Two world-ranked players from Mexico, top American junior players and the recently-crowned “King of the Hill” champion highlight the field at this week’s “Wild Card” tournament for the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships being held Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday at The Boulevard Tennis Club in Vero Beach.
The winner of the event will receive a “wild card” invitation to play in the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, the $15,000 U.S. Tennis Association Pro Circuit “Futures” event that will be held April 21-30 at Grand Harbor Golf and Beach Club.
Mexico’s Carlos Ramirez Uterman and Mauricio Resendiz Dominguez, who both currently have ATP World Tour rankings, highlight the “Wild Card” singles field, along with highly-regarded American junior Williams Howells, who competed in the main draw of last year’s Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, and 16-year-old Ivan Yatsuk of the United States. James Van Deinse of the Vero Beach Tennis Club, winner of the 22nd annual “King of the Hill” competition last week to earn a main draw doubles wild card into the Mardy Fish Futures, is also competing.
Admission to this “Wild Card” tournament is free and play begins Tuesday, Feb. 28 at 11 am and includes two of the “King of the Hill” finalists competing in evening matches – Van Deinse playing Viju George of the United States at 6 pm and Uterman playing Bryant Mohns of the United States at 7 pm.
Play continues with quarterfinal matches starting at 9:30 am on Wednesday, March 1 and semifinal matches later on Wednesday night at 6 pm. The final match will be played Thursday night, March 2 at 6 pm.
All matches are best of three sets with a 10-point Super Tiebreaker played in lieu of a third set.
The full event draw can be found below.
The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships is the USTA’s $15,000 Futures-level tournament 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 a U.S. Davis Cup standout.
Advance tickets – and sponsorships – for the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships are available at www.VeroBeachTennisTickets.com. Season tickets for all 10 days of the competition are available for $100. Daily by-one-get-one free tickets for the qualifying rounds April 21-24 are for sale for $10, with daily tickets for the main draw sessions April 25-30 for sale for $20. A special $10 “Happy Hour” ticket is available for $10 after 5 pm for night sessions on Tuesday, April 25 – Friday, April 28 that includes a featured 7 pm night match. Admission for children 18 and under is free. Approximately 3,000 fans annually attend the event, which is seen as one of the best-attended events in the world on the “Futures” level of professional tennis tournaments. The 2016 event featured 13 players who played Davis Cup for their country and was won by Jonas Luetjen of Germany, who defeated Latvian Davis Cupper Martins Podzus in the final.
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 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.
2017 “Wild Card” Tournament For Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships
Draw
Mauricio Resendiz Dominguez (MEX)
Vs. Bye (Next Match 9:30 am Wednesday)
11 am Tuesday
Emilio Van Cotthem (USA)
Vs. Richard Torres (USA)
6 pm Tuesday
James Van Deinse (USA)
Vs. Viju George (USA)
11 am Tuesday
Sage Leaman (USA)
Vs. Joel Link (GER)
William Howells (USA)
Vs. Bye (Next Match 9:30 am Wednesday)
Noon Tuesday
Alejandro Valencia (COL)
Vs. Drew Bochte (USA)
Noon Tuesday
Ivan Yatsuk (USA)
Vs. Dave Weltz (USA)
7 pm Tuesday
Bryant Mohns (USA)
Vs. Carlos Ramirez Uterman (MEX)
Leave a Reply