The 2011 PTR Championships on Hilton Head Island showcased a beautiful week of tropical paradise weather and incredible tennis competition. Again this year, we were proud to be part of the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Tour, an ITF Series II Championships and a USTA Fall Southern Championship event!
After the dust settled, we awarded a total of $16,100 in prize money this year. According to ITF regulations, we are required to give $15,000 to the Open Divisions (men’s, women’s, quads in open.) The ITF has an exact calculation of the amount of prize money for each open division that we must follow. Then, the remaining prize money was given to the A, B and C divisions which included some first-time players who are always so excited to receive a prize money check. We make a big production of it, take photographs with their national flag and their USTA official to make it special.
The week began with a TV interview on local WHHI-TV with the worlds #1 Junior, Gustavo Fernandez from Argentina. The segment aired throughout the week encouraging the town to come out and enjoy the tournament. Wednesday’s Island Packet Newspaper also featured an article and photos covering the Wheelchair Tournament on the front page of the sports section of the local paper.
We had 90 entries this year. Our youngest player, Chris Herman, age 13, received a grant from the PTR Foundation to attend as well as Emily Tillman, another junior who received a Foundation grant.
Wednesday featured our Warmup Drill Clinic for players of all levels. PTR Pros were on each court running skill-appropriate drills so the players could "hit some balls." We also featured Night Matches under the lights from the Men’s Open, Women’s Open and Quad Open Divisions.
Thursday evening was our Cookout at the Courts and our Run/Roll tournament. This is the initiative to get wheelchair players integrated with able-bodied players.
This year we held early rounds of the letter divisions at Hilton Head Motorcoach Resort. The resort was very accommodating and had a beautiful quiet setting with some shade. The residents were very supportive and came out to cheer on the competition.
Our defending Men’s Open Champion had a tough time of reclaiming his title with young Gusti Fernandez hot on his trail. In the final, Gordon Reid, of Scotland defeated Gustavo Fernandez of Argentina to take home the $1,500 check and his name engraved on the Tournament Cup. Reid and Marc McCarroll, of England, joined forces to take home the Men’s Open Doubles title too defeating Fernandez and Dave Phillipson.
The Brits also had a great showing on the women’s side with defending Champion Lucy Shuker losing in the final to South Africa’s KJ Montjane in three tough sets.
Lucy teamed up with fellow Brit, Louise Hunt, to capture the Doubles Title over the Japanese team of Chokyu and Domori.
See all the results on the PTR website at http://www.ptrtennis.org/2011-wheelchair-tennis-championships
In the Quad division, defending Champion and PTR member, Bryan Barten, of Arizona took home the Singles Title in a tough battle over South Africa’s Lucas Sithole.
We ended the week with an Instructing Wheelchair Tennis Workshop where 3 players and 2 pro learned the nuances of teaching wheelchair tennis.
9 of the wheelchair players at the tournament were PTR members. And many of the Wheelchair Coaches travel with the open players and are part of their Federations. Geraint Richards of the LTA Education Dept was one of those joining us.
In terms of expenses, we obtained many in-kind donations including the venue and the Program Book which are 2 large items. Our biggest actual expense is the prize money – but after that, umpires, awards banquet and player meals and transportation top the list. Because of the loss of ROHO as our primary sponsor this year, we again contacted local supporters of the event like Lenore Gleason who donated $3,000 and Giancarlo Mazzoleni who donated $1,500. We cut back everywhere we could on expenses this year. Profit /Loss statement will be available by Oct. 1st.
This year’s event received extensive coverage including a segment on regional television WSAV-TV out of Savannah, Georgia as well as 2 spots on the local WHHI-TV. Local coverage in newspaper and magazines including 2 photos and stories on the front page of the Sports Section. The coverage continues on various media suchas Facebook and USTA National and Sectional websites.
In our follow-up to the event, we will be using a photo from the wheelchair tournament on the cover of our TennisPro Magazine.
The PTR and PTR Foundation continue to … make tennis available to everyone and we are pleased to support Wheelchair Tennis.