Tennis column, Personal touch is now guaranteed

It’s a win-win situation for Tennis Town USA, otherwise known as

Newport Beach, with the sale of the Newport Beach Tennis Club.

After some shaky years, the club is planning to become the tennis and

social hot spot of the town with a new owner and an invigorated approach.

“What I want to do,” new club owner Steve Joyce said Friday, “is create a

real fun, service-oriented environment. (Members) pay dues and I want to

make sure they’re happy and having fun with the money they’re spending.

My staff is very service-oriented and we want to make sure everybody gets

what they want.

“Our goal is to make the highest maintenance person happy.”

The club, sold to Joyce from Julianne Ren, features 19 lighted courts, a

full-service bar, pool, restaurant, lounge and two locker rooms. It will

soon add a pro shop, said Joyce, who wasted no time selecting former

touring pro Scott Davis as the new director of tennis.

“Newport Beach Tennis Club will become the club of choice,” Von

Simindian, a high-level club player who owns Paramount Tennis in Costa

Mesa, said on Aug. 10, before the deal was complete.

Joyce, who took over Nov. 1, said the first task he did was take “a fire

hose to (the facility)” and clean it. The new owner/operator said a

revamping of the pool deck is next, along with the addition of an

innovative salt water system for the pool, which doesn’t require chlorine

and is better for your skin, he said.

The club had about 650 members when he purchased it and 50 new members

have already been added. Initiation fees have been waived until Feb. 1.

“It’s new, it’s exciting and I’ve been around here a long time and a lot

of people know me and I have a lot of friends,” Joyce said of the reason

behind NBTC’s membership increase. “I really want to turn this into a fun

and social environment.”

For the last several years, Newport Beach Tennis Club played second

fiddle to Palisades Tennis Club as the club of choice in Newport Beach.

But, now, with a full orchestra, Joyce intends to pump up the volume.

“Steve’s going to bring that club to where it should’ve been for a long

time,” Palisades Club owner/operator Ken Stuart said Friday. “His focus

is different than mine. My focus is private-club exclusivity with tennis;

his (goal) is a real high-end social scene with a focus on the bar and

restaurant. I wish him the best and hope he’s successful, and I hope he

brings that facility back to its one-time status.

“It’s good for the industry. The better he does, the better I do; and the

better I do, the better he does. It raises the standard (among private

tennis clubs), not just here, but countywide.”

Many longtime Newport Beach members and employees are thrilled with the

new owner.

“Everyone’s excited here,” longtime NBTC administrator Norma Veal said.

“We’re already seeing changes and there’s a lot of activity. This (sale)

will be fantastic. We have to wait a few more months, but the club is on

its way to being a premier club.”

Joyce said Newport Beach real estate broker Bob Laskey was responsible to

handling the negotiations and bringing the two parties together.

Hank Lloyd’s Costa Mesa Tennis Center, already under the auspices of the

United States Tennis Association as an Orange County-based area training

center, received a ringing endorsement Friday from former U.S. Davis Cup

captain Tom Gullikson, who visited the facility and oversaw the weekly

practice session featuring some of Orange County’s top boys and girls in

the 16s and 18s.

“Now, with Gullikson giving us his stamp of approval, it just makes our

facility more recognized (as an official USTA Area Training Center),”

Lloyd said.

Gullikson, who made his first trip to the courts adjacent to TeWinkle

Park, is now the USTA’s Director of Junior Player Development.

Elliott Telscher, Costa Mesa head pro and USTA regional coach, conducted

a shootout with Gullikson Friday, with the winner earning a wild card

into the qualifier at the men’s USTA Challenger at Burbank. The qualifier

is Dec. 4-5.

As if University of Mississippi-bound Newport Harbor High standout Audra

Adams doesn’t have enough on her plate heading into Thanksgiving, she has

secured a second straight year with her mother, Dorsey, as the top-ranked

mother-daughter tennis team in the nation.

The Adams family defeated Leslie Damion and her mother, Patricia, of

Corona del Mar, in the finals of the recent USTA National Mother-Daughter

Hardcourt Championships at the Waldon Racquet Club near Houston.

It is the third USTA gold ball for the Adams duo. Dorsey, 42, and Audra,

17, repeated as champions at Montgomery, Texas.

Audra Adams will play in the CIF Southern Section Division I team finals

Monday for the Tars; Leslie Damion was part of the Pacific Coast League

championship doubles team this season for Corona del Mar (with Kristen

Griffith).

Wonder if next time the mother-daughter teams compete they can stay a

little closer to home?

Eight schools from outside California have committed to the inaugural

National High School Boys Tennis Championship next March at Palisades

Tennis Club.

Tim Mang, Corona del Mar High boys tennis coach and longtime seedings and

tournament chief for Ojai and CIF, believes the event will become “the

Ojai of Newport Beach.”

The Ojai Valley Tennis Tournament in the springtime is the oldest amateur

tournament in the U.S. The event’s traditions of afternoon tea and the

aroma of orange blossoms have given it a special charm. Perhaps the

Newport Beach event can feature sand, sailing and sunsets.

Headquarters for the national team tennis championship will be the Irvine

Hyatt Regency. (Sounds like some local hotels might miss out on a good

thing.)

Danielle Scott, an ex-touring pro from CdM who now owns a marketing firm,

is involved in the tournament and looking for sponsors. Details: (949)

717-7710.