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Mardy Fish Tennis

Jesse Flores, Blaise Bicknell Wave Their National Flags At Mardy Fish Tennis

Randy Walker · April 27, 2022 · Leave a Comment

By Harvey Fialkov

Not everyone could be a Carlos Alcaraz, the teenage phenom from Spain, who at 18 has already cracked the Top 10 after winning Rio and Barcelona, two ATP 500 events, and the Miami Open Masters 1000 tournament last month.

Most 18 to 20-somethings are toiling in the minor leagues of tennis, traversing the globe on a shoestring budget in search of valuable ranking points that would allow them direct entry into ATP events and Grand Slams where the big money is.

Most never make it in a highly competitive sport that hasn’t seen an American win a Grand Slam since Andy Roddick captured the US Open in 2003 at 21. So why even attempt to qualify at this week’s Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships at The Boulevard Village and Tennis Club, an $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour Pro Circuit event?

Not every player set their goal to be No. 1 in the world or win majors. They simply love the game and relish playing for their country.

“This is my first full season on Tour and I love it,’’ said Jesse Armando Flores Knowles after defeating Abraham Asaba of Ghana, 6-3, 6-3 in qualifying to make it into the 32-main singles draw which begins on Wednesday. “I love the travel; I love the whole lifestyle, meeting new people, seeing the cultures. It’s the best part of the job.”

Flores, ranked 1080 in singles, is a native of Canada who switched his nationality to his parents’ native country of Costa Rica after high school graduation partly to take advantage of the federation’s ongoing financial support. The Canadians are loaded with Top 50 players, such as 16th-ranked Denis Shapovalov, who Flores claims he’s 3-3 against when they were juniors.

“I was four years older but even then, you could see Denis had the ‘it’ factor,’’ Flores said.

Flores’ dreams don’t necessarily include winning the US Open but rather to represent his country in Davis Cup and the 2024 Olympics. He has already done the former, wearing his country’s flag colors (blue, white and red) in a Davis Cup tie against Bulgaria, a 4-1 loss in March 2020.

“In order to get into the Group 3 of Davis Cup I had to play 12 matches, singles and doubles, in six days,’’ said Flores, who lost two tight singles matches to Bulgarians ranked 537 or lower; but did win his doubles match.

“That was the greatest weekend of my life representing Costa Rica at home, especially the doubles match which I won on match point (12-10) in the third-set tiebreaker with a diving lob winner. I was five feet off the ground. My dream of playing in the Olympics is alive and it goes without saying that’s the highest honor for any athlete.”

Flores is also an unofficial Floridian, spending summers from 14-17 training at camps run by renowned coach Nick Saviano at Veltri Tennis Center in Plantation. He played college tennis at the University of Miami, finishing in the top 20 in doubles with a win over No. 1 Wake Forest.

Flores lives in Fort Lauderdale and trains with his coach Levar Harper-Griffith, who grew up with Mardy Fish and Andy Roddick in Boca Raton. In fact, Harper-Griffith, once ranked 224 in singles and 184th in doubles, played doubles with both and won a first-round doubles match with Roddick at the 1999 US Open. Flores patterns his serve and forehand after Roddick, the last American to be ranked No. 1.

Asaba, 24, who played for Virginia Tech and is currently No. 1 in Ghana, not a hotbed for tennis pros, also played Davis Cup and is ranked a respectable 718 in doubles, having won the ITF Orange Park Futures doubles title last week with Sekou Bangoura, the runner-up here in singles and doubles in 2019.

Slim Hamza, assistant pro at The Moorings, who’s playing in Tuesday night’s featured doubles match, also had the patriotic honor of playing Davis Cup for Tunisia.

Blaise Bicknell, 20, who made it into the 32-player singles draw with a 5-0 win over xxx, who retired with a forearm injury, is a proud No. 1 from Kingston, Jamaica, where the most well-known tennis player was Dustin Brown, 37, who was ranked 64th in 2016.

The blonde-haired Jamaican, ranked 1076, had the thrill of representing Jamaica — more known for track stars than tennis stars — in a recent Davis Cup tie against Greece, where more than 1,000 fans were screaming for his opponent, Petros Tsitsipas, the younger brother of world No. 5 Stefanos Tsitsipas. However, Bicknell prevailed 6-3, 7-5 over the 808th-ranked Greek, before losing his next singles match to Thanos Aristotelis, 6-4. 6-4, as Greece won 4-1.

“We surprised everyone on the first day coming out with 2-0 lead,’’ Bicknell said. “It was extremely loud. There’s nothing like playing for your country.”

Bicknell, who did get into the Junior US Open, a few years ago, is hoping to win the year-ending Slam, but for now, he will proudly play for Jamaican pride.

“I’m the No. 1 player in my country so I have something to prove,’’ said Bicknell, who won a national championship with Florida last year before transferring to Tennessee.

Jesse Flores with coach Levar Harper-Griffith
Jesse Flores with coach Levar Harper-Griffith

Features, Vero Beach Champions Blaise Bicknell, Jesse Flores, Mardy Fish Tennis, Vero Beach

10 AM Sunday Start For Resumption of Rain-Delayed Mardy Fish Tennis At The Boulevard

manfr3dw · May 5, 2019 · Leave a Comment

Play will resume at 10 am Sunday at the $25,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships with the resumption of the second singles semifinal and the start of the second men’s doubles semifinal.
Diego Hidalgo, a member of Ecuador’s Davis Cup team, lead No. 2 seed Sekou Bangoura of Bradenton, Fla., 7-6, 5-3 and was just four points from advancing to the final when lightning and eventually another rain downpour postponed play for the day.

The two former University of Florida standouts will continue their match at 10 am Sunday on the Stadium Court. At 10 am on the Grandstand Court, the second doubles semifinal will begin between Felix Corwin of the USA and Matic Spec of Slovenia, both former University of Minnesota standouts, against Italians Lorenzo Frigerio and Adelchi Virgili. After the conclusion of the singles and doubles semifinals, the respective finals will be scheduled based on rest required and requested following the conclusion of the semifinals.

Waiting in the respective finals will be Bangoura and his Bolivian Davis Cupper partner Boris Arias in the doubles final and Dmitry Popko of Kazakhstan in the singles final.

Popko, 22, advanced into his eighth singles final this year on this International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tennis Tour circuit – or minor league professional tennis tour – with a 6-2, 6-1 victory in just 66 minutes over Paul Oosterbaan of Kalamazoo, Michigan.

The Kazakh, ranked No. 608 in the ATP Tour singles rankings, broke the hard-serving Oosterbaan four times and forced 10 break points. While standing five inches shorter than Oosterbaan, Popko was the more physically imposing player, furiously slamming his deep and steady groundstrokes from both his forehand and backhand side, forcing errors from his opponent and pushing him away from his comfort zone. Popko also dominated on his serve, losing only 13 points in the entire match when he was serving.

Seeded No. 8 here this week, Popko found his rhythm as soon as the match started, opening a 3-0 lead with a service break in second game of the match and sealed the first set with another break in the eighth game.
“Today I played one of the best matches during this week,” said Popko, who was born in Russia in St. Petersburg. “I started to play better and better after the first round and I’m now in the final.”

Oosterbaan played well to reach the semifinals and was the more well-rested player without having to play a singles quarterfinal by virtue of gaining a walk-over win over Nicolas Alvarez of Peru. By contrast, Popko won a hard-fought slug fest over No. 1 Pedro Sakamoto of Brazil 6-4, 6-3 Friday night in the quarterfinals, played in front of enthusiastic crowd of several hundred fans at The Boulevard.

“Last year I was forced to miss six months and I have managed to find the rhythm at the beginning of 2019,” said Popko. “I’ve been improving my game to reach the best possible shape, I don’t think I had played this well before the injury.”

The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships is regarded as one of the best entry-level professional tennis tournaments in the world. Approximately 3,000 fans annually attend the event, which is seen as one of the best-attended entry-level professional events in the world.

Some of the past competitors at this tournament 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.

Founded in 2007, the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation (www.MardyFishChildrensFoundation.org and @MardyFishFound on Twitter) currently supports over 2,200 children in 15 elementary schools, six middle schools and two after school centers 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.

Vero Beach Champions Mardy Fish Tennis

Quail Valley Pro Mike Alford And Former Florida Gator Teammate To Play Tuesday Night At Mardy Fish Tennis

manfr3dw · April 25, 2016 · Leave a Comment

Mike Alford, a tennis pro at the Quail Valley Club and the winner of the 2016 “King of the Tennis” tennis competition in Vero Beach, and his former University of Florida teammate Billy Federhofer were awarded a main draw doubles wild card entry into the 2016 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships and will play their first round match Tuesday, not before 6 pm at The Boulevard Tennis Club.
Alford and Federhofer will play Peter Nagy, a member of the Davis Cup team from Hungary, and Denis Shapovalov, a 17-year-old rising star from Canada regarded as one of the fast-rising talents in tennis. Daily tickets for the main draw of the of the event are $20 and $100 for a tournament pass good for all sessions and are available at the gate or at www.VeroBeachTennisTickets.com. Children age 18 and under are free. All profits from the event benefit The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation.
Monday’s full schedule of play can be seen here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/ustaassets/assets/1/15/schedule520.pdf
The main singles draw can be seen here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/ustaassets/assets/1/15/singles_draw518.pdf
The main doubles draw can be seen here: https://s3.amazonaws.com/ustaassets/assets/1/15/doubles_draw518.pdf
Fans can follow news and developments on the tournament on Facebook and on Twitter at @VeroFutures and by going to the website www.TennisVeroBeach.com
Tournament match start times are as follows:
10 am Tuesday, April 26 Not before 6 pm Night Match (Main Draw Starts)
10 am Wednesday, April 27, Not before 6 pm Night Match (Main Draw)
10 am Thursday, April 28, Not before 6 pm Night Match (Main Draw)
10 am Friday, April 29 Not before 6 pm Night Match (2nd Doubles Semifinal)
1 pm, 3 pm Saturday, April 30, Singles semifinals
11 am Sunday, May 1 (likely doubles championship match first, followed by singles championship match at 1 pm, depending on if a player is competing in both finals)
Starting in 2016, the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation is the new operator of the $10,000 “Futures” tennis tournament in Vero Beach, one of the longest-running and best attended events on the U.S. Tennis Association Pro Circuit. The tournament, now called The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, benefits the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation, the non-profit tennis 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. The event was managed for 20 years by Vero Beach tennis teaching professional Mike Rahaley, who made the annual Vero Beach stop one of the crown jewels on the USTA Pro Circuit. The 2016 tournament will be held April 22 through May 1 at The Boulevard Tennis Club.
Founded in 2007, the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation (www.MardyFishFoundation.com and @MardyFishFound on Twitter) currently supports over 2,100 children in 15 elementary schools and six middle schools in Indian River County, Florida by providing 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.” Mardy Fish recently completed his ATP professional tennis career at the 2015 U.S. Open, highlighted by a career-high ranking of No. 7, six ATP singles titles, eight ATP doubles titles and an Olympic silver medal in singles at the 2004 Olympics. He reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open and was a mainstay on the U.S. Davis Cup team from 2002 to 2012.
Some of the past competitors in Vero Beach 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 Australian Open semifinalist Milos Raonic among others. Former Vero Beach competitors have combined to win 19 titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles at Grand Slam tournaments. Six former Vero Beach players have gone on to play Davis Cup for the United States – Roddick, Fish, Taylor Dent, Jared Palmer, Donald Young and Ryan Harrison.
Sponsors and supporters of the event are as follows:
Grand Slam Sponsors
SorensenRealEstate.com
Boston Barricade
Laser Spine Institute
George E. Warren Corp.
Indian River Medical Center
Syde Hurdus Foundation
PNC Bank
Backhand Sponsors
John’s Island Real Estate
Coastal Van Lines Storage
Indian River Press Journal / TCPalm.com
Barbara Ettinger
Dr. Larry Landsman
Dr. John Sarbak
Citrus Grillhouse
White Orchid Day Spa
Gene Simonsen
Michael & Kathleen Pierce
Center Court
Publix
Indian River Oxygen
Forehand Sponsors
Rosato Plastic Surgery Center
Kay C. Betancourt, DMD
Jeff & Rosanne Susi
Mello Financial
Jean Ueltschi
Sam & Susie Bell
Cravings
Sue Powell Rentals
William Barhorst
Peter Bernholz Family
Don & Linda Proctor
The Whole Person Project, Inc.
Ocean Drive Plastic Surgery
Ocean Drive Elite Physiques
Huryn Construction
Riverside Café
Barker Air Conditioning
Bill & Laurie Stewart
Steve McCloud / Wells Fargo Private Mortgage Banking
Coggin BMW of Ft. Pierce / Mercedes of Ft. Pierce
Twig Swim & Sportswear Shop
Osceola Bistro
Supporting Sponsors and Patrons
The Moorings Yacht & Country Club
New Leaf Designs
A Pampered Life / Disney Spa
Carpe Antiperspirant Hand Lotion
Robert Kowalczyk – Moorings Yacht & Country Club
Win Detergent
Calvetti & Company
NewChapterMedia.com
Steve Hardin – Twin Oaks Tennis Club
Aurelija Merrill – John’s Island Club
Carol Donnelly
Roy & Tish Wissel
Boast
Hutchinson’s Florist
Casey’s Restaurant
Chelsea’s Market
Tennis Resort at the ESPN Wide World of Sports at Disney
Sassy Boutique
Quail Valley Club
Bottle Shop
Busy Bee
Veranda
Avanzare
Maison Beach Gifts
Center for Advanced Eye Care
Diamond Resorts International
Monreal London
Rock City Gardens
Tina Simone Company
Pogues, Inc.
Kevin Healy, M.S., D.S.
Chiropractic Nutrition and Wellness
Treasure Coast Sports Commission
Saddlebrook Academy
Nailtiques
Sam Garcia – Quail Valley Club
Dr. Raymond Della Porta, D.M.D.
Yulin Day Spa
Pat Gorman – Bent Pine Golf Club
Frosting
Grind & Grape bar & grill
JMcLaughlin
Vero Beach Yoga Barre
Ken & Annette Krasnow
Indian River County School District
Body Network
Studio Gabriel
Quinn Hiaason
Tommy Falcone
Sandy Malone
Spring Hill Suites by Marriott
Vero Beach Inn & Suites
Seaside Grill
Swarovski Jewelry
Minuteman Press
Dr. Michele Maholtz
Jony Leitenbauer and Tom Fish – Windsor Club

Features, Vero Beach Champions Mardy Fish Tennis, Mike Alford

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tennisverobeach TennisVeroBeach @tennisverobeach ·
25 Jan

Nice to see this from the Australian Open on ESPN

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tennispublisher Randy Walker @tennispublisher ·
24 Jan

Yes....Ben Shelton has a big serve....he obliterated our sponsor signage with it at our @VeroFutures when he played our $15,000 Futures event in October of 2021. We had him sign the "fragments" and gave them to Bob Gibb of John's Island Real Estate

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tennispublisher Randy Walker @tennispublisher ·
23 Jan

I confront Ben Shelton in his post-match on-court interview at the $15,000 @VeroFutures in October of 2021 about the property he destroyed.... 🤣 https://youtu.be/oonrh9t4osQ via @YouTube

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tennisverobeach TennisVeroBeach @tennisverobeach ·
25 Jan

Looking Back At A Hallmark Event In The Career of Tommy Paul - His First ATP Point (Achieved In Vero Beach, Florida In 2014) https://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/21667 via @WorldTennisMag

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tennispublisher Randy Walker @tennispublisher ·
22 Jan

How’s this putt by ⁦@MardyFish⁩ on NBC television?!? (Morgan Pressel, Aaron Krickstein’s niece, is the NBC color commentator)

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