Wednesday's Central Georgia Daily News 'n Notes: Major pro tennis tourney in Macon gets some tweaks; and football galore
Wednesday's Central Georgia - and of interest to Central Georgia - news and notes, compiled from staff reports, email reports, the web, and social media.
The Braves Report pregame edition is up.
The daily scores and schedules have moved to a separate story file each day.
Pro tennis is back in town, at Mercer, with new name
The W.L. Amos Sr. Tennis Classic has a new name and new logo, but everything else is staying the same.
The $80,000 USTA Pro Circuit event is now called the Mercer Tennis Classic, and this year’s tournament will be held Oct. 21-28 at Mercer’s Leroy Peddy Tennis Center.
The tournament field will again feature several top-100 players, and The Tennis Channel will cover the singles semifinals and finals live on assorted platforms.
The format for the women’s event is a 32-person singles qualifying draw, 32-person singles main draw and 16-team doubles draw.
“From day one, this tournament has been a group effort and about reaching the community,” tournament director and Mercer tennis head coach Eric Hayes said in a release. “This is a transition that the Amos/Copelan Family supports; allowing the name change as the event expands each year.
“It couldn’t grow without efforts from everyone in the Macon tennis community, volunteers, Mercer University and everyone else involved over the past five years. This event’s home is Mercer University and the name change reflects how far we all have come in terms of tennis and giving back.”
This is the second-largest pro tournament in the state in prize money, behind the BB&T Atlanta Open, and is now the state’s longest-running women’s pro tennis tournament.
Kateryna and Alona Bondarenko, sisters from Ukraine, won the 2008 Australian Open doubles title, and Kateryna won the singles title in Macon in 2014. And 2010 French Open singles champ Francesca Schiavone competed in 2017.
Tournament week includes a pro-am, a player/sponsor party, free lessons, and visits to area schools.
To volunteer, contact Hayes at 301-2269.
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