Net Notes

from 2016 Fall-Winter Serve

Youth Rules

Seven tennis players qualified to play in the US Open National Playoffs at a Sectional Qualifying Event at Homestead Country Club in Prairie Village, Kan., May 19-22. Click the photo above to visit the Facebook photo gallery.

Four Junior Team Tennis squads advanced to the

USTA National Championships from the Section Championships in Topeka, Kan., July 25-28. Click the photo above for the Facebook photo gallery.

Teams from Oklahoma City and Tulsa finished in second and third place, respectively, at the USTA Junior Team Tennis 18U Intermediate National Championships held at the Cayce Tennis and Fitness Center in Cayce, S.C., October 20-23.

Barbara Fackel of Rock Island, Ill., was selected as the recipient of the Barbara Williams Service Award. Fackel was honored at the USTA Semi-Annual Meeting, Sept. 3-6 in New York City.

A team from Tulsa finished in fourth place at the USTA Junior Team Tennis 14U Intermediate National Championships held at the Cayce Tennis and Fitness Center in Cayce, S.C., October 13-18.

The 2016 Fred Johnson ALL Stars event took place June 11-12 in Fremont, Neb. Click the photo for the full gallery on Facebook.

Judy Dippold (St. Louis, Mo.) and Lisa Minihan (Norman, Okla.) each received the United States Tennis Association’s Junior Tournament Directors Blue Ribbon Award. They are two of four tournament directors to receive the Blue Ribbon Award from across the country.

“Judy and Lisa contribute a tremendous amount to junior tennis in the USTA Missouri Valley,” said Nikki Chambers, USTA Missouri Valley Program Manager for Judy Dippold (left) and Lisa MInihan (right). Junior Competition. “They always go above and beyond for the players to make sure every tournament experience is a success. We are truly fortunate to have their expertise.”

Dippold has been a national tournament director since 1992 and continues to run 15-20 tournaments per year including several national events. Minihan is Tournament Director/ Manager at Westwood Tennis Center in Norman, Okla. She serves as tournament director for district, section and national level tournaments. Minihan has served as president of USTA Oklahoma and is currently treasurer of the USTA Missouri Valley’s Board of Directors.

Click the photo below to visit the full Sweet 16 photo gallery on Facebook.

Eight junior tennis players captured singles championships at the USTA Missouri Valley Sweet 16 Championship, which draws the top 16 boys and girls players in each age division throughout the USTA Missouri Valley. The tournament was held June 14-19 at the Plaza Tennis Center in Kansas City, Missouri.

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NET NOTES

The men’s tennis team from Tulsa, Oklahoma, representing the USTA Missouri Valley section, finished second at the USTA League Adult 55 & Over 6.0 National Championships held at the Surprise Tennis & Racquet Complex in Surprise, Ariz. The Tulsa team lost to a team from San Gabriel, California, 3-0 in the championship match. The team is captained by Tom Lydy and features James Felton Headrick, James Rader, Rusty Rutherford, Randy Hughes, Ken Pelotte, Kenneth Michael Beck, James Hayward and Frank Foreman and plays at the Case Tennis Center at LaFortune Park.

Charles Taylor, 17, of Park City, Kan., was selected as one of 10 winners of the 18th annual NJTL Arthur Ashe Essay Contest. Taylor was selected out of more than 2,800 entries submitted this summer and is a member of the McAdams Community Tennis Foundation NJTL in the Wichita, Kan., area.

Taylor received a New York City travel package from August 26- 28 as part of 2016 Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day presented by Hess, the annual youth celebration that precedes the US Open.

Pierce Liberman of St. Louis, Mo., captured the USTA’s Bronze Ball in singles at the USTA National Men’s 85s Grass Court Championships in Chestnut Hill, Mass. Liberman partnered with Richard Morse of Hingham, Mass. to earn the Silver Ball in Doubles. It was the seventh tournament Liberman played this year.

Washington University-St. Louis continues to be a force when it comes to USTA Tennis on Campus. Wash. U. won the USTA Missouri Valley Tennis On Campus Fall Invite at the Plaza Tennis Center in Kansas City, October 1-2. The team also won the USTA Missouri Valley Tennis On Campus Section Championship earlier this year.

Nebraska took second place, and Iowa State took third place over the weekend. Southern Illinois UniversityEdwardsville’s Stephanie Wichmann as well as Luke Foreman and Sam Cohen from Wash. U. were named sportsmanship winners. Click the photo at left to view the Facebook photo gallery.

NET NOTES

The women’s 55 & Over 7.0 and 9.0 teams from Nebraska both finished in fourth place, respectively, at USTA League National Championships in October.

Madison Keys wrapped up her best-ever season at the BNP Paribas WTA Finals, and she is now guaranteed to enter the 2017 season as a Top 10 player for the first time in her career. Keys’ appearance in Singapore at the WTA Finals marked the first time the 21-year-old Rock Island, Ill., native has contested the WTA Finals. It also means she will finish the year inside the Top 10 for the first time, after improving to her current No. 7 from No. 18 in the world at the end of 2015. Keys, ranked second among American women behind only Serena Williams, proved this year she has the game to rival any of her peers. She recorded victories over seventime Grand Slam champion Venus Williams, French Open champion Garbiñe Muguruza, two-time major winners Svetlana Kuznetsova and Petra Kvitova and 2015 US Open finalist Roberta Vinici – all Top 10 players – this season alone.

Jack Sock became the top-ranked American male in the world. The 24-year-old Lincoln, Neb., native has reached two ATP World Tour singles finals this year, finishing runner-up in January in Auckland and then repeating the feat in April in Houston. He also defeated former US Open champion Marin Cilic last month to make his first fourth-round appearance at the US Open. And last week, he scored his third Top 10 win of 2016 over current world No. 4 Milos Raonic to reach the quarterfinals in Shanghai. Also in Shanghai, Sock paired with Isner to win the doubles title, another in a long line of doubles successes. The Nebraska native made headlines this summer by winning gold in mixed doubles with Bethanie Mattek-Sands in mixed doubles and the bronze medal in men's doubles with Johnson at the Rio Olympics. Sock will also be honored at the Stan Musial Awards for Sportsmanship on November 19.

Ashley Marshall and McCarton Ackerman I USTA.com

Three facilities within the section were honored in the 35th annual USTA Facility Awards program, which recognizes excellence in the construction and/or renovation of tennis facilities throughout the country. The facilities are: Cooper Tennis Complex (Springfield, Missouri), Oklahoma City Tennis Center (Oklahoma City, Oklahoma) and Michael & Anne Greenwood Tennis Center (Stillwater, Oklahoma). The facilities were honored at an Awards luncheon in New York City on September 1.

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