Reynolds Tennis

We can’t forget about the exciting times the women’s side is experiencing. This weekend we saw Maria Sharapova come back into playing in the later rounds with her old tenacity. We also saw Elena Dementieva continue her dominating presence by winning the Roger’s Cup in Canada. Kim Clijsters is now back and working her way back into her past excellence. There seems to be even a more open opportunity for a larger number of female players to have a shot at the US Open title this year. Just like the men, there will be a few surprises from some younger players breaking out this year. Keep posted as the excitement of the year’s tennis continues to build.

There has been talk that the US Open Series is great for the spectators, but has only served to wear down the players. Don’t get me wrong, the players would have probably entered most of the events anyway, but by the time you reach the US Open stamina will be a big factor. Having said that, it appears that maybe the Cincinnati event is a preview to who we will see in the semi’s at the Open. You have Murray, who is on his game, playing Federer, who is not completely on his game, in one semi and Djokovic, who appears to be on his game, playing Nadal, who was decidedly off his game in Montreal, going head to head in the other semi-final. Don’t count Nadal out as he has looked good in this event, but still missing some shots he would not have before his break. It should be a good test for all four today. We will see what happens and maybe give us some insight as to how the grand slam event will turn out in September. Come back soon for more comments and tips.

GREENSBORO, Ga. (July 17, 2009) – The United States Tennis Association (USTA) announces The Lake Club Tennis Center at Reynolds Plantation as the winner of the 28^th annual USTA Outstanding Facility Awards.

“We have worked hard at Reynolds Plantation to provide the best in tennis for our members and guests every day,” said Dave Neuhart, Peter Burwash International Professional and director of tennis. “It is a great accomplishment to be recognized by the USTA with an award at such a high level.”

Nominees for the award were judged based on the following set of criteria: overall layout and adaptation to site; excellence of court surface and lights; ease of maintenance; accommodations: players, spectator, press/officials; aesthetics: graphics, use of signs, landscaping, etc.; amenities: casual seating for spectators, food services, and social area; and programs supporting the USTA and growth of the game.

“Even as we continue our efforts to raise the bar in quality and service, we are truly humbled and honored by this award and will strive to always be a great representation and ambassador for both Georgia and the Southern Section of USTA,” said Neuhart. “Our goal is to bring tennis to every resident and guest of Reynolds Plantation. We feel tennis is too great a sport to not be shared by absolutely everyone.”

The Lake Club Tennis Center at Reynolds Plantation boasts two stadium-sized and six championship-sized lighted courts. The four Har-Tru Hydro clay courts and four traditional hard courts complement a range of amenities such as tennis packages, clinics, private lessons, player match-up service and the Dartfish system, a computer-aided video analysis software that helps assess and improve a player’s tennis stroke right on the court. A full-service pro shop, computerized ball machine and world-class service round out the amenities that helped Reynolds Plantation garner the 2006 Peter Burwash International Tennis Site of the Year Award.

The USTA, established in 1881, is the national governing body for the sport of tennis. As the recognized leader in promotion and development of the sport, the USTA is the largest tennis organization in the world.  The USTA and the Tennis Industry Association (TIA) recently named Reynolds Plantation a “Top 50 Tennis Welcome Center” for the third year in a row.

About Reynolds Plantation

Named the “Best of the Best” Golf Community by Robb Report and the community with the “Best Golf” in America by the editors of GOLF Magazine, Reynolds Plantation, located between Atlanta and Augusta, Georgia, is a gated community with more than 80 miles of shoreline on Lake Oconee.  Reynolds Plantation features 99 holes of championship golf from designers Bob Cupp, Jack Nicklaus, Tom Fazio, Rees Jones and Jim Engh; Pete Dye has begun work on the community’s 6^th golf course.  Reynolds Plantation is also home to The Reynolds Golf Academy, as well as the exclusive TaylorMade Kingdom.  The community offers members a variety of dining options, swimming pools, pedestrian trails, three full-service marinas and The Lake Club Wellness Campus with its award-winning Tennis Center, under the direction of Peter Burwash International.  GOLF Magazine, Golf Digest and TRAVEL + LEISURE Golf all debuted their first-ever “ultimate golf homes” at Reynolds Plantation, with LINKS Magazine joining the “sweep” with the opening of its first-ever “GreenHouse” on Earth Day 2009.  Reynolds Plantation is also home to the AAA Five Diamond Award-winning Ritz-Carlton Lodge, a 251-room lakefront resort and spa ranked No. 5 in the “Top 100 Golf Resorts” worldwide by Condé Nast Traveler Magazine.  For more information, call 800-800-5250 or visit www.reynoldsplantation.com.

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If you have been watching the pre - US Open events you have seen some great matches with some surprises and some not so surprising. Some big servers have done well and some of the groundstrokers who stay back have done well. It was a great final with Del Potro and Roddick on Sunday with the final result in question until the last point of the tiebreak in the third set. Ivo Karlovic, Sam Querry and John Isner have succeeded in getting through to the later round with their big serves. All of this means that we should have a very interesting Grand Slam in New York. Keep posted to more new in the coming week.

It seems that qualifiers and wild card entrants continue to surprise us as they defeat seeded players in early and later rounds. It is not always as big of an upset as it might appear as lower level tournaments, even though they might be in the US Open series are not as large in draw size as a grand slam and so there is a limit to the seeds. So if a ranking of 100 keeps you safely into the main draw of a slam, that puts you into qualifying in these events. Then those who are normally seeded in qualifying for larger events, puts them out of the seeding, so results can become very interesting. There always seems to be some rising stars this time of year as well. I offer to you to keep watching and watching early to see if you can pick out who you think will be the next Roger Federer or Rafael Nadal.