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.
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