Features

Margot Carter, formerly of The Boulevard Club, is the new Director of Tennis for its operations at Riverside Racquet Complex in Vero Beach.   

Carter was formerly ranked at No. 451 in doubles on the WTA Tour. She is certified by the Professional Tennis Registry as a Professional Coach and Coach Developer. She also is a United States Professional Tennis Association Elite Professional. Ms. Carter has presented at multiple tennis workshops, including the Women Tennis Coaches Association Conference in New York in 2018, and the WTCA/ITA collaboration in Naples in 2018. 

“We conducted an extensive search for a director of tennis who understands what it takes to serve this community and grow tennis at Riverside. Margot’s exceptional tennis background, service mentality, and business acumen made her the clear choice to grow programs and play in this community,” said Laura Bowen, USTA Florida Executive Director.  

“I am very excited to apply my knowledge and experience to building programs on the courts at Riverside. I am eager to get started, and I encourage the community to come out and share your input with us,” Carter said. 

Carter began playing tennis at age 5 in Winchester, England. At age 18, she came to the United States to attend Tennessee Tech University, where she was awarded a full tennis scholarship. She competed in the top three of the university team and set a record at number five on the all-time season victories list.  Carter earned her bachelor’s degree in environmental biology. 

After college, Carter went on to compete on the professional tour, travelling around the world extensively and achieving a world doubles ranking high of No. 451. She returned to TTU as the assistant coach, and this time completed a Master of Science in Environmental Biology. 

Carter continued her coaching career, obtaining certifications from both PTR and USPTA and eventually formed her own company, Spherical Yellow, launching herself into the world of coaching and tennis full time. 

For more information on programs and activities at Riverside Racquet Complex, visit www.RiversideRacquetComplex.com. 

Read Ray McNulty’s story on Carter and the Riverside Park Tennis management by the USTA here: New Riverside Park tennis director ‘eager to get started’ – Vero News

Dan Martin of Canada and the University of Miami successfully fought through swirling 25 mph winds and came back from 3-5 down in the final set to beat Jaycer Lyeons of Houston 7-5, 1-6, 7-5 to win his first career ITF World Tennis Tour title at the $15,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships.
Martin, 22, entered the tournament unseeded in the 32-player field with a ranking of No. 1065 and earned 15 valuable ATP ranking points that will put him into the ATP top 1,000. However, Martin mainly entered the event to get in competitive shape before May’s NCAA singles championship. Martin, a senior at Miami after transferring from Dartmouth, is ranked No. 22 in the ITA collegiate singles rankings and will be a threat to win the singles title for the Hurricanes when he competes in late May at the USTA National Campus at Lake Nona.

WATCH a post-match one-on-one interview of Martin discussing his win here: https://youtu.be/el1_0gCpSWs

WATCH the trophy presentation and on-court interviews of both players here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=el1_0gCpSWs&t=12s

Lyeons, who now trains in Miami, was the last player added into the main draw of the event before the start of the qualifying event and ended up finishing second in his first ever ITF World Tennis Tour final. With an ATP ranking of No. 1,337 Lyeons was the last player not directly accepted into the main draw as of last Sunday night when the sign-in for the tournament concluded. However, the U.S. Tennis Association had only issued two of its three main draw wild cards (or free direct entries) and decided to award the last entry to Lyeons as the highest-ranked American not in the main draw. This allowed Lyeons to not have to win two qualifying round matches just to get into the main draw. Once in the main draw, Lyeons had a crazy run into the final first beating top American junior Kaylun Bigun in the first round. Lyeons battled top-seed and Romanian Davis Cupper Adrian Boitan in the second round the two fought until 3-3 in the third set, when rain delayed the match. After a three-hour delay, they resumed the match with only about 45 minutes of daylight remaining. Just after sunset, Lyeons led 4-1 in the final-set tiebreaker when Boitan asked for the match not to continued due to darkness, which was accorded. Lyeons, then sleeping on being only three points from the biggest win of his career, needed four points to close out the 6-4, 6-7 (6), 7-6(2) victory, saving three match points in the three-hour-plus epic. Lyeons then returned to the court a bit later on Friday and faced Dominican Davis Cupper Roberto Cid Subervi in the quarterfinals. Late in the first set, he became stricken with cramps, but was able to properly rehydrate and re-nourish himself and benefitting from Cid Subervi himself suffering from cramps and was able to advance when Cid Subervi retired due to his cramps after Lyeons won the second set. In the semifinals, Lyeons saved another match point, his fourth in the tournament, in his three-hour 18-minute semifinal win over Duarte Vale 7-5 in the third set.

Lyeons has only been playing pro tennis on the ITF World Tennis Tour since late July and this was his first career singles final.

In the doubles final, Peter Bertran of the Dominican Republic and Lorenzo Claverie of Italy defeating Americans Thomas Brown and Jake Bhangia 4-6, 7-6(3), 10-8.
WATCH the doubles ceremony and post-match interviews here: https://youtu.be/caidWS6AZpQ