Qualifying Begins Sunday at the ButlerCars.com Tennis Classic of Macon

ButlerCars.com Tennis Classic of Macon

 
Presented By The W.L. Amos Foundation

 
STRATFORD ACADEMY - JAIME KAPLAN TENNIS CENTER * OCTOBER 6-13, 2013

QUALIFYING BEGINS SUNDAY MORNING

 

MACON, Georgia, (October 5, 2013) 64 women tennis players from all over the world will take to the courts Sunday morning at the Jaime Kaplan Tennis Center at Stratford Academy, for the qualifying draw of the ButlerCars.com Tennis Classic of Macon, presented by the W.L. Amos Foundation- all looking for one of eight remaining spots in the singles main draw.

Players must win three matches to earn one of the coveted spots in the main draw which begins on Tuesday.

"Qualifying matches are typically some of the most competitive matches you will see all week," explains Eric Hayes, tournament director and men's and women's tennis coach at Mercer University. "It's a mix, some of the qualifying draw players are from the area, some are from the other side of the world."

Competitors competing in the qualifying draw include former University of Florida All-American Lauren Embree, Di Zhao of China, former UCLA standout Elizabeth Lumpkin, and a pair of former University of Tennessee products in Caitlin Whoriskey and Natalie Pluskota. Pluskota is from Sharpsburg, Georgia.

"We have an entire week of activities planned, and the qualifying draw just kicks everything off," added Hayes.

Tickets will be available at the gate at Stratford Academy.

This 25K event is mix of rising and established players looking to earn points to finish the year strongly, and in some cases, earn direct acceptance into the 2014 Australian Open.

 *Tournament Fast Facts

 Tournament top seed Ajla Tomljanovic is the highest ranked player in the field (No. 85)

 There are players from 24 countries represented in the BulterCars.com Tennis Classic of Macon

American Nicole Gibbs (Stanford) is the current NCAA singles champion

Coco Vandeweghe is the niece of former NBA great Kiki Vandeweghe

Vandeweghe reached the finals of the WTA Tour's Bank of the West Classic in 2012 before losing to Serena Williams

Alexandra Stevenson reached the semifinals of Wimbledon in 1999. She is also the daughter of NBA Hall of Famer member Julius Erving.

The singles winner on "Finals Sunday"(Oct 13) will receive a check in the amout of $3,919.00 and 50 WTA ranking points.

ButlerCars.com Tennis Classic of Macon on 1670 am in Macon

Mercer tennis coach and Tournament Director of ButlerCars.com Tennis Classic of Macon Eric Hayes goes on the the morning show at 1670 am to talk about the upcoming tournament - Oct 6-13 at Stratford Academy.

Have a listen:

listen to ‘Eric Hayes on 1670 Fox Radio in Macon 9/24/13’ on Audioboo

listen to ‘Eric Hayes on 1670 Fox Radio in Macon 9/24/13 Part 2’ on Audioboo

USTA Tennis Classic of Macon Press Conference

Spent the day in Macon today conducting the press conference for the USTA Tennis Classic of Macon with new Mercer tennis coach Eric Hayes and Stratford Academy tennis coach Jaime Kaplan.

The tournament will be played at Stratford Academy in Macon.

A Quick Chat With USTA Troy 50K Tournament Director - Eric Hayes

There was nobody working harder this week in the world of tennis that Eric Hayes.

Who is Eric Hayes, you ask? 

He's this guy...

Here's a quick interview with Eric Hayes, the tournament director of the USTA Classic of Troy women's circuit event held this past week in Alabama.  Hayes is the men's and women's tennis coach at Troy and he's pretty much a one man show running this tournament.

From driving the players around to setting up the tennis center for play and everything in between including spending time on the court as a ball boy during some of the matches.

Hayes is a long time college coach and a former coach of players on the pro tours.  This is the ninth year for this event in Troy and as you can tell by the interview, Hayes is looking forward to next year and the 10th year of professional tennis on the campus of Troy University.

Here's an Audioboo of the interview, give it a listen.

Here's the USTA Tennis Classic of Troy.  You can see Hayes as a ball boy on the far court.

Congrats to Eric Hayes on another successful event.

Oprandi Gets Revenge and Takes Troy Women's USTA Circuit Event

TROY --  Romina Oprandi of Italy claimed the women's singles title at the USTA Tennis Classic of Troy on Sunday with a quick 6-1, 6-2 victory over American Varvara Lepchenko.

Playing a tennis tournament in the state of Alabama during the month of October is apparently quite a hard sell to just about everyone outside of hardcore tennis fans in the South. High school, college and professional football are on the minds of most Alabamans this time of the year.  In fact, on Saturday, a Louisiana-Monroe vs. Troy University football game took place around the corner from the tennis center.  "The weather and the fact we are the smallest city to host an event of this size and importance, makes this a challenge," says tournament director Eric Hayes. "But it's a challenge I love."

Hayes does love it as he he takes a break from his post as Head Tennis Coach for both the men's and women's teams at Troy University for a week to run this event. I have to admit it was the first time I've even seen the tournament director take the court as a ball person when ball kids were in short supply.  Hayes did a great job as tournament director, host and ball person.

While there might have been more officials on the grounds of the Lunsford Tennis Center than spectators, the players didn't seem to mind.  "I'm glad I came," said Sessil Karatantcheva of Kazkhstan who beat American Melanie Oudin early in the week before losing to Lepchencko in the semi-finals.

The veteran Oprandi was the best player all week long, and from early in the first set on Sunday, there was going to be no stopping the Italian on this day.  Oprandi avenged a loss against Lepchenko from last week at a similar tournament in Kansas City.  Oprandi refused to admit she is tired as she travels around the U.S. playing these smaller tournaments to earn points that will get he directly into bigger events, but she does get inspired when she sees other Italian women like Francesca Schiavone, Flavia Pennetta and Roberta Vinci doing well as they approach the age of 30, or have passed the 30-year mark like Schiavone. 

Lepchenko played a lot of tennis this week in Troy as she also reached the finals in doubles.  She will take a short break and recharge her batteries.  The doubles winners were the team of Elena Bovina and Valeria Savinykh of Russia.  Lepchenko partnered with Mashona Washington this week.

Oprandi will now continue east as she is slated to be the top seed at another USTA Circuit Event, this one in Rock Hill, SC.

Romina Oprandi captures the singles title in TroyStill a successful week for Varvara Lepchenko even though she lost in the finals

Valeria Savinykh of Russia was one-half the winning doubles team