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Mardy Fish Children's Foundation

James Van Deinse

What The Van Deinse Brothers Have In Common In Pro Tennis With Two-Time Australian Open Champion Johan Kriek

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By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

What does two-time Australian Open champion Johan Kriek have in common in professional tennis with both James and Joseph van Deinse of the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club?

All three have been first round losers in the qualifying tournament for a “Futures” level pro tennis tournament in Vero Beach, Florida!

Kriek, who was at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club on Monday, February 3 for a special day of clinics at the club owned and run by the Van Deinse brothers, spoke in his engaging and entertaining story-telling way of his first ever visit to Vero Beach (which was in his first-ever trip to the United States) in between giving lessons to members of the club.

At the age of 19 and with $280 in his pocket, Kriek said he started his pro tennis career when he traveled to the United States in 1978 to play in a six-week circuit of entry-level pro events, then the pre-cursor to today’s “Futures” level events. He was scheduled to fly into New York City but because of a blizzard, his flight was diverted from New York to Montreal where he said he was forced to live in the airport for four days because the Canadian government would not allow him out of the airport and into the country due to the apartheid policies of his native South Africa at the time. Eventually, he was able to get a flight to Miami and from there took a bus to Vero Beach.

Kriek remembered that he lost in the first round at the Vero Beach tournament, which was then played at the old Westside Tennis Club and part of what was called the WATCH tour (World Association of Tennis Champions.) Kriek subsequently played events on the WATCH satellite circuit in Lakeland and Naples and also Hialeah, Florida and earned some ranking points to get him into more events. Kriek’s career then sky-rocketed from there in a way that is seldom seen, moving from No. 278 in the world all the way to the quarterfinals of the U.S. Open and in a Stadium Court match against Vitas Gerulaitis in front of 20,000 fans.

Kriek, of course, went on to have a stellar career, winning two Australian Open singles titles (1981 and 1982) and reached the semifinals of both the U.S. Open and French Open and the quarterfinals of Wimbledon. He reached a career-high ranking of No. 7 and won 14 career singles titles.

While James and Joseph van Deinse also lost in the first round of the Futures event in Vero Beach, now called the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships on the U.S. Tennis Association Pro Circuit and International Tennis Federation World Tennis Tour, they did not catapult into the world’s top 10 shortly after like Kriek!

Joseph Van Deinse lost in the first round of the qualifying in Vero Beach in 2017 and in 2018. James van Deinse lost in the first round of qualifying in 2018, 2021, 2022 and 2024.

For more information on the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club go to www.VeroBeachTennis.net The club will also host for a third straight year the $15,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships USTA Pro Circuit ITF World Tennis Tour event April 21-25. For more information go to www.MardyFishChildrensFoundation.org

Local Pros Hang With ATP Pros In Mardy Fish USTA Pro Circuit Doubles Opener

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A crowd of approximately 200 fans watched James van Deinse and Christian Docter of Vero Beach take to the doubles court at the $15,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships Tuesday night at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club. The two “local pros,” were, however, defeated by the “ATP Pros” as Ivan Marrero of Spain and Miguel Cabrera of Chile defeated the local favorites 6-1, 6-3 in front of a spirited crowd.

Van Deinse of the host site VBTC and Docter from the Sea Oaks Beach & Tennis Club were wild card entries into the tournament by virtue of their winner and runner-up showings, respectively, at the annual “King of the Hill” tournament where the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation traditionally awards the first and second place finishers in the event a main draw doubles wild card. For Docter, it was his first ever appearance in a professional tennis event, while Van Deinse has played several times in this event in either doubles or the qualifying rounds of singles.

The last two games of their match can be seen here: https://youtu.be/YHJebiuNnf8?si=NlhfeKHNDwFH0e34

The post-match interview with Marrero can be seen here: https://youtu.be/6w4UxXPmZyY?si=mi0ob6oEAGAEBxVu

The post-match interview with Docter and Van Deinse can be seen here: https://youtu.be/k6KEPSl7iFI?si=u-_or8zwEjqryJfY

The other highlight of Tuesday’s action was 19-year-old Cody Benton of Chapel Hill, N.C., who won the Mardy Fish pre-qualifying tournament to enter the qualifying tournament. Benton, who had never played a pro event before, reached the main draw with a win over Lucas Nunez of Port St. Lucie in a tight 3-6, 6-3, (10-5) decision. He and Lachlan Gaskell of Delray Beach, Florida then earned their first ATP doubles point with a 6-4, 6-4 win over Brian Battistone and Jaime Vance. Since arriving in Vero Beach last Thursday, Benton has played seven matches in singles and doubles and has won them all. Benton will play the feature night match Wednesday in the first round of main draw singles against Chad Kissell of Latrobe, Pa.

Watch Benton and Gaskell’s post-match on-court interview after their doubles win here: https://youtu.be/PgmsDYqOFMY?si=AVpzFnJhBeNJxRQw

Wednesday’s full schedule of 16 first round singles matches starts at 11 am with 2022 Mardy Fish singles champion Sekou Bangoura taking on top American junior player Kaylan Bigun on Stadium court. The full schedule of play, that also features Vero Beach fan favorites Matthew Segura and Ryan Haviland, 2024 Australian Open junior doubles champion Cooper Woestendick and 2021 Wimbledon junior singles runner-up Victor Lilov can be seen here: https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/pro-circuit/2024/20240422_verobeach_m15/op.pdf

The updated singles draw can be found here: https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/pro-circuit/2024/20240422_verobeach_m15/mds.pdf

The updated doubles draw can be found here: https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/pro-circuit/2024/20240422_verobeach_m15/mdd.pdf

James Van Deinse, Christian Docter Chasing Pro Tennis Dream At Mardy Fish USTA Pro Tennis

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By Harvey Fialkov

There are many paths to success in professional tennis. Most aspiring touring pros were prodigies who navigated the minefields of junior tennis while dominating the 18s’ divisions at just 14 years old. Many American and foreign greats honed their craft at the myriad of tennis academies, particularly in Florida.

Others used Division I college tennis to help catapult to the top of the ATP or WTA rankings. Then there are the late-bloomers, maturing on and off the courts in their mid-to-late 20s before tasting fame and fortune. That’s the category that Vero Beach teaching pros Christian Docter and James van Deinse hopes to fit into.

Docter, a 27-year-old teaching pro at Sea Oaks Beach & Tennis Club, finished runner-up to van Deinse at February’s annual King of the Hill rotating doubles qualifying tournament to earn a wild card into the main draw of this week’s Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit ITF World Tennis Tour event where he will make his professional debut.

On Tuesday evening, Docter will team with Deinse to play their first-round doubles match at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club at Timber Ridge. Van Deinse, 33, and his brother Joseph, 35, actually own the club, so there’s a definite home-court advantage. Main draw singles featuring young Americans’ Kaylan Bigun, Alexander Razeghi, Christian Langmo of Boca Raton, and Victor Lilov, begin Wednesday.

“I’ve been working really hard these last three years while I’ve been in Florida to get exactly where I’m at right now,’’ said the 6-foot-2 Docter, a Madison, Wisc., native who played Div. III tennis for Concordia University (Mequon, Wisc.) where he was Freshman of the Year in 2015, all-conference all four years, while winning the singles and doubles conference championships in 2016-17 season. “Just to get into a pro event is what every tennis player dreams of as a kid. You want to go pro, and now this is my first chance to play against guys who are doing it for a living.”

The top two finishers at the King of the Hill tournament earn a wild card, and last year Docter placed third. This year he tied for runner-up with local legend Robert Kowalczyk, who at 43, has played in the main draw of many minor league pro events, including several forays in this tournament. Kowalczyk, a two-time USTA National Clay Court junior champion and University of California standout, was gracious enough to forego a tiebreaker for second place, instead handing the spot to Docter.

“Robert has such a rich history in Vero Beach and even played high school tennis with Mardy,’’ Docter said. “He knew how badly I wanted to play this tournament so thanks Robert. I was pretty gutted last year just missing.”

Docter didn’t start taking tennis seriously until he was 15 and played very few junior tournaments. He draws inspiration from all-time great Novak Djokovic, who’s still ranked No. 1 at 36, or 30-year-old Danielle Collins, who announced her retirement earlier this year due to chronic illnesses, but then wins the Miami Open Masters 1000 and Charleston Open 500 back-to-back.

“It’s adversity,’’ Docter said. “Look at all the other major sports. The NFL, NBA, NHL; a lot of those great teams [and players] had to go through adversity before they finally won to get to that big dance. I see it as being all part of the process and sometimes you get knocked down, but as long as you keep trying you never really lose.”

This was the third King of the Hill title for van Deinse, so he’s hoping for that “charm” expression to kick in, enabling him to achieve his short-term dream of earning his first ATP ranking point. In 2017, van Deinse and his partner Michael Alford lost to Robert Galloway and Alexander Centenari. Galloway is now ranked 44th in the world and won this year’s ATP 250 Delray Beach Open doubles title with Julian Cash. Last year, van Deinse and Tyler Rios of Port St. Lucie also lost in the first round to Peter Bertran and Lorenzo Claverie, the eventual champions.

“I’ve had bad luck with the draw,’’ cracked van Deinse, who grew up in Owatonna, Minn., and Williamsburg, Mich., before his family purchased the tennis club in Vero Beach in 2017. “Christian and I train together almost every night at Timber Ridge. He’s very committed. We’re best friends and that helps because we know when to have fun on the court and also how to be serious.

“My game style is all-court, calm and collected while he can be a buzzsaw when he wants to be. Certain times he gets hot, and I sit back and watch him do all the work. He’s a power player who puts the ball away with big shots while I use control and consistency. We’re a perfect complementary team.”

Docter, who thought of becoming a doctor until he was 11 when his father told him how many years of education it would take, has been nicknamed, ‘Doc’ throughout his life. He says he’s constantly reminded by strangers if he did pursue medicine he would be known as Dr. Docter. He prefers to save his slicing and operating for the courts.

“Sometimes you can’t envision the path but just keep on working,’’ he said. “My [sometimes] coach Dani Garza told me it doesn’t matter when you get there, just get there. That’s what this whole journey has been about. I always believe I can figure it out on court.”

Perhaps the best professional doubles player to come out of a Div. III college was Eric Butorac of Rochester, Minn., who starred for Gustavas Adolphus College (St. Peter, Minn.) where he won NCAA singles and doubles titles in 2003. Butorac won 18 ATP doubles titles and reached a career-high 17th in 2011 while amassing career earnings of $1.7 million in singles and doubles.

Van Deinse, who didn’t play college tennis at Liberty University (online), instead focusing on getting his Masters’ degree in business, actually knows Butorac and hopes to follow his example.

“Our dream sounds unreasonable to most people, but we don’t care what most people think,’’ van Deinse said. “We’re not worried about being in the Top 100 of the ATP. Our first goal is to get that first ATP point. That would mean you’re an actual bona fide pro tennis player. It’s a big ask, a big goal to win a round in a tournament like this but the experience will allow us to figure it out the next time. Maybe we red-line and get a win.”

Mardy Fish Futures Kicks Off With Local Vero Beach Players Ching Wang, James Van Deinse, Sebastian Mendoza Sneaking Into Qualifying Draw

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The 2024 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships kick off Monday at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club at Timber Ridge with the start of the 32-player two-round qualifying tournament starting at 11 am. Players will have to win two matches (one Monday and one Tuesday, weather permitting) to enter the 32-player main draw of singles which starts Wednesday.

Three Vero Beach locals snuck into the draw late Sunday – Ching Wang, Juan Sebastian Mendoza and Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club co-owner James van Deinse. Wang was able to move into the draw as a direct acceptance into the qualifying tournament, based on player withdrawals, while Mendoza and van Deinse were accorded with wild card entries at the last moment. James Aronson of New York City, whose grandmother lives in Vero Beach, also was able to get into the field after late player withdrawals.

Other leading entries in the qualifying field include Venezuelan Davis Cupper Brandon Perez, 2023 USTA National Boy’s 16s runner-up Lachlan Gaskell of Delray Beach, and up-and-coming USTA juniors Carle Ngounoue, Matisse Farzam, Meecah Bigun and Nikita Filin

Wang, the former teaching pro at Sea Oaks who now teaches for Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation programs, will play at Noon on Stadium against ATP world No. 1,860 No. Jorge Cavero of Peru.

Both van Deinse and Mendoza will play at not-before-5 pm – van Deinse will face Dian Nedev of Bulgaria while Mendoza will face Arizona State commit Mikel Anderson of Hillsboro Beach, Florida. Van Deinse was the winner of the annual “King of the Hill” competition in Vero Beach earlier this year – earning him a main draw doubles wild card with Sea Oaks pros Christian Docter where they are set to play on Tuesday not before 5 pm in the feature doubles match. Mendoza was the No. 1 tennis player for Vero Beach High School in 2023.

Aronson will play at not before 3 pm against Luca Pignation of Brazil.

On Friday, Cody Benton of Chapel Hill, N.C., a soon-to-be freshman at North Carolina State, won the Mardy Fish pre-qualifying tournament defeating Nils Michel of France in the final. Watch the Benton post-match interview here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8blHvrSMcTs&t=54s Benton plays John Horoz Garner of Great Britain in the first round at 3 pm.

To see the full schedule for Monday click here https://www.itftennis.com/en/tournament/m15-vero-beach-fl/usa/2024/m-itf-usa-2024-008/order-of-play/

To see the qualifying singles draw click here

https://www.itftennis.com/en/tournament/m15-vero-beach-fl/usa/2024/m-itf-usa-2024-008/draws-and-results

The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships has been held in Vero Beach since 1995 and, since 2016, has benefitted the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation, the non-profit foundation benefiting children named for Vero Beach native son Mardy Fish, a former top 10 tennis star, U.S. Davis Cup hero and silver medalist at the 2004 Olympic Games.

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, 2021 Wimbledon semifinalist Denis Shapovalov, 2022 U.S. Open semifinalist France Tiafoe, 2023 Australian Open semifinalist Tommy Paul and new rising star and 2023 U.S. Open semifinalist Ben Shelton. Former Vero Beach competitors have combined to win 19 titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles at Grand Slam tournaments. Eight 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, Frances Tiafoe and Tommy Paul.

Affectionately known as “Timber Ridge” to locals, the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club has been a staple in the community for over 30 years and has been owned and run since 2016 by James and Joseph van Deinse. The club boasts 14 Har-Tru tennis courts, a pickleball court, pool and clubhouse with fitness center and bar. The facility previously hosted a $25,000 women’s USTA Pro circuit event in 2014 that featured future major tournament champions Naomi Osaka and Sofia Kenin, future top 10 star Jennifer Brady and future major doubles champions Nicole Melichar, Laura Siegemund and Gaby Dabrowski. The club is also the original home of the “King of the Hill” tennis competition, hosting the first seven editions of Vero Beach’s popular doubles competition from 1996 to 2002. The Vero Beach Fitness & Tennis Club will be the third different venue to host the tournament after being held at Grand Harbor Club for 17 years from 1995 to 2009 and in 2017 and 2018 and at The Boulevard where it was held for 11 years from 2010 to 2016 and from 2019 to 2022.

Founded in 2007, the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation (www.MardyFishChildrensFoundation.org and @MardyFishFound on Twitter) currently supports over 2,400 children in 15 elementary schools, six middle schools, and several other community organizations 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.

2024 Tournament Sponsors

Presenting Sponsor:  PNC Bank,  Grand Slam Sponsor:  Michael Merrill, Broker Associate, Scoreboard Sponsor:  Block and Scarpa, Attorneys at Law

Additional Event Sponsors:  The Roberts Family Foundation, Carly Witteck, Realtor, Jake Owen Foundation, Boston Retail Solutions, Cliff Norris Real Estate, Bill Antle, Gene Simonsen, Michael Pierce, Bob and Emilie Burr, Lynn Southerly, John and Sara Marshall, John and Marie McConnell, Peter and Ellen Kendall, Jaime Yordan, M&M Realty, Foglia Contracting, Jim and Shirin Marver, Joe and Barbara Price, Weatherman Umbrella, Hazelton Marketing Group, Kitchens By Design, Minuteman Press, Linda Delaney, Charlie and Este Brashears, Michael Williams, Wendy and Chase Carey, Steve Rubin, Tom Collins Insurance, Evelyn’s Plant Care, Nalzaro Music, Natalie’s Juice 

James Van Deinse Wins “King of the Hill” Title, Earns Mardy Fish Main Draw Doubles Wild Card With Christian Docter

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James Van Deinse is establishing himself as probably the best tennis player in Vero Beach.

The 33-year-old teaching pro and co-owner of the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club emerged victorious Thursday in the 29th annual “King of the Hill” tournament at The Boulevard tennis club, successfully winning the title among Treasure Coast area tennis pros.

Van Deinse swept all three sets played in doubles with each of the other three event finalists to finish with 18 total games won. Christian Docter, the teaching pro at the Sea Oaks Beach & Tennis Club, and long-time Vero Beach resident Robert Kowalczyk finished in a tie for second place with 13 games won while Vero Beach High School senior Mason Cisco finished in fourth place with 12 games won.

“I played some really good points in important moments, but I felt like a lot of the chips fell my way tonight,” said van Deinse after his victory. “We had some pivotal points really in every set. Every set was tight”

The victory for Van Deinse earned him a main draw doubles “wild card” entry into Vero Beach’s annual USTA Pro Circuit event, the $15,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships to be held April 22-28 at his home club, the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club at Timber Ridge. The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation annually awards the “King of the Hill” winner and runner-up a spot in the doubles draw at this entry-level “minor league” professional tennis tournament played for ATP ranking points and prize money. Since Docter and Kowalczyk tied for second place, the 43-year-old Kowalczyk, a former college All-American at Cal-Berkeley who has played many pro events around the world in his career, forfeited the tie-breaking procedure to Docter to give the 27-year-old Madison, Wisconsin native a chance to play in a pro event for the first time in his career.

Said Docter of the opportunity to play in the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, “Just to get into a pro event, it’s what every tennis player dreams of as a kid. When you start playing, you want to go pro, and now this is the first chance to actually play against these guys who are doing it for a living. So I’m very blessed, I’m very fortunate, and I can’t wait for this opportunity.”

Said Van Deinse, “It’s not only a dream come true to play in the Futures event here and it’s at my home club, but on top of all that to play with Christian Docter, we actually have trained together almost seven days a week. And so we’ve been planning this for a year to try to play some of our best tennis at the right time so we can play together in this event, and I’m just thrilled. And it’ll be his first Futures event.”

It will mark the third time that Van Deinse will play in the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships USTA Pro Circuit event. In 2017, when he first won “King of the Hill” title, he partnered with then Quail Valley Club pro Michael Alford but lost in the first round to Robert Galloway and Alexander Centenari. Galloway won the ATP Tour Delray Beach Open doubles title earlier this month and was a doubles quarterfinalist at the 2023 U.S. Open. Last year, partnering with KOTH runner-up Tyler Rios, he was defeated in the Mardy Fish first round to eventual champions Lorenzo Claverie of Italy and Peter Bertran of the Dominican Republic.

“I was a little bit unlucky that so far the two main draw doubles tournaments I’ve played in that tournament have been against guys who have gone on to do great things, but at the same time, it makes for a good story and it gives me experience,” said van Deinse. “So I’m hoping that if I get a good draw this tournament, I’ll have the experience from past years to be able to play some of my best tennis.”

The “King of the Hill” open division finals attracted a crowd of about 300 fans to The Boulevard. The event, run by Port St. Lucie teaching pro Gigi Casapu, annually benefits Youth Guidance of Vero Beach, the nonprofit organization serving children and young adults in Indian River County since 1973.

The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships has been held in Vero Beach since 1995 and for the last eight years under the management of the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation, the non-profit organization that benefits at-risk children in Indian River County and named for Vero Beach native son and 2004 Olympic silver medalist Mardy Fish. Recent participants have included current world Top 20 players Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton and Frances Tiafoe. For more information on the Mardy Fish tournament, go to www.MardyFishChildrensFoundation.org

WATCH the full interview with Van Deinse here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qlHGGFpgU9s

WATCH the full interview with Docter here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PMEA8HteVh0&t=10s

WATCH the full interview with Gigi Casapu here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=plC0EmsXE1E

Christian Docter (left) and James Van Deinse