the match as Schmid tied the second set at 5-5. However, some sloppy play in the next game by the Czech allowed Van Deinse to break again and he was not denied serving for the match for a second time, closing out the 7-6 (5), 7-5 victory.

Van Deinse compared the win to when he beat the former world No. 88 doubles player Brian Battistone in the pre-qualifying tournament for the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships in 2019. However, Schmid’s resume and ranking are much better than Battistone with the cadre of players he has beaten in singles and at one time being ranked as high as No. 373 in the ATP Tour rankings, while Battistone’s career-high in singles was only No. 853. Adding to the special nature of the win was the fact that he won it in a final, at the club he owns and operates and was played in front of friends and people who he teaches.

“It was a great crowd,” said Van Deinse. “We had a lot of, some of the students that I teach came out and watched me, so it’s definitely special to play in front of all those people. It was special to host the tournament at our club and to win the tournament that I hosted. It was big and it was a good starter to continue events like this.

“There was nothing playing in front of all of my friends. Everybody that was watching, they really pulled me through. I heard the ‘come ons’ every single point and that really does help when you’re playing matches because you get tired out there in the second set when things are getting weary and you just have to keep fighting and fighting. But definitely cool to play under the lights here. It was starting to get dark, so yeah, it was special.”

James Van Deinse (left) and Michal Schmid

Doubles Titles In Vero Beach, US Open Junior Doubles For Nishesh Basavareddy

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Nishesh Basvareddy is pretty good with “pick up” doubles partners.

Four months after winning the doubles title at the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships in Vero Beach for his first pro-level doubles title with pick-up partner Ricardo Rodriguez, Basavareddy picked up another late partner to win the 2022 U.S. Open junior boys doubles title.

Basavareddy, from Carmel, Indiana and an incoming freshman at Stanford University, decided to pair with fellow Midwesterner Ozan Baris at the U.S. Open juniors earlier in the summer. Although the two grew up together and played with an against each other since the 10-and-unders, they had not played with each other in four years. The pair quickly gelled again and dominated the U.S. Open junior boys final winning 6-1, 6-1 against Switzerland’s Dylan Dietrich and Bolivia’s Juan Carlos Prado Angelo.

In Vero Beach in April of 2022, Basavareddy was paired blindly with popular Vero Beach participant Ricardo Rodriguez of Venezuela by tournament director Randy Walker, granted a wild card entry into the event, and the two ended up winning the title, the first ever pro title for Basavareddy.

Watch Basavareddy and Rodriguez be interviewed after their semifinal win in Vero Beach here  https://youtu.be/OuxnOxkWWrk The post-match trophy presentation and speeches from the doubles final in Vero Beach can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR4ya55sJbc

Basavareddy will now enroll as a freshman at Stanford University and play for coach Paul Goldstein and the legendary Cardinal tennis program, which has produced such players as John and Patrick McEnroe, Bob and Mike Bryan, Roscoe Tanner, Tim Mayotte among others.

“I’m starting school next week. I go to Stanford next week,” said Basavareddy while holding a post-match press conference in the main interview room at the U.S. Open. “I just want to continue to improve there, play tournaments while I’m there, play college tennis. Hopefully in a few years’ time I’m ready to make the jump to pro tennis, move up the rankings. That’s my ultimate goal. Just continue to improve. I’ll probably play a few junior events next year because I have one more year of eligibility. As far as our future, maybe play some doubles tournaments in the future, and maybe in the summers for now.”

Nishesh Basavareddy won doubles titles in 2022 in Vero Beach at the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships (top) and in New York at the 2022 U.S. Open Junior Championships.

Sea Oaks To Host Wild Card Tournament for Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation

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The Sea Oaks Tennis Club in Vero Beach, Florida will once again host a main draw singles wild card tournament for the The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour event, Wednesday February 26 to Friday, February 28.

Players from around the world will compete in the event where the winner will receive a direct entry into the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, the $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour event to be held April 26-May 3 at The Boulevard tennis club. This marks the third straight year that Sea Oaks has hosted this special wild card tournament. The last two years, Matthew Segura, the teenage great nephew of Hall of Fame tennis legend Pancho Segura, has won the event.

Players can enter the event on the UTR platform here: https://myutr.com/events/15462?_ref=randywal270 Matches will be best-of-three set matches with a 10-point Match Tiebreaker played in lieu of a third set. Admission to this event is free.

The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships is the USTA’s $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour tournament played in Vero Beach since 1995 and is regarded as one of the best entry-level professional tennis tournaments in the world. Proceeds from the event benefit the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation, the non-profit tennis foundation benefiting at-risk children, named for Vero Beach native son Mardy Fish, the former top 10 tennis star and the current U.S. Davis Cup captain.

Tournament tickets and sponsorships for the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships are now on sale and can be purchased at www.MardyFishChildrensFoundation.org  Tickets for the April 26-May 3 are $20, with “night session” tickets starting at 5 pm from April 27 – May 2 costing $10. Season tickets for every session of the event are $100. Admission for children 18 and under is free. Fans can follow news and developments on the tournament on Facebook and on Twitter at @VeroFutures. Detailed sponsorship information can be obtained by emailing Tom Fish at Ttfish10s@aol.com, Randy Walker at RWalker@NewChapterMedia.com or Lynn Southerly at LSouth1072@aol.com. Approximately 3,000 fans annually attend the event, which is seen as one of the best-attended entry-level professional events in the world.

Founded in 2007, the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation (www.MardyFishChildrensFoundation.com) currently supports over 2,400 children in conjunction with several other nonprofit organization as well as 15 elementary schools and six middle schools in Indian River County, Florida by funding after-school exercise, nutritional and enrichment programs in a safe environment to prepare them for healthy, productive and successful lives. The Foundation introduced the “Six Healthy Habits” in 2012 which are Get Sleep; Drink Water; Exercise Daily, Eat Healthy; Brush and Floss; Make Friends. The Foundation’s story can also be seen in a video here: https://www.mardyfishchildrensfoundation.org/a-message-from-mardy/ 

Some of the past competitors at the USTA Vero Beach Futures have gone on to succeed at the highest levels of professional tennis, winning major singles and doubles titles, Olympic medals and Davis Cup championships and earning No. 1 world rankings. Andy Roddick, the 2003 U.S. Open champion who attained the world No. 1 ranking and helped the United States win the Davis Cup in 2007, competed in Vero Beach in 1999. Thomas Johansson of Sweden, who reached the second round of the Vero Beach Futures in 1995, won the Australian Open seven years later in 2002. Nicolas Massu, the 1998 singles runner-up in Vero Beach, won the singles and doubles gold medals at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, beating Fish in the gold medal singles match. Kyle Edmund, the 2013 champion in Vero Beach, helped Great Britain to the Davis Cup title in 2015. Other notable former competitors in Vero Beach include former world No. 2 Magnus Norman, former world No. 4 Tim Henman, 2016 Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic and most recently world No. 50 player and teen sensation Denis Shapovalov, who played in Vero Beach in 2016. Former Vero Beach competitors have combined to win 19 titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles at Grand Slam tournaments. Seven former Vero Beach players have gone on to play Davis Cup for the United States – Roddick, Fish, Taylor Dent, Jared Palmer, Donald Young, Ryan Harrison and Frances Tiafoe..