Category: Tennis business

  • SoCal’s Shibahara continues steady ascent on the WTA Pro Tour

    Ena Shibahara was a standout at Palos Verdes Peninsula High School before making a splash at UCLA, where she won 67 singles matches in her first two years with the Bruins. Along the way she tallied the team’s best winning percentage in doubles, and with teammate Jada Hart earned the US Open Junior doubles title…

  • Sky’s the limit for Kim, a tennis entrepreneur on an amazing journey

    Maybe it’s not too much of a stretch to call Sky Kim the Forrest Gump of Southern California tennis. The iconic movie character played by Tom Hanks is based on someone who had unrivaled experiences and had chance meetings and interactions by global icons. Kim is much the same. “You know, when you’re living that…

  • Let’s Rally with DAMU BOBB

    Damu Bobb is a man who wears many hats. He lives and breathes sports media as an Emmy-winning professional, plays the role of tennis dad on SoCal sidelines, and feels just as comfortable in a pair of Jordans as he does in Kenneth Coles – though he admits his special occasion footwear is the Nike…

  • Pro Circuit: USD’s Holmgren has more to give before moving on from San Diego

    The most successful player in University of San Diego tennis history, August Holmgren was looking for a way to extend his five-year stay in his adopted hometown following the upcoming completion of his final semester. With the addition of three USTA/ITF Pro Circuit $15,000 events in San Diego – the first leg of a new…

  • SCTA Foundation’s Teaching Pro Certification Scholarship is Now Open

    SCTA Foundation’s Teaching Pro Certification Scholarship is Now Open

    By Karen Ronney Are you considering becoming a certified US Professional Tennis Association (USPTA) or Professional Tennis Registry (PTR) teaching professional? Now is your chance with help from the Southern California Tennis Association Foundation, which is offering a total of twelve (12) scholarships:  Six (6) for USPTA Southern California or USPTA San Diego District and…

  • Santa Ana’s Match Point Academy extends a valuable opportunity to stranded Ukrainian nationals

    The consequences of the war in Ukraine extend into every corner of the world, including the world of tennis players here in Southern California. Players from Ukraine that might otherwise have journeyed back home this spring find themselves stranded in the United States, with their careers and livelihoods in tennis hanging in the balance. As…

  • JR Sarmiento’s tennis rollercoaster starts and ends in Carson

    The Director of Junior Excellence program at the First Break Academy in Carson, JR Sarmiento has been a staple on the courts in Carson since he was a child. “I’ve been playing tennis since five or six, at least as far as I can remember,” recalls Sarmiento. “There is a huge Filipino tennis community here…

  • 2022 Signature Series schedule kicks into high gear with Junior, Open Sectionals coming soon

    Three of Southern California’s premier annual tournaments are on the horizon, each with its own storied history and roster of past winners that reads like a who’s who of American tennis. The most prolific of them all is Junior Sectionals (June 11-12, 17-19), returning for the 120th time in June. Players in age divisions 12-18…

  • Eric Hahn’s lifelong tennis journey has no end in sight

    Originally left on the sidelines as his dad and older brother practiced tennis together, seven-year-old Eric Hahn finally asked if he could tag along to practice one day and never looked back. That was when Hahn, now a graduating senior at UCLA, learned to love tennis. “My father was just taking my older brother out…

  • The Legacy of Gideon Smith Lives on as the Pied Piper of the High Desert

    The Legacy of Gideon Smith Lives on as the Pied Piper of the High Desert

    By Karen Ronney Music made by the “Pied Piper of the High Desert” will be heard for generations to come in the Morongo Basin and beyond thanks to the legacy of tennis legend Gideon Smith.  Always identified by his protective sun hat, tennis gear and sneakers, he was an unforgettable figure in the desert for…