With summer officially underway, USTA St. Louis has a handful of forthcoming events for adult players seeking to put their skills to the test in a tournament setting. Two such opportunities exist on the Illinois side in the Edwardsville Open and Alton Open, while Missouri will play host to the L5 St. Louis District Championship.

 

 

 

Edwardsville Open

 

 

Presented by the Goddard School of Edwardsville, the Edwardsville Open will run June 25-28 with registration for the tournament closing June 22. The event doubles as a precursor and qualifying tournament for the Edwardsville Futures, a USTA Professional Circuit tournament that is slated for July 19-25.

 

 

 

“The Edwardsville Open is a big deal,” said Tournament Director David Lipe, who also works as the Edwardsville High School boys’ and girls’ tennis coach. ADVERTISEMENT “The tournament has gone through multiple phases. It started out as a district-level community event. And then I made it a prize-money tournament. And now it’s a men’s and women’s community event that attracts some incredible male talent, especially, because it’s a wild-card event. For guys interested in playing professional tennis, this is it.”

 

 

 

 

To that end, high-caliber local men’s players such as Carson Haskins, Michael Peters, Dylan Steffens and Blake Strode — who won the inaugural Edwardsville Open — have previously participated. The tournament consists of a singles and doubles open division for top-flight men’s and women’s players.

 

 

 

The champion of the open men’s singles bracket receives a main-draw wild card into the Edwardsville Futures, while the runner-up earns a qualification wild card. The men’s doubles champions, meanwhile, collect a doubles wild card into the Futures. With no qualification process there, the recipients of that wild card earn automatic entrance into the main draw.

 

 

 

“The level of guys who show up to play — you’ve got multiple Division-I tennis players and local heroes like Carson Haskins who plays this event every year,” Lipe said. “It’s a cool event for people to come check out top-level tennis. It’s a cool event for men and women to come test their skills against the best in the area.”

 

 

 

While the highly competitive open divisions will feature players trying to earn a shot at accumulating ATP points, the Edwardsville Open will also host men’s and women’s singles and doubles for 4.0 NTRP-level players. The Edwardsville Open additionally contains a fundraising component for Edwardsville High School. To sign up for the event, click here.

 

 

 

 

“The Edwardsville Open has been a really important event for St. Louis players,” Lipe said. “It’s a really important event for the Missouri Valley and St. Louis guys who are trying to break into college tennis.”

 

 

 

Alton Open

 

 

Robert Lowe — Alton Open tournament director — is in his second year running an event he estimates has been going strong for better than 40 years. This year’s rendition will take place outdoors on July 10-12 at Gordon F. Moore Community Park in Alton.

 

 

 

“The quality of players is pretty high,” Lowe said. “We have a pretty good turnout from St. Louis. Last year, there were people from Indiana and a couple other places. I’m impressed by the players in the tournament.”

 

 

 

Registration for the Alton Open isn’t live yet but will be closer to the tournament start date. The Alton Open is comprised of men’s and women’s flights at 3.5, 4.0 and 4.5. Singles, doubles as well as mixed doubles will be available. Questions about the tournament can be directed to Robert Lowe at: rwlowe@charter.net.

 

 

“I’m really excited about it,” Lowe said. “It’s great to see people. I’ve been around tennis for a long time. Seeing these new people come in, then there’s a lot of the old people I’ve been around for years who are playing in it. It’s a great tournament, really, and it has been for a long time. Hopefully we’ll have a great turnout and the weather will cooperate. I’m looking forward to it.”

 

 

 

St. Louis District Championship

 

 

 

The Level 5 Open St. Louis District Championship will take place July 16-18. Registration for this event closes July 12. Interested individuals can sign up for the tournament by clicking here.

 

 

 

The L5 St. Louis District Championship consists of open draws for both men and women in singles as well as doubles. The tournament also features an open mixed doubles draw. Play starts Friday at 6 p.m., with all matches being held at the Dwight Davis Tennis Center in beautiful Forest Park.