Tennis Events

Photos: Kirk Stenvall

World No. 24 Dmitry Tursunov held a tennis clinic hosted by the Avila Bay Athletic Club & Spa in San Luis Obispo, California, on Friday, July 17th. The event was sponsored by Wilson Sporting Goods Company and Tennis Warehouse.

Photos from the Dmitry Tursunov Tennis Clinic.

On Saturday, December 13, 2008 the second annual Infinite Energy Atlanta Slam exhibition was held at the Arena which is located at the Gwinnett Center in Duluth, Georgia. Heading the line up was the ATP’s number ten ranked player James Blake. Sam Querrey returned for the second year in a row. Currently ranked number 39 he is starting to make his mark on the main tour. Bob and Mike Bryan, the number two doubles team in the world as well as Atlanta’s own tennis playing brothers Luke and Murphy Jensen were also in attendance. As if that wasn’t enough, David Williams and Harlan Matthews, both wheelchair players, attended and took part in the event.

The daytime portion of the event began with the players hosting a kid’s clinic for Atlanta area children. The pros worked on forehand and backhand drills with the lucky kids. After the clinic, the children paired up and had the chance to play doubles points with the Bryan brothers. Afterwards the youngsters had a chance to hit one on one with both Blake and Querrey.

For a fourth consecutive year, the stars of New York City-area tennis came out for the kids November 25 as the Harlem Junior Tennis and Education Program (HJTEP) held its holiday fundraiser at the Harlem Armory.

In addition to HJTEP program alumni James and Thomas Blake, guests of Serving Up The Holidays included 1976 Olympic Silver Medalist in basketball Gail Marquis, Australian pro David Graham, WTA’s Gail Brodsky and Kristie Ahn, and recently retired player turned commentator Justin Gimelstob. HJTEP Executive Director Katrina Adams hosted the evening.

Two other New Yorkers with a tremendous impact on the sport attended the event. Former New York City Mayor David Dinkins is a frequent guest at HJTEP and has joined the holiday event in the past. Dinkins serves as USTA Director at Large.

Coming off his most successful season as a professional player, Sam Querrey hosted a free tennis clinic and exhibition at California Polytechnic State University in San Luis Obispo, California on Saturday, November 8, 2008.

The free event, sponsored by Tennis Warehouse, Prince, and Cal Poly Tennis, drew young and old alike to learn from the number 41-ranked male ATP singles player. Some attendees were even brave enough to try and return his rocket-like serve. Following the clinic, Sam played several exhibition matches with members of the Cal Poly tennis team.