St Clair Tennis to host historic L4 adult tournament
For the first time in its history, St Clair Tennis will play host to a section-level tournament when the indoor facility runs a Level 4 Open on May 10-12. The L4 USTA Missouri Valley Adult 5’s, 0’s and Open Sectional Tournament marks a landmark weekend for St Clair, as the family-owned and operated facility in O’Fallon, Ill. hosts its inaugural junior or adult section-level tourney.
“It starts at the top. We have an owner who is willing to host tournaments,” said Nick Mueller, St Clair tennis teaching professional and the L4 tournament director. “We try to be accommodating and welcoming to our club. It’s a mom-and-pop-run business. The owners and all their grandkids play tennis. They understand the development from juniors all the way through club competition. They’re willing to give up the court time to be able to host, which is great.”
Mark Brunner and his wife, Naomi Brunner, have owned St Clair Tennis since 2007. Mark, a retired Lutheran minister, began teaching tennis full-time at St Clair in 1994 and still does lessons. His son, Dan Brunner, became a full-time teaching pro at St Clair in 2013 while grandkids Rowen and Annabelle Brunner work part-time at the club as well.
St Clair Tennis features six indoor courts and is one of the eastern-most points of the USTA Missouri Valley section. The facility borders the USTA Midwest section and is an easy drive for segments of the USTA Southern section. Mueller views that as advantageous when the club hosts tournaments, as participants from Missouri, Indiana, Kentucky, Tennessee and Arkansas routinely make the trek to St Clair to play.
St Clair hosts five Level 6 junior tournaments throughout the year, including the upcoming USTA St. Louis Girls Open on May 3-5. Its marquee tourney is the USTA St. Louis Thanksgiving Challenge, which featured nearly 80 junior competitors in 2023. Mueller—who began working at St Clair in 2018 after 17 years of coaching college tennis—was instrumental in bringing tournaments to the facility.
“We had not hosted a USTA junior event at our club in a long, long time,” Mueller said. “I thought it was a very important emphasis. Something to show our juniors, ‘Hey, you can not only play in a USTA tournament, but you can play here at our club.’ We began the conversations with the USTA St. Louis district office, and they were open to the idea of St Clair hosting. We went from there.”
St Clair tennis teaching professional Nick Mueller stands with his wife, Angela, at the W&S Open in Cincinnati.
Two junior competitors pose with their medals at St Clair Tennis, which hosts USTA St. Louis junior tournaments throughout the year.
Four of the indoor courts at St Clair Tennis, which is located in O'Fallon, Ill.
- St Clair tennis teaching professional Nick Mueller stands with his wife, Angela, at the W&S Open in Cincinnati.
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While St Clair has run a plethora of junior tournaments the past several years, the club hasn’t hosted as many adult tourneys. Mueller put in a bid for a USTA Missouri Valley section-level adult tournament and was awarded the Level 4 Open for 2024 and 2025. The event includes age divisions for men and women in both singles and doubles as well as the men’s/women’s open divisions. Individuals can register by clicking here.
“Most of our membership is used to the NTRP system—3.5s play 3.5s. Very rarely do 3.5s get a chance to play against 4.0s, or 4.0s get a chance to play against 4.5s,” Mueller said. “The only criterion for this adult tournament is age. You’re playing against someone who is going through the same challenges in life you have. It’s going to be very positive for our club for sure.”
Nick Mueller’s tennis background
Mueller and his brother were introduced to tennis at an early age by their father, who was an avid tennis competitor. While his sibling ultimately picked golf, Mueller fell for tennis. He played in USTA junior tournaments and competed for his high school team before a standout four-year tennis career at the University of Wisconsin-Oshkosh.
“I really loved my experience at UW-Oshkosh and made some friends for life,” Mueller said. “I’m still close with those guys. After graduation, I didn’t know where the road was going to take me.”
It took him to the East Coast, as the head coach of the women’s tennis team at William & Mary offered Mueller an assistant coaching gig.
“I did not know if I was going to like it or not, but I wanted to try it,” Mueller said. “I knew the coach at the time. I drove to Virginia from Wisconsin to try it out. And I really fell in love with it and enjoyed it so much I kind of chose a career path out of it.”
From William & Mary, Mueller next coached at the University of Wisconsin before spending three years as an assistant for the men’s and women’s programs at Longwood University in Virginia. Mueller then became an assistant at Virginia Tech University in 2007 before landing his first head-coaching job at the University of Evansville.
After a five-year stint leading the Evansville women’s tennis program, Mueller became the Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville women’s tennis head coach in 2015. His three-year tenure at SIUE included a pair of NCAA Tournament appearances and a 21-1 record in 2016-17. Mueller transitioned out of college coaching in the summer of 2018.
“I learned a lot at each spot,” Mueller said. “And then the college athletics landscape changed. It got to be a little hectic and crazy. The St Clair ownership is very welcoming. I thought this could be a real good fit, and it has been. … It’s a way for me to de-stress and still enjoy the sport I love. It’s true to my heart. I can’t imagine my life not having tennis in it.”
Mueller works with nearly every age group at St Clair. He teaches cardio tennis and gives private lessons for kids and adults. He helped form a 2.5 women’s team for beginners that has quickly increased in participants. Mueller enjoys the competitive component of tennis, too, which led to him taking on the tournament director role.
“The tennis court to me is a sanctuary,” Mueller said. “It’s a very calming place. It’s very inviting. It’s a really good place to go if you just need to clear your mind or get some exercise. It’s a great escape. Whether you’re dealing with stress at work and you want to go hit balls at 7 o’clock at night and de-stress, or you’ve got other things going on in your life.
“A lot of people view it like I do. It’s a great place to go to get away from the rest of the world for just a little bit.”
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