Davis Cup players from Ireland, Antigua, Jamaica join a group of local Vero Beach locals highlight the opening day of play at the $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships at Grand Harbor Golf & Beach Club. Play begins at 8 am Friday and will continue for approximately 12 hours as 64 matches are played.
Fourteen-year-old Vero Beach High School freshman Trey Olmstead joins brothers James and Josephe Van Deinse, the owners of the Vero Beach Tennis Club, as well as former Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation pupil Emilio Van Cotthem of Fort Pierce in the 128-player field that will determine eight qualifiers into the main draw of the event.
Olmstead will take on Vasco Belaunde of Peru not before 2 pm, while both Van Deinse brothers play not before 9 am – James van Deinse playing No. 6 seed Christopher Haworth of Oklahoma City, Oklahoma. while Joseph van Deinse takes on fellow American Boris Kozlov, the younger brother of ATP World Tour pro Stefan Kozlov. Van Cotthem plays Dejon Bivens of Charlotte, N.C.
Also in the qualifying field include players who play Davis Cup for their country, including Rowland Philips of Jamaica, Jody Maginley of Antigua, and Julian Bradley of Ireland. Former top 50 player Evgeny Korolev of Kazakhstan and Christian Vinck of Germany, who reached the third round of at Wimbledon in 2000, are also in the field.
To view the full singles draw, click here: file:///C:/Users/Rwalker/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/QRY372XN/QS%20(25).pdf
To view the full order of play for Friday, click here: file:///C:/Users/Rwalker/AppData/Local/Microsoft/Windows/INetCache/Content.Outlook/QRY372XN/OP%20(16).pdf
“Honestly, it’s something we look forward to for the whole year to train for and to get to play in front of a good home crowd,” said James van Deinse of playing in the Mardy Fish USTA Futures event. “It’s really cool to be able to feel like some of the local guys that you’re practicing with are going to be in the big tournament.”
Van Deinse, 27, played in the singles qualifying tournament last year and he also had the opportunity to play in the doubles main draw with Quail Valley teaching pro Michael Alford, earning a main draw wild card by winning the annual “King of the Hill” doubles competition.
“It was a really good learning experience for me,” van Deinse said of his first round doubles loss last year. “Our opponents thanked us afterwards because they said it’s amazing how many people come to watch these matches because they don’t see that at the other tournaments.”
Van Cotthem played in the singles qualifying tournament last year and also viewed it as a learning experience. After playing in front of the large crowd in the qualifying rounds in Vero Beach last year as a 15-year-old, he believes he is better prepared for the event this year.
“I think what I learned from last year is how to deal with the crowd a little better. I was a little, let’s say, tight last year at the beginning of the match,” van Cotthem said. “I know how to deal with that pressure or the nerves you get when there’s a lot of people, so I’ve adjusted to that better.”
Despite losing in the first round last year, van Cotthem was more than excited to return this year. He is also looking forward to the chance to play against some of the top players in the world again.
“This is a really well-run tournament, it’s local, and it’s just fantastic. The experience last year, I would say, is what brought me back,” van Cotthem said. “It’s just great exposure to be able to compete against these types of players and have these opportunities.”
For 14-year-old Olmstead, it will be his first professional event, and it comes in the midst of a run to the state championship for high school tennis. After winning the district doubles championship on Tuesday, Olmstead and his partner will be heading to the state tournament in a couple of weeks. He also earned a berth into the regional tournament next week for singles.
Olmstead is coached at Vero Beach High School by James van Deinse, so he is well aware of what it will be like when he steps on court on Friday. He is also no stranger to playing in front of loud, local crowds, as he won a doubles tournament at Quail Valley last year.
“I was one of the youngest players to win it and there were a lot of locals cheering me on because I was the youngster of the tournament, and it was great,” Olmstead said. “It’s really helpful for me to have a lot of people cheering me on and I think it’s great to have that local vibe.”
Being just a freshman, Olmstead isn’t quite sure of what his future plans for tennis are, but he knows that school is his main priority for now.
“I’m really focusing on my academic standards right now,” said Olmstead, who is tied for first in his class out of about 850 students.
Olmstead and van Cotthem both have high goals for when it comes to college tennis, and it’s clear that they both take pride in their academics based on where they want to attend college.
“If I could go to Harvard to play tennis, that would be a dream for me,” Olmstead said.
“Any Ivy League school would be great,” said van Cotthem.
The 128-player qualifying tournament will determine the final eight entrants into the 32-player main draw singles tournament that runs Tuesday, April 24-29. Play is expected to run through 8 pm on Friday and Saturday and until about 3 pm on Monday. Main draw play begins Tuesday, April 24 at noon and is highlighted by two more locals, Alford, the teaching pro at the Quail Valley Club, playing with long-time Vero Beach resident Robert Kowalczyk, who owns Vero Beach’s Man-O-War Fishing Company, competing in the doubles competition. Alford and Kowalczyk will play Tuesday’s feature 7 pm match.
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.
Tournament tickets and sponsorships are now on sale and can be purchased at www.VeroBeachTennisTickets.com Tickets for the qualifying rounds from April 20 – April 23 cost $10, while tickets for the main draw of singles and doubles from April 24 – 29 are $20, with “night session” tickets starting at 5 pm from April 24-27 costing $10. Season tickets that include both the qualifying and main draw events cost $100. 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. More info on the event can be found at www.TennisVeroBeach.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. 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 for the 2018 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships are led by Presenting Sponsor PNC Bank and Grand Slam Sponsors Boston Barricade, George E. Warren Corporation, Jake Owen Foundation, Syde Hurdus Foundation / Fit For Life and Land Rover / Jaguar Treasure Coast, Backhand Sponsors Publix, Rossway Swan, Coastal Van Lines, White Orchid Spa, Foglia Contracting, Forehand Sponsors Steve Rubin, Willem and Marion de Vogel, Cravings, M&M Group – Keller / Williams Realty Vero Beach, Rosato Plastic Surgery, Riverside Café, Ocean Drive Elite Physiques, 14 Bones Barbeque, Gordon Food Service, Peter Bernholz, Swarovski, Soul Music, Minuteman Press and Elite Airways, Kit Fields Realtor / CharlotteTerry.com, Cabana Sponsors John’s Island, Gene Simonsen, Michael & Kathleen Pierce, William Barhorst CPA, Dan Holman, John Klein, Hadleigh Investments, TeamChristopher.com, Tom Collins, The Pitcher Family, Pene Chambers Group, Waldo and Candy Johnston, The Pappalardo Family, Mickey and Rob Stein, Lace and Bob Milligan and Drop Shot Sponsors Fresh Market, Brooklyn Bagel, Hutchinson’s Florist, Seaside Grill, A Pampered Life-Disney Spa, Avanzare, New Chapter Media, Smith & Company Landscaping, Center For Advanced Eye Care, Cast Electric, Citron of Vero Beach, Amerigas, Central Window of Vero Beach, Bill’s Audio and Video Innovations, ML Engineering, Capt. Bob’s Airboat Adventure, Busy Bee Lawn & Garden Center, Complete Restaurant Equipment, Wilco Construction, Nozzle Nolen, Southern Plumbing, Treasure Coast Sotheby’s, Jack’s Complete Tree Service, Complete Electric, Statewide Condominium Insurance, Abco Garage Door, O’Hair, Quinn, Casalino, Chartered, Rick’s Custom Care, Rich-Look Lawn Care, White Glove Moving & Storage, Coastal Comforts @ The Village Shops, Jimmy’s Tree Service, Thompsons Remodeling & Home Repairs, Summit Construction, Colton Williams & Reamy, Sunshine Furniture, Malesardi, Quackenbush, Swift, Aluma Tower Company, Alex MacWilliam, Inc., Charlotte Terry Real Estate, Ken’s Pool & Spa Repair, Vero Beach Orthopedics, Barker Air Conditioning & Heating, Treasure Coast Financial Planning, Engineered Services, Peter Bernholz, Deborah Benjamin, John & Faith Parker, Duke & Betty Foster, Paul & Linda Delaney, Timmy Wood, Gary and Beth Williams, Don Moyle, Chuck Pollard, Stewart Dunn, Leslie London – LL Vinyl Designs, Dara, Hunter and Thom Morgan
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