The Calabasas Tennis & Swim Center will once again play host to the 2018 USTA Men’s Pro Tennis Championships of Calabasas, a men’s $25,000.00 USTA Pro Circuit Futures tournament. The event will follow the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells and will take place March 19-25.
A Wild Card tournament took place and was won by high school junior Jacob Bullard, who beat top-seeded Isaiah Strode in the singles final for a main draw wild card. Bullard, who will play his college tennis at the University of Texas in Austin, teamed with Pacific Palisades high school senior and future USC Trojan Jake Sands to win the doubles wild card tournament. The other main draw singles wild card went to local Calabasas junior Bruno Krenn.
Jeff Richards with 2017 Calabasas winner Sebastian Fanselow and Steve McAvoy.
“We hope our local and San Fernando Valley and Ventura County tennis fans will be ready for some local professional tennis after going to the desert for the BNP Paribas event,” said Jeff Richards, tournament director. “We have a deep field once again this year with some rising American players, as well as some top young international players who are the future of the ATP Tour.”
French player Mathias Bourgue is expected to be the No. 1 seed in the tournament. Currently ranked No. 240 in the ATP World Tour rankings, Bourgue received a wild card to advance to the singles main draw in the 2016 French Open, where he reached the second round, losing to world No. 2 Andy Murray in five sets. Former Pepperdine All-American and NCAA Championship singles finalist Alex Sarkissian from Glendale is seeded No. 2, and will likely be followed by other top players Christopher Heyman of Belgium, Kaichi Uchida of Japan and Roberto Ortega-Olmedo of Spain.
Former college stars and NCAA champions Raymond Sarmiento (USC), JC Aragone and Ryan Shane (both from the University of Virginia) are also entered into the main draw.
American players expected to compete in qualifying are players ranked from No. 490 to the 700s. They include: former University of North Carolina star Ronnie Schneider; Las Vegas’ Evan Song; teenager and Team USA player Ulises Blanch, Nicholas Hu, Deiton Baughman, Collin Altamirano; Alexios Halebian, Martin Redlicki and Henry Craig.
Admission is free to the general public to see the matches from qualifying on Saturday, March 17 through Main Draw preliminary matches on Thursday, March 22. Qualifying is set for March 17, 18, and 19, with sign in on Friday afternoon, March 16th from 4 to 6 p.m.
Beginning on Friday, March 23 through the finals, Sunday, March 25, tickets to the matches are $10 for adults, $5 for kids under 14. During the tournament there is a Pro-Am for sponsors on Sunday, March 18th. The Adult Pro-Am drill is Friday, March 23 from 9 to 11 a.m.
Community Tennis Association & USTA League appreciation night is Friday, March 23 starting at 6 p.m. The VIP sponsor dinner reception is Saturday, March 24 starting at 6 p.m. A USTA Net Generation Kid’s Day and Carnival is Saturday, March 24 from 10:30 a.m. to 12 noon.
For the past 17 years Top Seed Tennis Academy and the Calabasas Tennis & Swim Center have hosted USTA Pro tennis events. Adding to accomplishments of our distinguished alumni is Kevin Anderson, the 2017 U.S. Open runner-up and Sam Querrey, a 2017 Wimbledon semifinalist. Past Calabasas Champion, Tennys Sandgren reached the quarterfinals of the 2018 Australian Open. All four Men’s Doubles finalists at the 2017 French Open have played the Calabasas Pro Tennis Championships. At the 2016 Rio Olympics, three out of the five players on the USA Men’s Olympic tennis team played in the Men’s Pro Tennis Championships of Calabasas: Brian Baker, Steve Johnson, and Rajeev Ram, with Johnson winning the bronze medal in doubles and Rajeev Ram capturing the silver medal in mixed doubles. In addition, 20 2016 Olympic tennis players from around the world have participated in Calabasas Pro Tennis tournaments. Add previous Olympic Gold medalists, Mike & Bob Bryan and Chile’s Nicolas Massu to the growing list of Olympic medalists and you have one of the most decorated group of USTA Pro Circuit players ever assembled! Other past players include Grand Slam Champion Michael Chang, two-time Grand Slam finalist Mark Philippoussis, current U.S. Davis Cup players, John Isner, Donald Young, Sam Querrey, Steve Johnson, Ryan Harrison, and Frances Tiafoe.
The tournament has sponsorship opportunities available. For more information contact Jeff Richards at (818) 222-2782 or Jeff@topseed.us.