US Open

At The 2025 U.S. Open 12 Percent Of Men’s Singles Players Competed In Vero Beach

Randy Walker · October 18, 2025 · Leave a Comment

Did you know that 12 percent of the U.S. Open men’s singles draw was made up of player who have played in the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships? They were as follows…

Nishesh Basavareddy

Zach Svajda

Ben Shelton

Tommy Paul

Alejandro Tabilo

Yoshihito Nishioka

Frances Tiafoe

Alex Michelsen

Nicolas Jarry

Miomir Kecmanovic

Ethan Quinn

Eliot Spizzirri

Jerry Shang

Reilly Opelka

Denis Shapovalov

Notable performances from the 2025 U.S. Open are as follows…

JACK KENNEDY and KEATON HANCE

Jack Kennedy of Huntington, N.Y. and Keaton Hance of Torrance, Calif., who were the doubles runner-up at the 2025 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, won the U.S. Open junior boys doubles title in an “All-American” and “All-Mardy Fish Futures” final, beating Noah Johnston of Anderson, S.C. and Ben Willwerth of Jupiter, Fla., who also played in Vero Beach last April, in the final. Kennedy and Hance, who won the final by a 6-3, 1-6, (10-8) were the only Americans to win a title at the 2025 U.S. Open.

COOPER WOESTENDICK and COOPER WILLIAMS

Cooper Woestendick, who won the 2024 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships doubles title with Alex Razeghi, was a wild card entry into the men’s doubles competition at the U.S. Open. He and partner Max Exsted won the doubles title at the USTA National Boy’s 18s Championships to earn their wild card and defeated the veteran team of David Goffin and Alex Mueller in the first round and extended the eventual doubles finalists, Joe Salisbury and Neal Skupski, to three sets in the second round, falling 6-4, 1-6, 6-3.

Cooper Williams, who earned his first ATP ranking point in Vero Beach in 2022, earned a main draw doubles wild card at the U.S. Open by virtue of winning the USTA’s U.S. Open Collegiate Doubles Wild Card tournament in June with Duke teammate Theo Winegar. Williams and Winegar advanced into the second round where they lost a tight 7-6(7), 7-6 (3) encounter on the Grandstand Court to No. 4 seeds Kevin Krawietz and Tim Puetz of Germany.

GARRETT JOHNS

Garrett Johns of Atlanta and Duke University, who won the 2024 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, received a wild card entry into the qualifying rounds of 2025 U.S. Open and rallied for two impressive wins before falling one round before reaching the main draw. Ranked No. 305, John upset fellow American Colton Smith (ranked No. 133) in the first round and Oliver Crawford of Great Britain (No. 230) before losing to Switzerland’s Leandro Riedi (ranked No. 435) 7-6(5), 6-4. Reidi, of course, went on to reach the round of 16 of the main draw before losing to Alex DeMinaur.

DENIS SHAPOVALOV

Denis Shapovalov, who reached the semifinals in 2016 in Vero Beach, was one of two players to win a sent off of Jannik Sinner en route to the final. Shapovalov lost to Sinner 5-7, 6-4, 6-3, 6-3 in the third round.

NISHESH BASAVAREDDY

Nishesh Basavareddy, who won his first pro title in doubles in Vero Beach in 2022, lost in the first round at the U.S. Open to former U.S. Open semifinalist and Tokyo Olympic Games silver medalist Karen Khachanov 67, 63 75 61

ZACH SVAJDA

Zach Svajda played in the qualifying rounds in Vero Beach in 2019 at the age of 15 before reaching the second round of the main draw. Later that year, he won the first of two USTA National Boy’s 18s Championships that earned him main draw wild cards into the U.S. Open. Svajda advanced into the main draw of the 2025 U.S. Open and gave 24-time major champion Novak Djokovic all sorts of trouble in a second round match on Arthur Ashe Stadium before falling 6-7(5), 6-3, 6-3, 6-1

Now On The Grand Slam Stage, Jerry Shang Still Fondly Remembers Vero Beach

Randy Walker · August 27, 2024 · Leave a Comment

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

It’s been almost three years since Jerry Shang won the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships in Vero Beach, but even after cruising up the ATP rankings and playing all four Grand Slam tournaments he still speaks so highly of his time on the Treasure Coast.

“I still remember every match like it was a week ago,” said Shang after winning his first ever U.S. Open main draw match, upsetting No. 27 seed Alexander Bublik 6-4, 3-6, 5-7, 6-3, 6-4.

Shang, still a teenager at age 19, entered the 2024 U.S. Open with a career-high ATP ranking of No. 72. When he played in Vero Beach in 2021 (then played in October due to COVID), he was still 16 years old and ranked No. 1041 on the ATP computer and also being the world’s No. 1 junior. He defeated the No. 2 seed Damien Wenger of Switzerland, No. 8 seed Duarte Vale of Portugal and No. 6 seed Liam Draxl en route to the final in Vero Beach where he defeated No. 3 seed Ricardo Rodriguez of Venezuela. It was Shang’s fifth career professional tournament and his third ITF World Tennis Tour tournament victory after having won in Fayetteville, Arkansas and Naples, Florida earlier in the Fall.

“The club was amazing and … Tom Fish, he’s a lovely person and he’s been helping me in that week so much with the practices, setting up practices with people, and I mean, just amazing place to be at, and hopefully I can visit soon.”

Shang made his debut at a Grand Slam tournament at the Australian Open in 2023 and defeated Oscar Otte in the first round to become the first Chinese man to win a main draw match at the Australian Open. He also reached the main draw at the French Open later that year and in 2024, he completed his main draw appearances at all four majors by reaching the second round at Wimbledon and then getting into the U.S. Open as a main draw direct entry. His best Grand Slam performance came at the 2024 Australian Open where he reached the third round of the Australian Open, losing to Carlos Alcaraz.

“Here at the U.S. Open, obviously it’s much different to juniors and also Futures and Challenger levels,” Shang said after his win over Bublik. “But I think everyone is here with the same goal, just to try to be the better version of themselves. Me as well. So just going day by day. Let’s see where I get to.”

The 2025 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships will be held April 21-27 at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club.

Cooper Williams Winning Aussie Open Boys’ Doubles Title Gives 2023 Mardy Fish Competitors Three Junior Boys’ Doubles Majors

Randy Walker · January 29, 2023 · Leave a Comment

American junior tennis players who played in the 2022 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships are getting this Grand Slam junior boys doubles title thing down.

Cooper Williams, the 17-year-old from New York who reached the second round of the 2022 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, became the third straight player from the 2022 Vero Beach event to win a Grand Slam tournament junior doubles title when he and partner Learner Tien won the junior boys’ doubles title at the Australian Open. Williams and Tien defeated top seeds Alexander Blockx of Belgium and Joao Fonseca of Brazil 6-4, 6-4 in the final.

Williams joins his fellow Vero Beach tournament competitors from April of 2022, Nishesh Basavareddy of Carmel, Indiana and Alex Michelsen of Aliso Viejo, California, as junior doubles winners at Grand Slams since playing in Vero Beach.

Michelsen, who lost in the first round of singles in Vero Beach to eventual champion Sekou Bangoura, won the Wimbledon junior doubles title with Sebastian Gorzny. Michelsen paired with Williams in doubles in Vero Beach, losing in the first round.

Basavareddy won the junior boys doubles title at the U.S. Open with Ozan Baris, before heading off to play for Stanford University. Basavareddy lost in the first round of singles in Vero Beach in 2022, but, as a wild card entry, won the doubles title with Vero Beach fan favorite Ricardo Rodriguez.

The 2023 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships will be held April 24-30 at a new location, the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club at Timber Ridge.

Junior boys doubles winners at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open (clockwise)

Frances Tiafoe: From Vero Beach In 2014 To U.S. Open Hero In 2022

Randy Walker · September 12, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Frances Tiafoe, who dazzled crowds with his breakthrough performance in reaching the semifinals of the 2022 U.S. Open, is one of the many great players who have played in the Vero Beach USTA Pro Circuit event, the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships.

In 2014, Tiafoe competed in Vero Beach at The Boulevard in his first year of playing professional tournaments while still a junior tennis player. At the age of 16, playing in only his fourth pro level tournament and ranked No. 1296 on the ATP Rankings, Tiafoe reached the second round in Vero Beach, losing to former University of Florida standout Greg Ouellette. The 2014 edition of the tournament also featured American stars Tommy Paul, who earned his first career ATP ranking point in Vero Beach, and Reilly Opelka, both of whom played in the qualifying rounds of the tournament.

Tiafoe’s first career match at a pro tournament, interesting enough, was earlier in 2014 at a USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Florida where he lost 6-0, 6-0 in the first round to Sekou Bangoura, the 2022 singles champion in Vero Beach.

Read of Frances (who was mistakenly had his name spelled “Francis” in draws and news reports) from 2014 in Vero Beach here http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/10487 and from the Washington Post here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/sports/wp/2014/05/17/an-improbable-tennis-prodigy/

Tiafoe staged one of the greatest wins by an American man at the U.S. Open in the last 20 years when he defeated 22-time major winner Rafael Nadal in the fourth round on Labor Day Monday. He followed up the victory with a win over Andrey Rublev of Russia before falling in a dramatic and entertaining semifinal to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz.

Frances Tiafoe on Arthur Ashe Stadium at the U.S. Open in 2022 (left) and Frances Tiafoe on Court 4 at The Boulevard in Vero Beach at the 2014 version of the modern-day Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships

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

manfr3dw · September 12, 2022 · Leave a Comment

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.”