Gianni Ross and Sam Riffice, two up-and-coming American juniors who are currently working under the tutelage of tennis Hall of Famer and Vero Beach resident Ivan Lendl, were awarded main draw singles wild card entries into the 2016 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships to be played April 22 – May 1 at The Boulevard Tennis Club in Vero Beach, Florida.
Ross and Riffice are working with Lendl as part of Lendl’s new role with the USTA’s Player Development program, where former standout players, including USTA Vero Beach Futures tournament namesake Mardy Fish, are working with young American players in consulting roles.
Tickets are available for the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships at www.VeroBeachTennisTickets.com and at the gate. Individual main draw tickets cost $20 and tournament passes, good for all tournament sessions, cost $100. All profits from the event benefit The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation.
“We are excited to have two promising young American tennis talents in Gianni and Sam compete here in Vero Beach,” said tournament director Tom Fish. “They are very fortunate to be under the guidance of Vero Beach’s own Ivan Lendl, who is one of the greatest champions in tennis history and one of the best coaches in the game.”
Ross, a 17-year old from Boca Raton, Fla., is fresh off winning the Easter Bowl singles title in California, one of the most prestigious titles in junior tennis. He earned his first ATP point last November at the USTA Pro Circuit event in Pensacola, Fla., and is ranked No. 70 in the ITF world junior singles rankings.
Riffice, a 17-year old from Roseville, Calif., will be competing in his fourth Futures level tournament and will be seeking his first ATP points in Vero Beach. He is currently ranked No. 44 in the ITF world junior singles rankings and was a finalist at the recent the USTA International Spring Championships.
Lendl, 56, is a former world No. 1 who won three US Open, three French Open and two Australian Open titles from 1984-90, and his 94 ATP World Tour titles rank second all-time. From 2012 to early 2014, Lendl coached Andy Murray to his first two major singles titles, at the 2012 US Open and 2013 Wimbledon.
Previously announced main draw wild card entries into the event are Adam Ambrozy of St. Petersburg, and Pietro Rimondini of Boca Raton, Fla., who won the singles wild card tournaments in Orlando and Palm Beach Gardens, Florida respectively, and the doubles team of Igor Schattan and Antonio Balau of Brazil and Montverde, Florida, the winners of the doubles wild card tournament in Orlando.
Tickets for the qualifying rounds of the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships from April 22 – April 25 will cost $10, while tickets for the main draw of singles and doubles from April 26 – May 1 will be $20. Season tickets that include both the qualifying and main draw events cost $100. Advance tickets can be purchased at www.VeroBeachTennisTickets.com. Admission for children 18 and under is free. Fans can follow news and developments on the tournament on Facebook and on Twitter at @VeroFutures and by going to the website www.TennisVeroBeach.com
Starting in 2016, the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation is the new operator of the $10,000 “Futures” tennis tournament in Vero Beach, one of the longest-running and best attended events on the U.S. Tennis Association Pro Circuit. The tournament, now called The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, benefits the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation, the non-profit tennis foundation benefiting children, named for Vero Beach native son Mardy Fish, a former top 10 tennis star, U.S. Davis Cup hero and silver medalist at the 2004 Olympic Games. The event was managed for 20 years by Vero Beach tennis teaching professional Mike Rahaley, who made the annual Vero Beach stop one of the crown jewels on the USTA Pro Circuit. The 2016 tournament will be held April 22 through May 1 at The Boulevard Tennis Club.
Founded in 2007, the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation (www.MardyFishFoundation.com and @MardyFishFound on Twitter) currently supports over 2,100 children in 15 elementary schools and six middle schools in Indian River County, Florida by providing 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.” Mardy Fish recently completed his ATP professional tennis career at the 2015 U.S. Open, highlighted by a career-high ranking of No. 7, six ATP singles titles, eight ATP doubles titles and an Olympic silver medal in singles at the 2004 Olympics. He reached the quarterfinals at the Australian Open, Wimbledon and the U.S. Open and was a mainstay on the U.S. Davis Cup team from 2002 to 2012.
Some of the past competitors in Vero Beach 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 Australian Open semifinalist Milos Raonic among others. 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.