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One of the unsung hot spots for tennis in the United States is Vero Beach, Florida.
Located nearly equi-distant between Orlando and West Palm Beach, Vero Beach was for years known as the Spring Training ground for the Los Angeles Dodgers of Major League Baseball, but is now being more known for its tennis, especially since the Dodgers left “Dodgertown” in 2008 to conduct its Spring Training in Arizona.
 
Most of the tennis activity in town takes place in active programs at 13 private clubs around the town, including The Moorings (www.TheMoorings.com) The River Club at Quail Valley (www.quailvalleygolfclub.com), John’s Island (www.JohnsIslandClub.org), Sea Oaks (www.SeaOaks.com) and at other communities around town.
 
“Vero Beach is one of the most enthusiastic and sophisticated tennis communities I have ever seen,” said long-time Vero Beach resident Mikael Pernfors, the 1986 French Open runner-up. “This community  passionately  embraces tennis.”
 
One of the signature tennis facilities in town is The Boulevard Club (www.blvdtennis.com) which is the site of the annual USTA men’s “Futures” event in played in late April, early May and founded by long-time Vero Beach teaching pro Mike Rahaley. The tournament is regarded as one of the best run and best attended in the country and been staged since 1995. The Boulevard features 13 Har-Tru courts and includes a bar a restaurant. The public town facility is the Riverside Racquet Complex (http://www.covb.org/index.), located at the scenic Riverside Park, that features hard courts for day and night play.
 
Two-time French Open mixed doubles champion, former top 4 doubles player and former Mexican Davis Cup standout Jorge Lozano has recently set up shop in Vero Beach with the Lozano – Osorio Tennis Academy at the Vero Beach Tennis Club (www.verobeachtennis.com) In addition to training players, Lozano and his partner Marco Osorio also host a USTA women’s Futures event.
 
Another attribute that gives Vero Beach its status as one of the best tennis towns in the country is its famous tennis inhabitants. In addition to Pernfors and Lozano, Vero Beach is known as the home of eight-time major champion and Hall of Famer Ivan Lendl, although you will find him on more of Vero’s golf courses than tennis courts.  Roscoe Tanner, the 1979 Wimbledon runner-up, also lives in Vero Beach, teaching at the Vero Beach Tennis Club. Pernfors is the touring pro out of Vero’s Grand Harbor community (www.GrandHarbor.com) and is often seen playing exhibitions at clubs throughout town.
 
Vero’s native son is former U.S. Davis Cup standout and 2004 Olympic silver medalist Mardy Fish who was raised in Vero Beach before heading off on the pro circuit. Mardy’s father Tom is a long-time teaching pro in Vero Beach, most recently at the prestigious and beautiful Windsor Plantation (http://www.windsorflorida.).
 
“It’s a great tennis community,” Fish said at the 2011 US Open of Vero Beach. “South Florida in general loves tennis, but it’s a small town, and they have, you know, one guy from there that grew up there that plays a lot, so they know a lot about tennis there.“

Kyle Edmund gave the nearly 300 fans watching Sunday’s singles final of the $10,000 SorensenRealEstate.com USTA Futures of Vero Beach a glimpse of what the next generation of British may look like.
The 18-year-old won his second career singles title on the entry-level “Futures” tier of pro tennis with a 6-3, 6-2 win over Carsten Ball of Australia at The Boulevard Club in this central Florida coastal town.
Ball, a veteran professional who lost to Sam Querrey in the final of the ATP tour event in Los Angeles in 2010, was hobbled by a right knee injury in the final, causing him to default the doubles final, but it didn’t take away from the solid play all week from Edmund. The young, fair-skinned Brit did not lose a set in his five singles matches and should sneak into a new career high ATP ranking inside the top 500 with his singles victory.
“I’ve played well all week and in a lot of different conditions each day,” said Edmund. “It was windy one day, wet another, hot and dry another. I lost early in the last two tournaments, so I had eight or nine days off where I just had to get my head down and train. Training is tough sometimes but when you have days like this, it’s all worth it.”
While British players will usually be better fast court players, having grown up on fast indoor courts or grass, Edmund said he prefers the clay and will next set his sights on winning the French Open juniors in four weeks time.
“I really like clay a lot,” he said. “I’ve played on it a lot. As I have got older, I started to understand the court. It benefits my game being able to hit high balls, spin, kicking it up off the court, angles. Your shots get rewarded whatever shot you hit. I’ve got one more (clay court tournament) next week and then it’s the French Open. Being a Grand Slam on clay, I’d like to win the junior event.”
When asked if he felt he could win the French Open junior boys’ title, Edmund replied, “I’d like to think so. I have to focus on one match at a time. I’m feeling good. It’s about four weeks before the French so hopefully I can keep the ball rolling.”
Edmund was born in South Africa and moved to Britain when he was three and did not start playing tennis until he was 10. He recalled his first experience on clay being at about age 11, but it wasn’t until he played in many European tournaments in the 14-and-unders where he received extended exposure on the surface.
“It’s all about learning on this stuff,” he said of playing on clay. “You got to have an open mind and be patient and if it you are not willing to learn how good you are, you are going to get found out.”
During his semifinal and final matches in Vero Beach, Edmund was under the careful eye of former US Open singles finalist Greg Rusedski, who is working with Edmund for two events as part of his role as a coach with Britain’s Lawn Tennis Association and in the absence of Edmund’s full-time coach Colin Beecher. Rusedski shouted words of encouragement from behind The Boulevard’s Stadium Court, wrote notes in a paper binder and even took photos of Edmund during the post-match presentation from his mobile phone.
“He’s got a good attitude,” said Rusedski of Edmund. “He works hard. He’s got all the ingredients, so his future looks very bright.”

“We hope we never see you here again,” was the refrain to Mexico’s Daniel Garza from Mike Rahaley, tournament director of the $10,000 Warren Insurance Vero Beach USTA Futures at The Boulevard.
 
While sounding quite rude and harsh, it’s meant to be a positive.
Rahaley hopes that the Mexican Davis Cupper – and all players in his tournament – will no longer need to play in events like the USTA Futures event in Vero Beach as they hopefully progress from the lowest level of professional tennis up to potentially the ATP Tour level.
 
After three years playing at the USTA Futures event in Vero Beach, Garza was able to net the singles title Sunday with a 7-6 (3), 1-6, 6-1 victory over high school senior Mitchell Frank of Annandale, Virginia.
 
Garza, seeded No. 4, earned $1,300 and ranking points that will move him from his singles ranking of No. 444 to inside the top 400.
 
“I played really well today,” said the 26-year-old Garza in broken English. “I am very happy.”
The first set was highlighted by many jerking baseline rallies as the scrappy Frank withstood the slices, drop shots – and even a between-the-legs “tweener” from Garza. After an early exchange of service breaks, a tie-breaker decided the first stanza. Garza jumped to a 5-1 lead and held on to take the tie-breaker 7-3.
 
In the second set, a most unusual circumstance caused for a major shift in momentum. Serving at 1-2, 0-30, Garza benefitted from Frank breaking a string in his racquet, which forced an error. On the very next point at 15-30, Frank again broke a string in his new racquet, but sliced a few balls back into play and was able to hit a forehand slice passing shot to remarkably win the point and give him two break points. Losing the point flustered Garza – compounded by losing the next point to lose serve after Frank put away a forehand volley to take a 3-1 lead. A discouraged Garza more or less tanked the rest of the set to draw the match even at one set apiece.
 
Frank continued his momentum – and could have taken full control of the match – by breaking Garza to open the third set, and taking a 30-0 lead in the second game. However, the 18-year-old seemed to lose concentration after Garza took a long time inbetween points dusting the clay off of his legs and clothes. Two unforced errors and two double-faults later and Garza broke back for 1-1. From there, Garza took full control of the match as Frank began to tire and wilt under the Florida sun, Garza rolling through the last six games of the match.
 
Frank, who will attend the University of Virginia next fall, won eight singles matches in ten days, including four matches in the qualifying tournament.

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