Lorenzi May 2002
Tennis Championships
Below is a day by day account of the events.
By Ryan Wolfington
5-23-2002 Thursday Tennis
Singles and doubles
began tonight at the
Lorenzi Tennis Championships. Many players and fans were on hand
to
see the
matches. April Chavez took care
of checking in each player and making sure they were set up with a court and
their free T-Shirt. She herself is not playing in the tournament as there's no
ladies 4.5 draw. However her 4.5 team she plays on (Flamingo Hilton Tennis Club) has won the
4.5 Division and will now move on to sectionals in Salt Lake City in August.
The Perennial finalist
Chris Tofuri and
Nolan Holt both came through the
first round with
ease in the men's 3.0.
Chris won the Lorenzi Classic
earlier this year and Nolan just recently won both the
Stacey Darling Tournament and the
Monte Carlo
tournament. Noel Irwin
also was able to win his opening round match.
Don Burger, who played Nolan Holt,
had the best attitude observed this evening as he made the simple point that "He
played better then me."
What was absent were the excuses that often are believed by those
who do not end up on top. He explained he played well and enjoyed himself.
  |
Elizabeth Grauberger had the full support of her family as her husband and children camped out court side to watch the match. Her and partner Candice Salerne played the YMCA team of Bernetta Stebrite and Chris Mason. Tonight it was Chris and Bernetta who won the match in two sets.
"Rock-N-Roll Tennis nights" at Lorenzi on Friday nights. Click here to see video highlights
|
|
After the match I spoke
with Lloyd Cutler who played
against Chris Tofuri and he mentioned that he would like to play
more outdoor
matches. He plays at Club
sport Green Valley and has given me his e-mail address to be posted in the
"Find a match"
section. This section allows people to find other players to play with. You can
place your name on the list or use the list to contact others.
(Click
here to play Lloyd) . Chris Tofuri also gave me
his phone number and e-mail to add his name to the
"Find a match"
section of this site. He expressed a desire to start playing 3.5 players.
(Click here to play Chris.)
In the Ladies 2.5
Denise Optekar is embarking on
her first tournament experience.
Lorenzi seems to have a
program that invites beginners to participate as
this is the
second player I have
met there in one week that has just taken up the sport of tennis. And it is not
short on talented and experience players either , as they seem to have a number of
3.0, 3.5 and 4.0
men and ladies that play, practice and participate in the leagues and
tournaments at Lorenzi. Many of those players were out tonight,
Tonja Barrows, her doubles
partner Deborah Petit, Noel
Irwin, Andrew Lanfear and others. Also out tonight was
Penny Wiggins who also played in
the Stacy Darling Tournament.
(Click here to see Stacy
Darling review, Draw and pictures.) At Stacy Darling she gave
Mila Ortiz, the
tournament winner, a run for her money taking the match into three sets.
 
|
Deborah Petit played
singles and doubles in the 3.5 division. Tonight she faced off against
Ronnie Grower.
Ronnie
was able to win the match in two sets to extend her record against Deborah to
3-0,
but it's not over when you lose, ...it is only over when you quit!
The woman's 4.0 Spring league team was also on hand but were not taking part in the tournament. They were out for a night of practice and Lorenzi was able to accommodate their play along with another court set aside for some tennis lessons given by the tennis professional Craig Witcher because the facility is quite large. Lorenzi has eight lighted courts. It is often that I go by there to have my racket strung and see them pressure washing the courts to keep the dust and debris from marring the court.
| Do you Like this site? | Support this site by advertising your product and service here. | Support the Sponsor AHonestVideo.com |
On the TV Tonight the
club played a VegasTennis.com
Video highlights tape of the
Lorenzi
Rock-N-Roll Tennis nights, which is a new tennis event at Lorenzi that
started last week and is on again this Friday May 31st. I went there and video taped and edited together a video to
be shown in the VegasTennis.com
Video highlights section of this site. To view this video or any other
VegasTennis.com video highlights click this icon...
|
Some
of the pictures from this event are on the web site now. To see these
pictures and pictures from other tennis events click this icon.... To be notified when the Video highlights are on the site submit your e-mail address by clicking here. |
Also
out to play this evening was Stacey Darling finalist
Sachiyo
Kobayashi who is now rated
3.0 having moved up from 2.5 to challenge those in the 3.0 woman's division.
VegasTennis.com makes free web pages for Tennis Clubs, Tennis teams, individual players, tennis pro's and any one who is involved with Las Vegas Tennis. Simply click here to e-mail me the text you would like on your page along with any pictures, music selections, video or any requests. There is no limit to features like message boards, instant message capability or contact links. If you have an idea for this site or your free page let me know and we will see what can be done.
|
|
|
||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
In addition, VegasTennis.com is looking for individuals who are willing to e-mail Team, individual, club and any tennis news or notes that can be placed into the Local Tennis news section. Write an e-mail of what you see at club play, tournament play, league play or individual play. I take those comments or notes and incorporate them into the various articles written about local events. I welcome others to submit their own articles as well. Some of the greatest matches ever played are done on the back courts of America. Let me know about these moments in time so they can be recorded here. Your insights are welcome as well. Continue to page 2 by clicking here.
