Tennis Briefs(3): Collins Wins American Collegiate Inv.; Gainesville Honor; Laver Cup

Florida’s Collins Wins USTA American Collegiate Invitational, 2017 US Open Qualifying Wild Card

Danielle Collins of St. Petersburg, Fla., a recent graduate of the University of Virginia where she captured two NCAA singles championships, over the weekend won the USTA’s American Collegiate Invitational held during the US Open at the Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in Flushing Meadows, N.Y.

Collins, the No. 2 seed, in the final beat recent University of Michigan graduate Ronit Yurovsky of the University of Michigan 6-2, 6-4, earning the title and a wild card into the 2017 US Open women’s qualifying.

The Florida native ran out to a 5-0 lead in the first set, and in the second survived multiple service breaks to eventually serve out the match at 5-4.

“I got off to a really hot start,” Collins told www.zootennis.com. “It’s something I’ve been working on, trying not to give too many opportunities to my opponent early on. I want to get the momentum early so I’m not having to fight back.”

Collins also played in the women’s main draw this year at the US Open, receiving a wild card as the women’s NCAA champ and falling in the first round. The 22 year old says she will continue to play USTA Pro Circuit events in 2016, looking to raise her ranking toward direct entry into WTA-level tournaments.

“I’m very versatile, I can play offense and I can play defense,” Collins said of her prospects as a pro. “I have big weapons from the ground and my serve is also improving a lot. I’m very confident with my game, and emotionally, I think have a perfect personality for playing on tour, because I’m really tough.”

For more info on the USTA’s 2016 American Collegiate Invitational go to www.usopen.org.

Gainesville Area Community Tennis Assoc. Wins USTA National Award

From left: Billie Jean King with the GACTA’s Anne Koterba and Addison Staples

The Gainesville Area Community Tennis Association (GACTA) was honored with the USTA national body’s NJTL (National Junior Tennis & Learning network) Chapter of the Year Award during the US Open.

GACTA was honored at the USTA Semi-Annual Meeting, held Sept. 3-6 in New York City. GACTA provides community tennis events to the greater Gainesville area to promote their mission, and to assist other organizations/partners and their mission to better the Gainesville community.

GACTA’s largest program is the Aces in Motion (AIM) tennis outreach, which is part of the USTA Foundation’s NJTL network. The program focuses on under-served youth in the community, including those living in low-income neighborhoods and those with disabilities.

For the past five years, GACTA has provided approximately 100 local middle school students an opportunity to play tennis in a team format every year. This popular program is low-cost and inclusive, has a no-cut policy, and is sustainable. The profit generated is used locally to help support the Aces in Motion outreach effort.

“We are proud to honor the work being done by the Gainesville Area Community Tennis Association,” said USTA Chief Executive of Community Tennis Kurt Kamperman. “They are a great example of how NJTL can positively impact today’s youth by delivering programs that emphasize not only tennis, but also character development and education.”

Founded in 1969 by Arthur Ashe, Charlie Pasarell, and Sheridan Snyder, NJTL is a nationwide network of more than 510 nonprofit youth development organizations that provide free or low-cost tennis, education, and life skills programming to more than 225,000 children each year.

For additional info on the NJTL network go to www.ustafoundation.com/njtl.

USTA to Bring New Laver Cup to U.S. in 2018

Following on the heels of the announcement of The Laver Cup, the new men’s tennis international team competition that will debut in Prague in September of 2017, the USTA has announced it is partnering with the event to bring the competition to the U.S. for the 2018 edition of the event.

“Sports truly transcends borders,” said USTA Chairman of the Board and President Katrina Adams. “We believe the Laver Cup will become one of the pre-eminent tennis events in the sport and will bring an exciting new tennis competition to U.S. fans.”

Named in honor of tennis legend Rod Laver, The Laver Cup is a three-day team competition pitting a team of six of the best tennis players from Europe against six of their counterparts from the rest of the world. For the first three years Bjorn Borg will captain team Europe and John McEnroe will lead The World team.

McEnroe at the tournament’s announcement called Borg “the only guy I still get along with from when I was playing.”

The competition models golf’s Ryder Cup, and kicking off in 2017 will be fit late into the men’s tour schedule on Sept. 22-24, following the US Open and Davis Cup semifinals.

Both Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have committed to compete in the inaugural Laver Cup in 2017 at the O2 arena, in Prague, Czech Republic. Organizers announced their commitment to hold the second Laver Cup in 2018 in the United States at a site to be determined. The event will return to the U.S. on a rotating basis.

For more info go to http://lavercup.com.