The Boulevard

Recent Mardy Fish Tennis Competitors Play In Wimbledon Junior Finals

Randy Walker · July 10, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Michael Zheng and Alex Michelsen, who competed in the 2021 and 2022 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships at The Boulevard, both competed in junior finals at Wimbledon.

Zheng, who earned his first career ATP ranking point in the October 2021 edition of the event in Vero Beach, was defeated in the junior boys singles final to Croatia’s Mili Poljicak 7-6 (2), 7-6 (3). Michelsen, who played in Vero Beach in the 2022 event in April, paired with Sebastian Gorzny

Sebastian Gorzny to win the junior boys doubles title, defeating Paul Inchauspe and Gabriel Debru of France.7-6 (3), 6-3.

Zheng earned his first ATP ranking point in Vero Beach in October when he defeated Reece Falck of New Zealand in the first round on Court 5 at The Boulevard. Awarded a wild card entry by the U.S. Tennis Association, Zheng lost in the second round to eventual semifinalist Zeke Clark. Zheng, a resident of Montville, N.J., will be freshman at the Columbia University in the Fall. Michelsen, who was a USTA wild card entry into the 2022 MFCF Tennis Championships in April, was defeated in the first round by eventual champion Sekou Bangoura on the Stadium Court at The Boulevard. A University of Georiga commit, Michelsen also was a doubles finalist at the Australian Open junior championships and won the singles and doubles titles at the Easter Bowl in March.

Perez-Blanco, Hamza Lose Close Doubles Contest At Mardy Fish Tennis

Randy Walker · April 27, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Local Vero Beach teaching pros Chase Perez Blanco of the Quail Valley Club and Slim Hamza of The Moorings Club entertained about 500 enthusiastic fans Tuesday night competing in a main draw doubles match at an official professional tennis tournament at the $15,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships at The Boulevard. The two received the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation automatic wild card for the winner and runner-up of the annual “King of the Hill” competition, benefitting Youth Guidance, won by Perez-Blanco. The dup faced Joshua Sheehy of Arlington, Texas and Jakub Wojcik of Delray Beach, Florida and had two set points at 6-4 in the first-set tiebreaker, but lost 7-6 (9-7) 6-4.

Wojcik saved the first set point in the first-set tiebreaker with a ferocious backhand return at 6-4 as you can see here Jakub Wojcik Saves Set Point In Mardy Fish Doubles Against Slim Hamza Serve https://youtu.be/8LFgFbby-Rk and with an unreturnable serve to save the second set point here https://youtu.be/OonkUFAlP7U

The post-match on-court interview with Sheehy and Wojcik can be found here https://youtu.be/f3VHGDcxbX8

The post-match on-court interviews with Hamza and Perez-Blanco can be found here: https://youtu.be/xkkR0Mv8r-k

Slim Hamza, Chase Perez-Blanco pose with some of their fans

Matthew Segura To Play 2022 Mardy Fish Tennis Monday Feature Night Match

Randy Walker · April 25, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Matthew Segura, the great nephew of Hall of Famer Pancho Segura, will play the feature night match on the opening day Monday of the $15,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships ITF World Tennis Tour U.S. Tennis Association Pro Circuit event at The Boulevard.

Segura will face off against 15-year-old Meecah Bigun of Phoenix, Arizona not before 6 pm on the Stadium Court at The Boulevard.

Segura has built a strong following in Vero Beach after winning the Mardy Fish “Wild Card” event at the Sea Oaks Beach & Tennis Club for three years in a row from 2018, 2019 and 2020. Segura, known for his ambidextrous playing style, also reached the final of the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships in 2020 when it was held as a Universal Tennis (UTR) event. In 2021, Segura earned his first ATP ranking points in Vero Beach when he reached the quarterfinals, beating former U.S. Davis Cup and Olympic team member Donald Young en route.

Two Vero Beach local players, Juan Sebastian Mendoza and James van Deinse, were able to slide into the draw at the last minute via wild cards from the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation. Mendoza was the No. 1 player from Vero Beach High School’s boy’s tennis team in 2021 and is taking a year off before playing college tennis. Van Deinse is the owner and tennis pro at the Vero Beach Tennis Club and is the current tennis coach at Vero Beach High School. Mendoza will play second on the Grandstand Court on Monday (at approximately 1:30 pm) against Juan Victor Couto Lourierio of Brazil, ranked No. 1293 in the ATP rankings. Van Deinse will play the second match on Stadium (at approximately 1 pm) against Isnardi Escurra, a Davis Cup team member for Paraguay.

The third Stadium match for Monday will feature Jake Krug of Duke University, the grandson of famed ESPN College Basketball announcer Dick Vitale, playing Kevin Major, a Davis Cup player from The Bahamas.

The full schedule for Monday can be found here: https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/2022-pro-circuit/20220425_vero_beach_m15/OP.pdf

The qualifying singles draw can be found here: https://www.usta.com/content/dam/usta/2022-pro-circuit/20220425_vero_beach_m15/QS.pdf

Tuesday’s play will feature the final round of singles qualifying and the first round of doubles play. Main draw singles play will begin on Wednesday. The draws for main draw singles and doubles will be made Monday.

Matthew Segura celebrates his first ATP ranking point at the 2021 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships

Henner Lenhardt Wins 2022 “King of the Hill” 50s Title

Randy Walker · February 18, 2022 · Leave a Comment

Henner Lenhardt of Sea Oaks was the winner of the 2022 “King of the Hill” 50s division at The Boulevard tennis club, beating out second-place finishers Tim Brueggemann and Christophe Delavaut in front of about 300 enthusiastic tennis fans. Emile DeCuba, who substituted for an injured Joe Biedenharn, finished in fourth.

It was the seventh time that Lenhardt has won title at KOTH, the local Vero Beach tennis competition showcasing local tennis talent, mainly among teaching pros. The event benefits Youth Guidance in Vero Beach.

Delavaut qualified for the final after an inspirational performance in the semifinals as a last-minute substitute as you can read here: https://tennisverobeach.com/index.php/2022/02/06/comeback-kid-christophe-delavaut-unexpectedly-stars-at-king-of-the-hills-50s-division/

To read more about Henner, click here: https://www.seaoaksbeachandtennis.com/about/personnel/henner-lenhardt

The men’s 40s final, featuring 1986 French Open runner-up Mikael Pernfors will be held Thursday, February 26 at 6 pm and the Open Division will be Thursday, March 3 at 6 pm. The winner and runner-up of the Open Division will receive a main draw doubles wild card. The Open Division finalists are Joseph Van Deinse of the Vero Beach Tennis Club, Chase Perez Blanco of Quail Valley, Robert Kowalczyk of The Boulevard and Slim Hamza of The Moorings. Tickets are $10.

Comeback “Kid” Christophe Delavaut Unexpectedly Stars at “King of the Hill” 50s Division

Randy Walker · February 6, 2022 · 3 Comments

By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

Comeback stories in pro tennis get a lot of attention.

Most recently, of course, you had Rafael Nadal, having not played competitive tournament tennis in almost six months due to a knee injury, winning his record-breaking 21^st major singles title at the Australian Open.

Back in 2017, Roger Federer won the Australian Open in similar circumstances. Billie Jean King had many comebacks in her career from knee surgeries and Monica Seles came back after an on-court stabbing.

In the cozy beachside community of Vero Beach, Florida, there was another tennis comeback that virtually no one is talking about, but is just as inspiring to an extent.

Christophe Delavaut, the popular and charismatic director of tennis at Vero Beach’s The Boulevard Tennis Club, had not played any type of competitive tennis in nine months and, more incredibly, was six months removed from major heart surgery. He only recently returned to the court to teach lessons.

But after a last minute scratch at the club at the town’s competitive “King of the Hill” tournament, that benefits at-risk children in Vero Beach, Delavaut was thrust back into competitive tennis.

During the staging of the opening round of the 50-and-over edition of the event on Thursday, February 3, Gabriel Barnabei of The Legacy club was a late scratch for the event minutes before the start of play, and Delavaut, three decades plus removed from his Division II All-American college career at Franklin Pierce College, was the only qualified and available last-minute substitute. The show must go on and there were over 150 paying fans – as well as sponsors – who paid money to watch tennis and raise money for the local charity, Youth Guidance.

“Hope you are going to pull out the compression socks,” said a club member to Delavaut, known for wearing colorful versions of the wraps around his calves, as he walked to his office to prepare for play.

The color choice for this evening was blinding bright pink.

After the first of three set rotations on the court (each player playing a set with each player), Karim Balagh, who works for Delavaut as a pro at The Boulevard, pulled his hamstring and could barely walk, let alone play.

Christian Docter, the 20-something pro at Sea Oaks who was watching his boss Joe Biedenharn play on the court, was then recruited to sub for Balagh so, once again, the show could go on. Of course, he could not advance into the final based on his age. So of the three remaining 50-something competitors on the court, two would advance to the final, along with the top two finishers from the other court of competitors.

Delavaut, Biedenharn, Docter and the fourth, Emile de Cuba of the Ocean Village club, then produced some of the most entertaining “King of the Hill” shot-making many could remember. Angled shots and precision volleys were the fired back and forth. Delavaut threw in an underhand ace of Docter and Biedenharn hit an around-the-post forehand winner off a sharply angled volley that certainly would have made the ESPN “Top 10” if someone had been filming with their Iphone.

Delavaut, and his pink compression socks, went from last minute replacement to then qualifying for the men’s 50 finals on February 17 along with Biedenharn and, from the other court, Henner Lenhardt from Sea Oaks and Tom Brueggeman, the winner of the event’s open division in 2001 and 2002.

The winner and runner-up of the King of the Hill “Open Division” (to be played Thursday March 3) receive a main draw wild card doubles entry in to the $15,000 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships ITF World Tennis Tour and USTA Pro Circuit event to be played April 25-May 1.