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Mardy Fish Children's Foundation

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

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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)

76-Year-Old Competes At Vero Beach International Women’s Pro Event At Grand Harbor

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The recent Vero Beach International women’s professional tennis tournament at Grand Harbor featured an actual tournament participant who was….76 years old.

Gail Falkenberg, who was born in 1947, signed in and was able to gain entry into the tournament’s qualifying rounds. She lost in her first round match 6-0, 6-0 in 37 minutes to former N.C. State college star Alana Smith, who is 63 years her junior.

Falkenburg grew up in New Jersey and attended UCLA where she played tennis, volleyball and basketball. A former women’s tennis coach at the Univ. of Central Florida, Falkenburg achieved a career high WTA ranking of No. 360 in 1987! She continues to played in USTA senior and ITF tennis events to showcase her competitive spirit at any stage in tennis that she can. In the main draw of the event at Grand Harbor, Marie Benoit of Belgium, ranked No. 300 on the WTA computer, won the singles title.

Gail Falkenberg

Mardy Fish Wins At Lake Nona….In Pro Celebrity Golf! (Again!)

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By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

Mardy Fish continued to stake the claim as the best celebrity golfer in the world by winning the celebrity division of the Hilton Grand Vacations LPGA Tournament of Champions at the Lake Nona Country Club, just on the other side of Lake Nona from the U.S. Tennis Association National Campus.

The former world No. 7 and 2004 Olympic silver medalist won the prestigious nationally-televised celebrity event for a fourth time. In the modified Stapleford scoring system format, Fish finished with 152 points with former baseball star Mark Mulder finishing a distant 15 points behind in second with 137 points and former LPGA star Annika Sorenstam finishing with 133 points.

“It was fun to watch him play so well this week. It was very impressive,” says NBC LPGA golf analyst Morgan Pressel, the niece of former top 10 tennis star Aaron Krickstein.

Added NBC and Golf Channel commentator Steve Sands, “And we know how important these things are to guys like Mardy. It was an amazing week and an amazing feeling for Fish. Good for him.”

In addition to winning the Orlando celebrity event for a fourth time (earning a first-prize paycheck of $100,000), Fish has also won the two other major celebrity golf events in Dallas, Texas last April and at the most famous celebrity golf event, the American Century Championships at Lake Tahoe in 2000. Jack Nicklaus also called Fish “the best non-professional golfer” he’s ever seen, as you can read here: http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/16360

Fish entered the Lake Nona event with limited practice, fine-tuning his eight-iron shot will playing the par 3 17th hole at The Windsor Club in his hometown of Vero Beach, Florida with each foursome who paid to play in his Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Golf Fundraiser.

“I hadn’t practiced all that much,” said Fish to NBC Sports in his post-victory interview. “Maybe there’s something to that, coming into this week. So going into the next one in Dallas in April, maybe I’m not hitting very many balls or anything like that, and see if I can get putting lesson from someone.”

Said Pressel of Fish, “He has played such incredible golf this week. He said coming into this week, it was the least prepared he had ever been for a competition like this, and yet it the best he has ever played.”

On what he will take away from the experience here this week playing alongside the top LPGA pros, Fish said. “That they’re a lot better than I am and better than almost everybody out there that’s watching, that’s for sure. Just made some really cool friendships and stuff and some gals that I get to watch compete and everything. So it’s a blast to be in the same group and watch them. I got to play with Annika (Sorenstam) yesterday, which was super cool. I’ve been looking forward to that for a long time, and trying to get with her and everything. So yes, it’s been a really fun week.”

Sea Oaks To Host Mardy Fish “Wild Card” Event February 22-24

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Sea Oaks Beach & Tennis Club will continue to be the traditional host of the “Wild Card” tournament for the $15,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships when the beautiful coastal tennis community hosts the 2023 event for a fifth time Wednesday, February 22 through Friday, February 24

The winner of the three-day tournament will receive a main draw “wild card” (or free entry) into the 2023 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, set to be played April 24-30 at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club at Timber Ridge. The runner-up will receive a “wild card” into the qualifying rounds of the tournament.

The event features up-and-coming competitive junior players, players just starting their professional tennis career and aspiring amateur players. The tournament is staged on the Universal Tennis platform (UTR). Players can sign up here: https://app.universaltennis.com/events/136050?_ref=randyw456&shared=true

The tournament has been staged at Sea Oaks since 2018, but was not held in 2021 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. Matthew Segura of Apopka, Florida, the great nephew of International Tennis Hall of Fame member Pancho Segura, won the tournament for the first three years that it was staged at Sea Oaks in 2018, 2019 and 2020. In 2022, Jibril Nettles from Detroit beat Cal Markowitz in the final to win the event.

Beginning in 2022, the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation commissioned a small cup for the tournament, named in honor of former Sea Oaks member and Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation board member Paul Delaney. “The Paul Delaney Cup” has the inscriptions of all of the winners of the Mardy Fish Sea Oaks wild card tournament and will remain in the tennis pro shop at Sea Oaks.

To watch a review video of the 2022 event, including the presentation of the Paul Delaney Cup by Linda Delaney, click here https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=LPrjyMuKvl8

Atmosphere at Sea Oaks during the Mardy Fish “Wild Card” tournament

“King of the Hill” Event For 2023 To Be Played Thursdays From January 19 to March 2

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The 2023 “King of the Hill” competition will start on Thursday January 19th at 6:00p.m. at The Boulevard Tennis Club in Vero Beach with the first round of the open division and run through Thursday, March 2.

Here are the groups and the schedule of play for the entire 2023 King of the Hill event:

Thursday January 19th at 6:00 p.m. first round of the Open Division on four courts:

Group Mardy Fish: Slim Hamza (The Moorings), Yohann Prinsen (Twin Oaks), Joseph Van Deinse (Vero Beach T.C.), Pavel Zhdanov (John’s Island)

Group Andy Roddick: Robert Kowalczyk (The Boulevard), Erik Turnquist (Orchid Island), James Van Deinse (Vero Beach T.C.), Eddie Majcher (Stuart)

Group Rafael Nadal: Ching Wang (Sea Oaks), Anton Loef (John’s Island), Christian Docter (Sea Oaks), Andrew Mignolet (Twin Oaks),

Group Andy Murray: Kainoa Rosa (Orchid Island), Razvan Ilie (Vero Beach), Tyler Rios (Port St. Lucie), Chris Mignolet (Twin Oaks)

The winner and the runner-up in the Open Division will once again receive a wild card to play in the main doubles draw of $15,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Championships, USTA Pro Circuit event to be held April 24-30 at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club at Timber Ridge.

Thursday January 26th at 6:00 p.m. semifinals 40’s Division on two courts:

Group Andre Agassi: Mikael Pernfors (The Boulevard), Mark Harrison (Melbourne), Nathan Dickens (Melbourne), Martin Illuzzi (The Legacy)

Group Peter Sampras: Lennart Jonason (John’s Island), Cullen DeWindt (Piper’s Landing), Billy Almeyda (Sea Oaks), Mario Cobo (Mariner Sands)

Thursday February 2nd at 6:00 p.m. semifinals 50’s Division on two courts:

Group Ilie Nastase: Henner Lenhardt (Aquarina), Joe Biedenharn (Sea Oaks), Micheal Phelipa (Suntree CC), Ed Shanaphy (The Boulevard)

Group Rod Laver: Tim Brueggeman (Vero Beach), Michael Van Dusen (Jupiter), Mario Cobo (Mariner Sands), Emile DeCuba (Ocean Village), 

Thursday February 9th at 6:00 p.m. – Semifinals Open Division on two courts

Thursday February 16th at 6:00 p.m.- 50’s Division Final

Thursday February 23rd at 6:00 p.m. – 40’s Division Final

Thursday March 2nd at 6:00 p.m. – Open Division Final

Winners of the 2022 King of the Hill:

50’s Division – Henner Lenhardt (Sea Oaks)

40’s Division – Mikael Pernfors (The Boulevard)

Open Division – Chase Perez Blanco (Quail Valley) 

Watch Pernfors, the 1986 French Open runner-up, speak after winning the 2022 KOTH title in the 40’s division here: https://youtu.be/NzQI99ipFLA via @YouTube

For more info, E-mail at Gigi Casaspu gcasapu@aol.com,  call or text message at 772-979-5582

James Van Deinse won “King of the Hill” Open Division in 2017