Seventeen-year-old Matthew Segura, the great nephew of Hall of Famer Pancho Segura, earned a main draw wild card entry into the 2018 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships by winning the special “Wild Card” tournament at Sea Oaks tennis club.
Playing in front of an enthusiastic crowd of over 500 fans during the Friday night final, Segura defeated 20-year-old Jack Vance of Las Vegas, Nevada 6-3, 6-4, dazzling the crowd with his ambidextrous ground-strokes, including a two-handed forehand that was cultivated by his great uncle, who first made the stroke famous when playing in the 1940s and 1950s. Segura, who recently moved from Los Angeles to Apopka, Fla., was tutored by his great uncle Pancho during the later year of his life, working with young Matthew on court with the assistance of a cane and later in a wheelchair. Pancho encouraged Matthew and his father Jeff to not change Matthew’s natural two-handed forehand stroke, despite some teaching pros encouraging them to abandon it.
The tournament victory places Segura into the 32-player singles field at the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, April 20-29 at Grand Harbor, where he will competing against other aspiring tennis pros from around the world. Tom Fish, the chairman of the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation, officially awarded Segura with his wild card invitation following his victory, as seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=5As8MQS5IaY
The tournament marked the second time that Vero Beach has hosted a special “Wild Card” singles tournament for the annual USTA Pro Circuit “Futures” tournament. Last year, the event was held at The Boulevard club and was on won by Ivan Yatsuk of Bradenton, Florida in a three-hour-and-14-minute final. Yatsuk, a six-foot-five Belarussian-American, was the top-seed at the Sea Oaks event, but was defeated by Segura in the semifinals 6-0, 7-5.
Eighteen players from around the country – from eight states including from Alaska – traveled to Vero Beach to compete in the event. Players raved about the enthusiastic crowds at Sea Oaks, stating that they far exceeded in size and enthusiasm that they normally see on the ATP Challenger Tour and also at some ATP World Tour events. The atmosphere at the event can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2C8Mn5Zke90 and also here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=2WjB23r0qlM
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.
Advance tickets for the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships are available at www.VeroBeachTennisTickets.com. Admission for children 18 and under is free. 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 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.
