By Kevin Craig
Vero Beach, Fla., is known as the site of what is regarded as the best “Futures” level professional tennis tournament in the world. Now the tennis-crazed hamlet town just north of West Palm Beach, Fla., is starting to be considered for higher grade tennis events.
As the annual Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships $15,000 USTA Pro Circuit begins at Grand Harbor Golf & Beach Resort, the xxth year the Futures event has been staged in Vero Beach, it has been reported that the city and venue received strong consideration as the site of the USA vs. Czech Republic Fed Cup semifinal
In an article in the Vero Beach newspaper 32963 entitled “Vero Rises In Tennis World; Considered for Fed Cup” Jeff Ryan, the USTA Senior Director of Team Events said to staff writer Ray McNulty that Vero Beach was considered as a potential site but chose Tampa as the location due to market size.
“Vero Beach probably isn’t big enough for a semifinal or final, because the ITF prefers to play those rounds in larger markets and especially major cities,” Ryan told 32963. “For an earlier round, however, we recognize what Vero Beach has to offer as a potential site in terms of climate, hotels, and local support.”
Ryan also said that a lack of a permanent stadium in the Vero Beach market is a deterent as well.
“The size of the market will be an ongoing issue as is not having a permanent structure, which impacts our costs,” Ryan said to McNulty. ”If we went to Vero Beach, we’d have to erect a temporary stadium that can get expensive.”
Tom Fish, the father of tennis star Mardy Fish and Chairman of the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation, along with Randy Walker, co-tournament director for the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation, have been in discussions with Vero Beach city officials about the concept of a permanent multi-purpose stadium that also could be a home for the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation and its youth activities.
Fish and Walker worked with the Vero Beach government in 2011 on an initial attempt to bring the USA vs. Belarus Fed Cup series to Vero Beach, with a temporary stadium at Dodgertown being the suggested venue.
Some of the best tennis players in the world have made stops in at the event including Andy Roddick, Milos Raonic, and Tim Henman. Ivan Lendl, a former No. 1 player in the world, and Mikael Pernfors, the former top 10 Swedish star, are also residents of the city. Mardy Fish, the 2004 Olympic silver medalist, grew up in Vero Beach and annually visits his hometown from his new home in California to visit family and support the foundation.
“I have no doubt this community, as much as it loves tennis, would support the Fed Cup. And I’m sure we also would’ve drawn fans from neighboring areas, maybe all of Florida,” Walker told Vero Beach 32963.
According to Walker, the Fed Cup could’ve had a $5 million impact on the local economy, which also would have been a huge boost to that Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation and all of its initiatives to promoting tennis and healthy lifestyles for children.
