Vero Beach locals Andrew Butz, the former standout player from St. Edwards school and the University Florida, and “King of the Hill” champion Chase Perez-Blanco of the Quail Valley Club, will take on two ATP ranked professionals, Paul Oosterbaan of Kalamazoo, Michigan and Andrew Watson of Great Britain in Tuesday’s feature 6:45 pm night match in the opening round of doubles at the $25,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships at The Boulevard tennis club in Vero Beach.
Perez-Blanco earned a doubles wild card by winning Vero Beach’s annual “King of the Hill” competition and is a former University of Florida standout who ranks No. 6 all-tie in school tennis history for most combined singles and doubles victories. Perez-Blanco was set to play with the second-place “King of the Hill” finisher Nandor Solymosi, also a teaching pro at Quail Valley, but Solymosi was unable to play due to injury and Butz was chosen to take his place. In 2017, Butz finished in a tie for second in the “King of the Hill” competition with Mike Alford of Quail Valley, but graciously ceded the wild card opportunity for Alford to play with event winner James van Deinse. Butz is a two-time Florida 1A state singles champion at St. Edwards and added doubles state title in 2010 as a senior. He reached the third round of the USTA Boys National Tennis Championships in Kalamazoo, Mich., in 2010 and went on to play for the University of Florida..
“The King of Hill” is the annual doubles competition featuring tennis professionals from the Vero Beach area who compete in round-robin competitions on Tuesday nights to the determine the “king” of the local tennis professional. Proceeds from “King of the Hill” benefit the Youth Guidance Mentoring & Activities Program.
Oosterbaan, ranked No. 682 on the ATP singles rankings, is a former standout at the University of Georgia and stands at 6-foot-7, making him one of the tallest players in professional tennis. Oosterbaan has been training recently in Vero Beach at Grand Harbor. Watson is ranked No. 679 on the ATP computer and is a former standout at the University of Memphis.
Also highlighting Tuesday’s schedule is the start of main draw singles play. The Stadium Court Tuesday will feature three main draw singles matches starting at Noon where Watson will face No. 2 seed Bastian Malla of Chile. Matthew Segura, the two-time winner of the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships “Wild Card” tournament at Sea Oaks and the great nephew of Tennis Hall of Famer Pancho Segura, will play the second Stadium match against Zimbabwe Davis Cupper Takanyi Garanganga. The third Stadium match will feature a battle of U.S. Tennis Association Wild Card entries between Ron Hohmann of Oyster Bay, N.Y., a semifinalist at February’s Sea Oaks Wild Card tournament and the winner of the prestigious Easter Bowl singles title earlier this Spring, taking on Elliot Spizzirri of Greenwich, Conn.
Magnus Johnson of Naples, Florida, the winner of last week’s special pre-qualifying wild card tournament, will play in the final round of qualifying at approximately 2 pm on the Grandstand Court against Baker Newman, a member of the Davis Cup team from The Bahamas. The feature 5 pm match on the Grandstand will feature defending singles champion Juan Benitez of Colombia, pairing in doubles with Nick Chappell of Dallas, Texas against former University of Minnesota standouts Felix Corwin and Matic Spec. Spec, the No. 1 seed in the singles qualifying event, will play his final-round qualifying match against Dragos Ignat of Romania in the first match on Grandstand starting at noon.
Spec, from Slovenia, relayed a fun story Monday about his first interaction with the tournament’s namesake, Mardy Fish, or the Fish family.
“Back in 2014 during my freshman year, me and my teammate Felix Corwin played in the final of the Big 10 Indoor Championship, Felix ended up winning, but Mardy Fish shared the update on Twitter,” said Spec of Fish, the former top 10 world-ranked tennis player, 2004 Olympic silver medallist, now the U.S. Davis Cup captain.“We were all confused on what was going on and then someone told us he was from Minnesota and he follows Minnesota sports very closely.”
Upon arrival in Vero Beach this week to play in his International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tennis Tour event, Spec, and his former Golden Gopher teammate Corwin, were happy to meet Mardy’s father Tom, the co-director of the tournament who was raised White Bear Lake, Minnesota, and learn that he too was a University of Minnesota graduate and walk-on member of the men’s tennis team. Fish, and his wife Sally, then opened up their home to the two rookie tennis pros and allowed them to stay with them to offset their expenses and help some former Golden Gophers.
Spec was the first player to take the court Monday at The Boulevard tennis club and made easy work of the uniquely-named Kahaka’loikamalie Companion of Honolulu, Hawaii, winning 6-1, 6-0 in his first round of the 32-player qualifying tournament.
“I’m happy with the way I played today,” said Spec. “I kinda wanted to get into the rhythm ahead of the upcoming tough matches. I tried to do the things the right way and get a good feeling about the ball and the court, also settling for the next couple of days.”
Spec has been on the pro circuit for almost a year, but has lofty goals in the sport.
“My ultimate goal is to reach the top-100 on the ATP rankings list,” he said. “But I’m trying to develop my game as good as I can in order to win some Futures (entry-level) tournament sand go to the next level. I will give myself a couple of years and see how it goes before deciding what to do next.”
Spec is one of 16 players who won first round qualifying matches Monday and will play in final-round qualifying matches Tuesday to attempt to enter the 32-player main draw of the event.
Several players who play Davis Cup for their nations were also in action Monday. Former LSU standout Boris Arias, a member of Bolivia’s Davis Cup team, defeated Chris Rosensteel of East Windsor, N.J. 6-1, 3-6, (10-6) and Newman of the Davis Cup team from The Bahamas defeated Mwendwa Mbithi of Coconut Creek, Fla. 6-4, 6-0. Kyle Johnson of Charlotte, N.C., who plays Davis Cup for El Salvador, was defeated by Romania’s Ignat 6-3, 6-4. Rowland Phillips, who plays Davis Cup for Jamaica, won his first round match over Mihnea Turco of Romania 4-6, 7-5, 10-6.
“It is my first time here in Vero Beach but I heard really good things about the tournament,” said Arias. “Everyone told me it is very well-organized event and there’s a lot of people watching the matches. The atmosphere is great.”
The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships 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.
Tournament tickets and sponsorships for the event can be purchased at www.MardyFishChildrensFoundation.org 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 Tfish10s@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.
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.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:
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
Tournament sponsors for 2019 include Presenting Sponsor PNC Bank, Grand Slam Sponsors Boston Barricade, George E. Warren Corporation and the Jake Owen Foundation, Cabana/Box Seat Sponsors John’s Island Real Estate, John Klein, Gene Simonsen, TeamChristopher.com, Dan Holman, Hadleigh Investments, Pene Chambers / Lynn Southerly, Lace and Bob Milligan / Mickey and Rob Stein, William Barhorst, CPA, Michael and Kathleen Pierce, The Pitcher Family, Shirley Becker, Scoreboard Sponsor Fit for Life / Syde Hurdus Foundation Backhand Sponsors Vero Beach Magazine, Rossway Swan, Nalzaro Music, Coastal Van Lines, Diamond Resorts International, Forehand Sponsors Karen and Steve Rubin, Mike and Meg Hickey / Premier Estate Properties, Shaklee / Suzie Sunkel, Indian River Animal Hospital – Charles B. Johnson, DVM, Marjorie Johnson, DVM, MS, DAVP, Serve Sponsors Cravings, Bistro Fourchette, Willem and Marion DeVogel, Foglia Custom Homes Topspin Sponsors Alex MacWilliam Real Estate, Eternal Water, Kit Fields Realtor, Patrick Williams / Tom Collins Insurance, Riverside Café, MinuteMan Press, Center Court Tennis Outfitters, Drop Shot Sponsors Treasure Coast Financial Planning, Inc., Peter and Judith Saidel, Deb Benjamin, Paul & Linda Delaney, Stewart Dunn, Susan Flannery (Aluma Tower), Tom Flannery (Malesardi, Quackenbush, Swift and Company LLC, Jim & Suzi Keegan, Don Moyle, Dee Patberg, Fran Smyrk (Treasure Coast Sotheby’s), Gary & Beth Williams, ABCO Garage Door Company, Inc., Barker Air Conditioning & Heating, Busy Bee Lawn & Garden Center, Coastal Comforts at the Village Shops, Colton, Williams & Reamy, CPAs, Complete Electric, Inc., Complete Restaurant Equipment, LLC, Glacier Clear Pool Service, Jack’s Complete Tree Service, Inc., Jimmy’s Tree Services, Ken’s Pool Service, ML Engineering, Inc., Nozzle Nolen, Inc., O’Haire, Quinn, Casalino, Chartered, Rich Look Lawn Care, Rick’s Custom Care, Statewide Condominium Insurance, Steve Supplee Construction LLC, Summit Construction of Vero Beach, LLC, Sunshine Furniture, White Glove Moving & Storage and Wilco Construction, Inc.
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