
USTA Pro Circuit in Southaven!
The only professional men's tennis tournament in Mississippi is set to take place in Southaven next week, as Snowden Grove Tennis Complex will host the USTA Southaven Open August 4-10.
For the first time, this year's tournament will include women also, as the women are set to have a $35K Pro Circuit event. The tournaments presenting sponsors are the Oliver Foundation and the John H Weston Jr Foundation.
The tournament is a part of the USTA Pro Circuit Men’s & Women's Competitive Pathway, sometimes referred to as Challengers or Futures events.. The Pro Circuit is akin to the "minor leagues" of tennis, where all future ATP & WTA touring pros start their careers.
Tennis pros from 26 different countries are set to take part in the event, which will feature a 32 player qualifying draw that begins on Monday, and a 32 player main draw that begins on Wednesday. The top 8 players from both the men's and women's qualifying draws will advance on to the main draw. Notable players set to take part in the event include Kaylan Bigun on the men's side, who was the #1 junior player in the world last year after winning the junior French Open, and is now playing #1 Singles at UCLA. On the women's side, Katie Swan will be in the main draw, who was as high as #118 in the world as recently as last year.
Keith Evans, who has been serving as the Tournament Director of this event at various locations since 2004, is excited to bring professional tennis to the area.
“This is a great event and great opportunity for tennis fans to be able to see professional tennis up close and see how good these players are," Evans said “The circuit has been around for decades, and all great pros have to come up this way before hitting the ATP & WTA Tours."
Direct entries into the main draw are normally ranked between 200-450 in the world, and some rise quickly and go on to be the tour stars of tomorrow.
Snowden Grove in Southaven will offer different activities throughout the week such as a Pro-Am on Monday sponsored by the 10th Inning Bar and Grill, and a Kids Day on Wednesday at 5pm hosted by the Northwest Mississippi CTA and USTA Mississippi.
“So many great pros have played in this event before they went on to become household names,” Evans said. “We’ve had James Blake, Mardy Fish, John Isner, and Denis Shapavalov just to name a few, and Tennys Sandgren and Alex MIchelsen were here just recently. We’re thankful to over 34 sponsors that have contributed just for us to be able to host the event, as well as the City of Southaven, that has recently built 8 brand new courts that this tournament will take place on."
Admission to the event is FREE and food and drink vendors will be available, so come out to see some great pro tennis action!
For more details about the events such as draws, results, and daily schedules of play, visit THIS SITE for the men's event and THIS SITE for the women's event.