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Mardy Fish Children's Foundation

Vero Beach

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)

Treasure Coast Tennis Association Year In Review For 2022

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by Tim Palmer

Treasure Coast Tennis Association

Lots of kids, loads of balls hit, many matches. That pretty much describes 2022 for the programs of the Treasure Coast Tennis Association, funded by the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation and the U.S. Tennis Association. Youngsters age four and up took lessons, played games, smiled for photos and, in general, had tons of fun on courts across Indian River County.

Tennis season got under way on March 1 with Love Serving Autism at Wabasso School. The school serves special-needs children, many of whom are on the autism spectrum. Weekly classes began March 1 and continued through April 12 for 30 students.

Vero Beach youth tennis season kicked off with a March 26 event called Come Try Tennis! at Riverside Park in Vero Beach. Twenty-four children took part on a Saturday afternoon.

CTT! was inspired by a report in Tennis magazine that America has been undergoing a tennis boom reminiscent of the 1970s. The Covid pandemic actually spurred growth in the sport as people realized that tennis is a safe outdoor activity with physical, mental and social benefits.

April marked the start of MFCF Spring Middle School Tennis League. A total of 92 middle schoolers took part in the six-team league. Schools represented were Saint Edward’s School (two teams); Oslo Middle School; Master’s Academy/Home Schooled; Storm Grove Middle School; and Sebastian River Middle School.

The league’s daylong season-ending tournament on May 14 at Riverside Park in Vero Beach drew more than 70 entries for singles and doubles competition.

TCTA summer junior tennis camps began in June at Riverside Park and Gifford Youth Achievement Center. Sessions in June and July hosted 35 players at Riverside Park, 42 players at GYAC. Summer tennis ended with a Riverside Park Play Day for 70-plus players from both sites.

After a break to get a good start in school, the fourth annual MFCF Fall Fourth- and Fifth- Grade League launched in early October. The league had five teams with approximately 40 players representing Dodgertown Elementary School; Osceola Magnet School; Master’s Academy/Home Schooled; Gifford Youth Achievement Center; and Glendale Christian School.

Fall tennis wrapped up with the league tournament on November 12 at Riverside Park. Two-dozen players took part.

Treasure Coast Tennis Association is very grateful to Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation for its support of junior tennis in Indian River County, and to our teaching pros, assistants and volunteers. 2023 is shaping up to be another banner year. We appreciate the help of the USTA as well! See you on the courts! For more information on our programs, contact me at tpalmer@socket.net.

Treasure Coast Tennis Association activities were aplenty in 2022

Frances Tiafoe: From Vero Beach In 2014 To U.S. Open Hero In 2022

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Frances Tiafoe, who dazzled crowds with his breakthrough performance in reaching the semifinals of the 2022 U.S. Open, is one of the many great players who have played in the Vero Beach USTA Pro Circuit event, the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships.

In 2014, Tiafoe competed in Vero Beach at The Boulevard in his first year of playing professional tournaments while still a junior tennis player. At the age of 16, playing in only his fourth pro level tournament and ranked No. 1296 on the ATP Rankings, Tiafoe reached the second round in Vero Beach, losing to former University of Florida standout Greg Ouellette. The 2014 edition of the tournament also featured American stars Tommy Paul, who earned his first career ATP ranking point in Vero Beach, and Reilly Opelka, both of whom played in the qualifying rounds of the tournament.

Tiafoe’s first career match at a pro tournament, interesting enough, was earlier in 2014 at a USTA Pro Circuit tournament in Florida where he lost 6-0, 6-0 in the first round to Sekou Bangoura, the 2022 singles champion in Vero Beach.

Read of Frances (who was mistakenly had his name spelled “Francis” in draws and news reports) from 2014 in Vero Beach here http://www.worldtennismagazine.com/archives/10487 and from the Washington Post here: https://www.washingtonpost.com/sf/sports/wp/2014/05/17/an-improbable-tennis-prodigy/

Tiafoe staged one of the greatest wins by an American man at the U.S. Open in the last 20 years when he defeated 22-time major winner Rafael Nadal in the fourth round on Labor Day Monday. He followed up the victory with a win over Andrey Rublev of Russia before falling in a dramatic and entertaining semifinal to eventual champion Carlos Alcaraz.

Frances Tiafoe on Arthur Ashe Stadium at the U.S. Open in 2022 (left) and Frances Tiafoe on Court 4 at The Boulevard in Vero Beach at the 2014 version of the modern-day Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships

Doubles Titles In Vero Beach, US Open Junior Doubles For Nishesh Basavareddy

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Nishesh Basvareddy is pretty good with “pick up” doubles partners.

Four months after winning the doubles title at the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships in Vero Beach for his first pro-level doubles title with pick-up partner Ricardo Rodriguez, Basavareddy picked up another late partner to win the 2022 U.S. Open junior boys doubles title.

Basavareddy, from Carmel, Indiana and an incoming freshman at Stanford University, decided to pair with fellow Midwesterner Ozan Baris at the U.S. Open juniors earlier in the summer. Although the two grew up together and played with an against each other since the 10-and-unders, they had not played with each other in four years. The pair quickly gelled again and dominated the U.S. Open junior boys final winning 6-1, 6-1 against Switzerland’s Dylan Dietrich and Bolivia’s Juan Carlos Prado Angelo.

In Vero Beach in April of 2022, Basavareddy was paired blindly with popular Vero Beach participant Ricardo Rodriguez of Venezuela by tournament director Randy Walker, granted a wild card entry into the event, and the two ended up winning the title, the first ever pro title for Basavareddy.

Watch Basavareddy and Rodriguez be interviewed after their semifinal win in Vero Beach here  https://youtu.be/OuxnOxkWWrk The post-match trophy presentation and speeches from the doubles final in Vero Beach can be seen here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iR4ya55sJbc

Basavareddy will now enroll as a freshman at Stanford University and play for coach Paul Goldstein and the legendary Cardinal tennis program, which has produced such players as John and Patrick McEnroe, Bob and Mike Bryan, Roscoe Tanner, Tim Mayotte among others.

“I’m starting school next week. I go to Stanford next week,” said Basavareddy while holding a post-match press conference in the main interview room at the U.S. Open. “I just want to continue to improve there, play tournaments while I’m there, play college tennis. Hopefully in a few years’ time I’m ready to make the jump to pro tennis, move up the rankings. That’s my ultimate goal. Just continue to improve. I’ll probably play a few junior events next year because I have one more year of eligibility. As far as our future, maybe play some doubles tournaments in the future, and maybe in the summers for now.”

Nishesh Basavareddy won doubles titles in 2022 in Vero Beach at the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships (top) and in New York at the 2022 U.S. Open Junior Championships.

Vero Beach’s Grace Levelston Goes Full Stop For WTA Rankings Points Before College Enrollment

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Vero Beach’s Grace Levelston, the No. 1 player on Vero Beach High School’s tennis team last year and one of the most promising teenage tennis talents in the country, will be finishing high school remotely and will play an increased schedule of professional events to move up the WTA rankings. Grace is ranked No. 1427 in doubles and is on the verge of breaking into the WTA singles rankings.

Levelston, who was first introduced to tennis via a Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation children’s tennis clinic, has verbally committed to play for the University of Central Florida in the Fall of 2023. She will be playing in the $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour event in Haren, The Netherlands the week of August 29, then the $25,000 event in Saint Palais-Sur-Mer on the west coast of France the week of September 5 and then the $15,000 event in Dijon, France the week of September 12, before returning to the United States to play the $15,000 event in Hilton Head, S.C. the week of September 26.

To follow Grace’s journeys this coming year, follow her on Instagram at @Gracie.Levelstonn For information on how you can help Gracie finance her travels and training or for special appearances, contact Cristin Levelston at 772-418-1722 or CristinV@cheneybrothers.com