Pro tennis returns to Norcross
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Atlanta currently has no professional tennis tournament to call its own, but this weekend at the Racquet Club of the South is a next best thing.
Exhibition matches featuring Marietta teenager Melanie Oudin and former UGA star John Isner Friday night begin four days of competition at the Norcross complex.
As part of the Infinite Energy Atlanta Challenge, Oudin, a quarterfinalist in this year's U.S. Open, will face Georgia Tech's Irina Falconi in a one-set exhibition. Isner is scheduled to face fellow American pro Sam Querrey, the 25th-ranked player in the world. Isner and Querrey are then scheduled to face seven-time Grand Slam doubles champions Bob and Mike Bryan in a two-set doubles exhibition. Play begins at 6:30 p.m.
Then, beginning Saturday and running through Monday, eight women and eight men will compete for a wild card entry into the 2010 Australian Open.
Donald Young, 20, and Scoville Jenkins, 23, are the two Atlanta-area players competing for the men's wild card. Others scheduled to play include 2009 USTA girls' 18 singles and doubles national champion Christina McHale and Jesse Levine, 118th in the ATP rankings who this year reached the third round at Wimbledon.
While promising young players are sometimes simply handed a wild card into tournaments, in this instance, they must play for one.
Said Patrick McEnroe, former Davis Cup captain and the USTA's general manager of elite player development, "I have had many wild cards in my (playing) career and I didn't really feel like I earned it. I kind of went in with a negative attitude. Whereas, if you qualify into that tournament, it's immensely different.
"Whoever wins this, they can say the USTA didn't just give it to me, they made me earn it. I think that gives you a better chance to do well when you get there."
Tickets, benefitting the National Tennis Foundation, are available at TandSevents.com. Tickets are $49.50 for Friday's exhibition ($69 for a private player's party that evening), $15 for Saturday, $20 Sunday and $25 Monday.
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