Tennis: Adoption Guild warming for big event

Richard Dunn

If Mother Nature is good to us this weekend and next, look for the

41st annual Adoption Guild Tennis Tournament to encounter its best event

in the 2000s.

Rain dampened the event the last few years, in addition to the fact

that entries were down and the women’s open singles and doubles divisions

were dropped.

Furthermore, tournament officials struggled this year to secure

sponsors and advertisers.

But, when the bell rings at 8 a.m. today for the first matches in the

venerable charity tournament, the weekend is expected to be clear and

sunny, while the women’s open divisions are back after a two-year hiatus,

thanks to a sponsor, Neal Reitz & Co.

The total prize money for six open divisions in the tournament is

$18,000.

Player entries are also up from 716 in 2001 to 760 this year.

The Adoption Guild, which is played at several locations throughout

the area, will kick off the event with its annual Players’ Party tonight

at 6 p.m. at Newport Beach Tennis Club, long the tournament’s

headquarters and host site of the open semifinals and finals June 1-2.

“That Players’ Party is the Who’s Who of Tennis,” quipped longtime

Guild member Donna Davison, who is enjoying her final year as an active

member.

The Adoption Guild, the oldest charity tournament in Orange County,

benefits Holy Family Services, the nonprofit charity that has been

helping local families for 50 years. The Guild is under the direction of

first-year Adoption Guild of South Orange County chapter president

Melinda O’Brien of Newport Beach.

Hank Lloyd’s Costa Mesa Tennis Center was honored at a banquet

recently by the Orange County Community Tennis Association as the 2002

Tennis Facility of the Year.

Costa Mesa has hosted several events in the past year from the pro to

the junior level and is the site of the Southern California Tennis

Association Competitive Training Center.

Costa Mesa, which will host rounds in next month’s SCTA Junior

Sectionals, is hosting the Quiksilver/Roxy Junior National Tournament

today and Sunday.

Melissa Matsuoka, a 10-year-old Newport Beach tennis player, won a

nationwide essay contest sponsored by Nike Tennis Camps, which entitled

her to choose the Nike summer camp of her choice. She chose the camp at

Stanford University.

Her mother, Irene Matsuoka, was thrilled when she received a call

three weeks ago that her daughter had won the essay contest and

subsequent Nike tennis camp.

“It saves us a lot of money,” she said.

Contestants had to write an essay of 500 words or less about their

goals in tennis.

Melissa, who began playing tennis 1 1/2 years ago, stated in her essay

that she wants to make new tennis friends and become the best player she

can be. In the essay she also said she wants to play at Wimbledon.