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

Images From USTA Troy 50K Circuit Event

The weather was the star of the weekend as a week filled with rain and wind turned perfect to allow for play to get caught up on Friday and Saturday.

Should be a great singles final on Sunday between Romina Oprandi of Italy and American Varvara Lepchenko.

Enjoy some images from weekend play.

WTA #100 Romina Oprandi into the finalsOlga Puchkova's big serve wasn't enough on SaturdayOlga Puchkova lost her cool in the 3rd set on Saturday#2 Seed Varvara Lepchenko has won 9 straight matchesPlenty of good seats at the Lunsford Tennis Center on the campus of Troy UniversitySessil Karatantcheva of Kazakhstan in action at the Troy USTA Circuit eventSessil Karatantcheva had her best week as a pro in TroyOne of the tallest players on the WTA Tour, Eva Hrdinova in doubles actionNothing fancy about the draw sheet in Troy