Ivan Yatsuk

Matthew Segura, the great nephew of Hall of Fame tennis legend Pancho Segura, Ivan Yatsuk, the ATP-ranked, 6-foot-5 Belarussian-American, and Brian Battistone, the volleyball-style serving, double-grip-racquet wielding former top 100-ranked doubles player, highlight entries into the Mardy Fish USTA Futures “Wild Card” tournament held Wednesday, Feb. 28 through Friday, March 2 at Sea Oaks tennis club in Vero Beach.
Segura, Yatsuk and Battistone are among a group of aspiring players from around the country in the singles field of this tournament that will award a main draw singles “wild card” (tournament entry) into the 2018 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, the $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit “Futures” event held April 20-29 at Grand Harbor Golf and Beach Club in Vero Beach.
Play will begin Wednesday with opening matches starting at 11:30 am with a feature match at 4:30 pm. Quarterfinal matches will be played starting at 2 pm on Thursday followed by the semifinals at 10 am on Friday and the final on Friday at 5 pm.
The full draw and schedule can be seen on TennisLink here: http://tennislink.usta.com/Tournaments/TournamentHome/Tournament.aspx?T=220421#&&s=7Draws3
Matches will be best-of-three set matches with a 10-point Match Tiebreaker played in lieu of a third set until the final, which will be a traditional best-of-three-set match. Admission is free.
Segura, 17, is one of the top junior players in the nation and hits with a two-handed forehand and backhand just as his recently-passed great uncle Pancho did during his Hall of Fame career. Segura played in the Vero Beach Futures last year as a 16-year-old and reached the third round of the qualifying tournament.
Yatsuk, 17, was the winner of the Mardy Fish Futures wild card singles tournament played at The Boulevard with a dramatic 4-6, 6-4, 6-4 in three hours and 14 minutes over Germany’s Joel Link. With his wild card entry, he subsequently lost in the first round to Wimbledon hero Marcus Willis of Great Britain. He currently holds an ATP ranking of No. 1882.
Battistone, 38, is best-known for having the most unique serve and most tennis racquet in tennis. He uses a volleyball-styled jump serve where he leaps into the court, switches his racket hand in mid-air and hits the ball before landing on court. He also uses a unique two-handled racquet, unlike anything seen anywhere else in the sport of tennis.
Other entrants include former NCAA doubles finalist for USC and former ATP top 200 doubles player Nick Rainey, Vero Beach Tennis Club’s James and Joseph van Deinse and former Mardy Fish Children’s Founation pupil Emilio Van Cotthem. Players from eight states, including Eddie Lewis from Anchorage, Alaska, are in the field of 18 players.
The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation will also host a second wild card singles tournament at the USTA National Campus in Lake Nona, Florida, April 9-11. A special doubles wild card tournament will also be held at The Boulevard Club on April 21-22. All wild card tournaments are open to all entrants, but players must have sign-up and receive an official ITF pin number to compete in the main draw of the tournament.
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 for the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships 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. 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 Ttfish10s@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 events in the world on the “Futures” level of professional tennis tournaments.
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.
Founded in 2007, the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation (www.MardyFishFoundation.com and @MardyFishFound on Twitter) currently supports over 1700 children grades KDG-8th 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. Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation, collaborates with various community organizations, including Boys and Girls Club of Indian River County, Dasie Hope Bridgewater Center and LOTA Sports. Kids on Courts After School Tennis program is facilitated by LOTA Sports offering progressive tennis instruction from world class professionals. The Foundation introduced the “Six Healthy Habits” in 2012 Get Sleep; Drink Water; Exercise Daily, Eat Healthy; Brush and Floss; Make Friends. Fish achieved a career-high ranking of No. 7 in 2011 and won 14 career ATP singles and doubles titles in his career. After retiring from the ATP World Tour in 2015, Fish now competes on the celebrity pro golf tour and the PowerShares Series legends tennis tour while serving as a coach for the USTA Player Development Program and a TV commentator for ESPN.