Sea Oaks

Sea Oaks Hosts Mardy Fish “Wild Card” Event; Detroit’s Jibril Nettles Wins Title

Randy Walker · February 27, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Jibril Nettles, a six-foot-six 22-year-old from Detroit, Michigan was the winner of the 2022 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships “Wild Card” championships held at the Sea Oaks Beach & Tennis Club.

Nettles defeated Callum Markowitz, an impressive 15-year-old from White Plains, N.Y., 6-4, 7-6(5) in the final. The win earned Nettles a wild card position into the main draw of the $15,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships ITF World Tennis Tour USTA Pro Circuit event held April 25-May 1 at The Boulevard tennis club in Vero Beach. With his runner-up showing, Markowitz earned a wild card into the qualifying rounds of the event.

Nettles spoke of his victory in his post-match speech as seen on YOUTUBE here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MjzZMNXkRQ0

The event returned to Sea Oaks after a one year hiatus due to COVID and was attended by daily crowds of about 400 to 500 fans.

The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation dedicated “The Paul Delaney Cup” at the event, in memory of Paul Delaney, the long-time Sea Oaks member and Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Board Member who passed away last summer. The Paul Delaney Cup will sit in perpetuity in the pro shop at Sea Oaks will feature the names of the winners of this annual “Wild Card” tournament. Delaney’s wife, Linda, was in attendance for the final and presented Nettles with the trophy following his victory, as you can see on YOUTUBE here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KI4_1SCUW-4

Delaney once participated in a Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships “Wild Card” event in doubles in 2017 at age 82, pairing with 67-year-old John Drnec, falling to ATP-ranked players Isaiah Strode and Miles Seeman. Drnec, in memory of his doubles partner, donated $500 to the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation and challenged everyone to match his donation in Paul’s honor.

Delaney, ironically, graduated from White Plains High School, the same high school where Markowitz is a sophomore.

For ticket information on the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, go to www.MardyFishChildrensFoundation.org or email Lynn Southerly at LSouth1072@gmail.com
Daily tickets will be available for $40 ($30 paid in advance online). Season tickets will be $200 and reserved and sponsorship seating and packages are also available.

Sea Oaks To Once Again Host “Wild Card” Tournament For Mardy Fish Pro Tournament

Randy Walker · January 25, 2022 · Leave a Comment

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 23 to Friday, February 25, 2022.

World-ranked players 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 25-May 1 2022 at The Boulevard tennis club. This marks the fourth time that Sea Oaks has hosted this special wild card tournament. In 2018, Matthew Segura, the 17-year-old great nephew of Hall of Fame tennis legend Pancho Segura, won the event defeating fellow American Jack Vance in the final. In 2019, Segura repeated as champion, defeating 18-year-old Perry Gregg of Chicago in the final. In 2020, Segura made it a three-peat at Sea Oaks defeating Emmett Ward in the final. The event was not held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

Players can enter the event on the UTR platform here: https://app.universaltennis.com/events/80708?_ref=randywal270&shared=true Matches will be best-of-three set matches with a 10-point Match Tiebreaker played in lieu of a third set. The entry deadline is February 20. Admission is free. Donations to the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation are encouraged!

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 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 Fans can follow news and developments on the tournament on Facebook and on Twitter at @VeroFutures. Detailed sponsorship information can be obtained by emailing Lynn Southerly at Lsouth1072@gmail.com, Tom Fish at Ttfish10s@aol.com or Randy Walker at RWalker@NewChapterMedia.com

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.

Founded in 2007, the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation (www.MardyFishFoundationChildrensFoundation.org and @MardyFishFound on Twitter)

Matthew Segura, the great nephew of Hall of Fame tennis legend Pancho Segura, played J.J. Mercer, one of the top junior players in the nation and a top recruit to play for the No. 1 ranked Ohio State University at Sea Oaks Beach and Tennis Club in Vero Beach. They were among a group of 32 aspiring players from around the world in the singles field of this tournament that will award a main draw singles “wild card” (tournament entry) into the 2019 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, the $25,000 ITF World Tennis Tour event.

Pro-Am And Tournament Party Opportunities Available For Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships

manfr3dw · April 14, 2019 · Leave a Comment

Opportunities to play with and against international world-ranked touring tennis professionals in a Pro-Am setting and celebrating the kick-off of Vero Beach’s 25-year annual pro tennis tournament are available in advance of the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships to be held April 29-May 5 at The Boulevard tennis club
The tournament Pro-Am will be held from 1:30 to 3:30 pm on Sunday, April 28 at the Sea Oaks Club, the site of February’s “wild card” event, where patrons will have the opportunity to play with and against world-ranked professional players from around the world. Reservations to play will be accepted only for $240 per threesome to be paired with a rotation of tournament professionals. Reservations can be made through Brad Leu at Sea Oaks at 772-231-3102 or SoTennis@bellsouth.net or Randy Walker at 917-770-0843 or Rwalker@NewChapterMedia.com Checks can be made out to the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation.
The official Tournament Kick-Off Party will held later on Sunday, April 28 from 5:30 pm to 8:30 pm at The Boulevard tennis club and will feature food, drink, raffles and more. The popular Vero Beach band “Riptide” will perform for guests and the evening will conclude with exhibition tennis. Tickets cost $60 per person and can be purchased at www.MardyFishChildrensFoundation.com
The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships is the USTA’s $25,000 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 children, named for Vero Beach native son Mardy Fish, the former top 10 tennis star and the current U.S. Davis Cup captain. The event will be held April 29 – May 5 at The Boulevard tennis club in Vero Beach. A special “pre-qualifying” event will be held starting Wednesday, April 24.
Tournament tickets and sponsorships for the event can be purchased at www.MardyFishChildrensFoundation.org Play starts each day at noon each except for the final day when the singles final will start at 1 pm. Daily tickets for the April 29-May 5 are $20, with “night session” tickets starting at 5 pm from April 29 – May 4 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 or Randy Walker at RWalker@NewChapterMedia.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.MardyFishFoundation.com 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.
The tournament schedule is as follows:
Wednesday, April 24 – Friday, April 26
Pre-Qualifying Tournament – The Boulevard Tennis Club, Times TBD (Free to public)
Sunday, April 28
Pro-Am – Sea Oaks Tennis Club, 1:30 – 3:30 pm
Kick-off Party – The Boulevard Tennis Club, 5:30 – 8:30 pm
Monday, April 29
Qualifying Tournament Begins – The Boulevard Tennis Club, Noon, 5 pm, 6:45 pm
Tuesday, April 30
Qualifying Tournament Ends, Main Draw Beings – The Boulevard Tennis Club, Noon, 5 pm, 6:45 pm
Wednesday, May 1
Main Draw Singles & Doubles – The Boulevard Tennis Club, Noon, 5 pm, 6:45 pm
Thursday, May 2
Main Draw Singles & Doubles – The Boulevard Tennis Club, Noon, 5 pm, 6:45 pm
Friday, May 3
Main Draw Singles & Doubles – The Boulevard Tennis Club, Noon, 5 pm, 6:45 pm
Saturday, May 4
Singles Semifinals, Doubles Final – The Boulevard Tennis Club, Noon, 5 pm
Sunday, May 5
Singles Final – The Boulevard Tennis Club, 1 pm
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.

Matthew Segura Once Again Wins Mardy Fish "Wild Card" Event At Sea Oaks

manfr3dw · March 2, 2019 · Leave a Comment

Matthew Segura of Apopka, Florida, the great nephew of Tennis Hall of Fame tennis legend Pancho Segura, defeated fellow 18-year-old American Perry Gregg of Chicago 7-6 (0), 6-4 in the final of the “Wild Card” tournament for the 2019 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships Friday at the Sea Oaks tennis club.
It marked the second straight year that Segura won this specially-created tournament where the winner is awarded a main draw wild card entry into the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, Vero Beach’s $25,000 ITF World Tennis Tour professional tennis tournament that has been held since 1995. Segura will be among 32 players from around the world who will compete in the main draw of the event April 29 – May 5 at The Boulevard tennis club. Last year, Segura defeated Jack Vance of Henderson, Nevada 6-3, 6-4 in the championship match at Sea Oaks to earn a wild card into the 2018 event, where he lost in the first round to Nico Mejia of Colombia. One of the top junior players in the nation, Segura plays ambidextrously, hitting right-handed and left-handed and also using two-handed forehands and backhands just as his great uncle Pancho did during his Hall of Fame career.
En route to the title at Sea Oaks, Segura beat 39-year-old Brian Battistone in the round of 16 in what is believed to be the first ever pro tennis match played between two ambidextrous players. In the semifinals, he beat Jack Vance by the exact 6-3, 6-4 scoreline from their 2018 Sea Oaks final. In his two tournament appearances at Sea Oaks, Segura has won all nine matches in straight sets.
The full completed draw and schedule can be seen on TennisLink here:
https://tennislink.usta.com/Tournaments/TournamentHome/Tournament.aspx?T=235635#&&s=7Draws3 Thirty-two players from 11 states and three different countries were represented in the event. The event featured daily crowds of several hundred fans.
The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation will also host a qualifying wild card tournament – or a pre-qualifying event – and a main draw doubles wild card event at The Boulevard Tennis Club April 24-27. To enter and for more information, go here on the UTR website: https://www.myutr.com/events/3744 Entries for these events are open to anyone, but players must have an ITF Ipin number in order to play in the official qualifying or main draw events, if they win these two tournaments.
Proceeds from these events benefit the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation, the non-profit tennis foundation benefiting children, named for Vero Beach native son Mardy Fish, the former top 10 tennis star and the newly-named 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 Daily tickets cost $20 with daily “night” tickets purchased after 5 pm cost $10. Season tickets for all sessions cost $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 or Randy Walker at RWalker@NewChapterMedia.com
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.

Matthew Segura, J.J. Mercer And Brian Battistone Highlight Mardy Fish "Wild Card" Event At Sea Oaks

manfr3dw · February 25, 2019 · Leave a Comment

Matthew Segura, the great nephew of Hall of Fame tennis legend Pancho Segura, J.J. Mercer, one of the top junior players in the nation and a top recruit to play for the No. 1 ranked Ohio State University, and Brian Battistone, the volleyball-style serving, double-grip-racquet wielding former top 100-ranked doubles player, highlight entries into the Mardy Fish USTA Futures “Wild Card” tournament held this Wednesday, Feb. 27 through Friday, March 1 at the Sea Oaks tennis club in Vero Beach, Florida.
Segura, Mercer and Battistone are among a group of 32 aspiring players from around the world in the singles field of this tournament that will award a main draw singles “wild card” (tournament entry) into the 2019 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, the $25,000 ITF World Tennis Tour event held April 29-May 5 at The Boulevard Tennis Club in Vero Beach.
Play will begin Wednesday with opening matches featuring world-ranked players starting at 11:45 am with a feature match at 4:30 pm. Quarterfinal matches are scheduled to be played on Thursday followed by the semifinals at 10 am on Friday and the final on Friday at 5 pm.
The full draw and schedule can be seen on TennisLink here:
https://tennislink.usta.com/Tournaments/TournamentHome/Tournament.aspx?T=235635#&&s=7Draws3
Matches will be best-of-three set matches with a 10-point Match Tiebreaker played in lieu of a third set. Admission is free.
Segura, 18, won this wild card event last year at Sea Oaks defeating Jack Vance of Henderson, Nevada in the final. A resident of Apopka, Fla., Segura earned a main draw entry into the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships with the tournament win where he lost in the first round to Nico Mejia of Colombia. One of the top junior players in the nation, Segura hits with a two-handed forehand and backhand just as his great uncle Pancho did during his Hall of Fame career.
Mercer, 18, is one of the top junior tennis players in the country and a recruit to play for the No. 1-ranked Ohio State Buckeyes men’s tennis team starting in 2020. A native of Huntington, West Virginia, Mercer comes from a family of standout tennis players as both his parents and older sister played Division I college tennis, while his younger brother is also a nationally ranked junior.
Battistone, 39, is best-known for having the most unique serve and most tennis racquet in tennis. The Las Vegas resident uses a volleyball-styled jump serve where he leaps into the court, switches his racket hand in mid-air and hits the ball before landing on court. He also uses a unique two-handled racquet, unlike anything seen anywhere else in the sport of tennis.
Other entrants include Vance, the singles finalist from last year from Henderson, Nevada, Vero Beach Tennis Club’s James and Joseph van Deinse, former Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation pupil Emilio Van Cotthem of Fort Pierce among others. International entries include Tommaso Carnevale Miino of Italy and Bernardo Costa of Brazil. Players from 11 states are also represented in the draw.
The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation will also host a qualifying wild card tournament – or a pre-qualifying event –and a main draw doubles wild card event at The Boulevard Tennis Club April 24-27. To enter and for more information, go here on the UTR website: https://www.myutr.com/events/3744
The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships is the USTA’s $25,000 ITF World Tennis Tour event that has been played in Vero Beach since 1995 and 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 children, named for Vero Beach native son Mardy Fish, the former top 10 tennis star and the newly-named 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 Daily tickets cost $20 with daily “night” tickets purchased after 5 pm cost $10. Season tickets for all sessions cost $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 or Randy Walker at RWalker@NewChapterMedia.com
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.