Tennis Briefs(4): XGLOsive Weekend, USTA Pro Circuit Winners, More

Sign-Up for XGLOsive Tennis This Weekend in Jacksonville, Receive an Official US Open Towel

Families and individuals can register for this weekend’s first-ever XGLOsive tennis event and receive an official US Open tennis towel.

Impress your tennis rivals by pulling out of your bag the same official blotter that Roger Federer and Maria Sharapova use to dab their brows in Flushing Meadows. The first 25 players to register will receive a US Open towel.

The XGLOsive tennis event, to be played outdoors at the Southside Tennis Complex on Saturday, Jan. 30 from 6-9 p.m., is like nothing you’ve seen in terms of glow-in-the-dark fun for adults and kids, beginners to advanced players.

“XGLOsive brings you the mix of tennis and a party,” says Jason Cordova, founder of XGLOsive LLC. “Just seeing an amazed look on everyone’s face when they walked onto our black-light court with our hip hop club music playing, it motivated me even more to take this to another level with the Lights Out Tour.”

Children and adults will be provided with glow-in-the-dark t-shirts, and will be encouraged to wear white or pastel-glow-colored shoes, clothing, wristbands or other accessories. The event will feature music and fast-paced fun on both regular and 36-foot kid-sized courts.

To register to participate and get your free US Open towel go to https://xglosouthside.eventbrite.com. For more information about the Lights Out Tour featuring XGLOsive go to www.ustaflorida.com/lights-out-tour.

Florida’s Kenin, Paul Win USTA Pro Circuit Titles

Sofia Kenin (right)

Qualifier Sofia Kenin of Pembroke Pines, Fla., won the Saddlebrook USTA Pro Circuit Women’s $25,000 event on Sunday, in the final defeating Czech Jesica Maleckova 6-2, 6-2. It was her first-ever win on the ITF/USTA Pro Circuit.

The 17-year-old in the semifinals ousted No. 1 seed Shelby Rogers of the U.S. 6-3, 7-5. It was almost an all-American all-Florida final, but Maleckova in her semifinal defeated No. 2 seed Katerina Stewart of Miami 6-2, 6-3.

Kenin lost in the qualifying the previous week at the USTA Pro Circuit event in Daytona Beach, but last week qualified to the main draw before defeating No. 6 seed and Daytona champion Ons Jabeur en route to the Saddlebrook title.

Bradenton’s Ingrid Neel won the doubles title with Russian partner Natalia Vikhlyantseva as an unseeded team, in the final defeating No. 3 seeds Natela Dzalamidze and Veronika Kudermetova of Russia 4-6, 7-6(4), 10-6.

Tommy Paul

At the City of Sunrise Pro Tennis Classic, a USTA Pro Circuit $10,000 event, Boca Raton’s Tommy Paul in the final defeated French No. 3 seed Andrien Puget 6-4, 3-6, 6-3 for his second consecutive USTA Pro Circuit title.

In the semifinals Paul defeated Hungary’s unseeded Peter Nagy 6-3, 6-2, while the 24-year-old Puget, who played at UCLA, upset No. 2-seeded American Sekou Bangoura 6-2, 6-3.

In the third set of the final Paul served out the match in a seven-deuce game, clinching the contest on his fifth match point.

Last year’s French Open juniors winner and US Open juniors runner-up, Paul is now 4-1 career in ITF/USTA Pro Circuit finals after winning the Plantation and Sunrise events back-to-back in January, beating Puget in both finals.

For more info go to www.itftennis.com/procircuit/tournaments/men’s-tournament/info.aspx?tournamentid=1100036435.

USTA Florida Volunteer Jean Mills Wins 2016 YellowTennisBall.com Tribute Award

Long-time USTA Florida volunteer and USTA Florida past president Jean Mills was named the winner of the 2016 Tribute Award for ‘Excellence in Growing Tennis in the Community,’ presented by YellowTennisBall.com, the official tournament website of the ATP Delray Open.

The 2016 YellowTennisBall.com Tribute Award nominees consisted of individuals and organizations who have “shown a passion and dedication for supporting the growth of tennis and community outreach in South Florida, and have gone above and beyond in dedicating their time to the sport.”

Mills was the first women’s tennis coach at the University of Alabama in 1974, then served as the first executive director of the Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) in 1979. For the last 30 years she has been the director of tennis at The Polo Club in Boca Raton, Fla.

An active USTA Florida volunteer, in addition to past president (1998-2000) and serving on numerous committees, she was the first president of the USTA Florida Foundation, the official giving arm of USTA Florida, from 2005-2012.

“Her focus has always been with juniors, and she has run the USTA Girls’ National 12s for 32 years, as well as numerous state, national and international ITF events,” wrote Tribute Awards organizers. “Jean was inducted into the Alabama and Florida Hall of Fame in 2002 due to her tireless efforts and significant contributions to tennis.”

Mills as the Tribute Award winner will be interviewed on national television in over 32 million homes via Tennis Channel during the 2016 Delray Open, where she and other award finalists will be honored on Stadium Court.

For more info go to www.YellowTennisBall.com.

Register for TOM Conference, State of the Industry Forum During Miami Open

Two tennis industry events will be held during the Miami Open in March, the Tennis Owners and Managers (T.O.M.) Conference, and the Tennis Industry Association’s State of the Industry Forum.

The 2016 Tennis Owners and Managers (T.O.M.) Conference will be held on March 23-25, 2016 at the Downtown Miami Hilton during the Miami Open, bringing together leading experts in facility management, programming and other key areas to provide vital information to grow tennis businesses and bring in more tennis players.

Key speakers to date include Dr. Jack Groppel, co-founder of the Johnson & Johnson Human Performance Institute; former top-ranked pro and current tennis announcer Cliff Drysdale, founder of Cliff Drysdale Tennis management company and a member of the International Tennis Hall of Fame; Hall-of-Famer Gigi Fernandez, a former world No. 1-ranked doubles player and doubles champion at all four Grand Slams; French Open and US Open doubles winner Emilio Sanchez, also a former world No. 1-ranked doubles player and owner of Academia Sanchez-Casal-Florida; tennis industry veteran and former TIA President Jim Baugh, the founder of PHIT America; and internationally known management consultant Dr. Gerald Faust, among other management and business consultants.

Industry speakers include USTA Director of Youth Play and Competition Craig Jones; PTR CEO Dan Santorum; USPTA CEO John Embree; Randy Futty, vice president of business development for California Sports Surfaces; Pat Hanssen, general manager of Har-Tru; Lee Sponaugle, national sales director of Sport Court; Virgil Christian, USTA senior director of market/facility development; and Scott Schultz, managing director of USTA University.

The conference will also feature a Tennis Tech Fair & Resource Center, which will give tennis facility/club owners and managers an opportunity to learn more about and try out the latest products, and an “Idea Fair” workshop that will include expert panelists and suggestions from among T.O.M. Conference attendees.

For more info or to register go to www.TheTOMConference.com.

The 2016 TIA State of the Industry Forum will be March 23 in conjunction with the Tennis Owners & Managers (T.O.M.) Conference.

The Forum will run from 10-11:45 a.m. at the Downtown Miami Hilton on Biscayne Blvd., and is free to the industry to attend (space is limited, so registration is required at www.TheTOMConference.com). The event is being held during the Miami Open professional tennis tournament.

Industry executives will present the latest news and data about the state of the tennis industry, including participation research, consumer and technology trends, tennis marketplace data, an update on the “Rally the Family” initiative, along with updates from the USTA, including the progress at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., and the renovations at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York.

To register for the Forum go to www.TheTOMConference.com and select “State of the Industry Forum.”