Thirty-four wheelchair atheletes competed at the 8th annual Sacramento Capitals Wheelchair Tennis Tournament June 26 – 28, 2009 at the Johnson Ranch Racquet Club in Roseville, CA.
After check in and a light lunch, play began on Friday at 1:00 p.m. Sixteen matches were scheduled and play was followed by courtside dinner of fried chicken and potato salad. Players returned to the tournament hotel, Orchid Suites, to rest and relax before play resumed on Saturday morning.
Twenty-six matches were scheduled for Saturday. In hopes of “beating the heat” play started at 8:00 a.m. for some players. Breakfast and lunch were served courtside with ice cold beverages available throughout the very warm day; Saturday’s high temperature was 104º. When play concluded for the day, the SCWTA rental van shuttled players back to the hotel to cool down, rest, and clean up in preparation for the Saturday evening banquet.
The banquet buffet that included garden salad, bread, honey balsamic chicken, sundried tomato capellini, broccoli, and chicken rigatoni was set up and served at the hotel. Safe to say that the players enjoyed the meal as there was not a leftover to be had! A delicious chocolate cake topped off the evening meal.
Nineteen matches were scheduled for Sunday morning. Once again, breakfast, lunch, and cold beverages were available throughout the day. Unfortunately, the heat wave not only continued but got worse. By late afternoon the temperature was 111º. Fortunately, none of the players or volunteers suffered any lasting affects from the extreme temperature.
The tournament benefited enormously from fifteen incredible volunteers who helped serve and clean up meals, assist players with equipment, maintain courts, and shuttle players between the tournament venue, hotel, and airport. In addition, the use of the amenities at Johnson Ranch afforded players a way to escape the heat when not playing tennis as well as to clean up and shower before departing for home on Sunday afternoon.