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By Randy Walker

@TennisPublisher

While Roger Federer was winning his 100^th ATP singles title in Dubai and Nick Kyrgios was realizing his potential in Acapulco, 32 aspiring players were competing in Vero Beach, Florida in the exact polar opposite of the pro tennis spectrum – a wild card tournament for an on the ITF World Tennis Tour.

The event was a tournament created out of thin air. As co-tournament director for the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships, I work with Tom Fish, the tournament namesake’s father and President of his Foundation, to maximize lead-in promotional and fund-raising opportunities for this $25,000 professional event, which has been held in Vero Beach since 1995. Rather than arbitrarily selecting a player to receive the wild card, where people are going to be heavily and unnecessarily politic and lobby for the spot and resulting in disappointment and anger, we let the players EARN the wild card, while at the same time, hosting a highly-competitive tournament where the entry fees are used as a fundraiser for the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation. Since the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation has run the Vero Beach “Futures” event, all of our wild cards have been determined by tournaments.

For a second year in a row, we decided to host our “Wild Card” event at the beautiful Sea Oaks tennis club in north Vero Beach. They love their tennis at Sea Oaks, with their 16 clay tennis courts being constantly filled. Thirty-two players signed up when the entries closed five days before the start of play. The seedings were made based on Universal Tennis Ratings (UTR) of each player, seeding No. 1 – No. 4 and then four other 5-8 seeds. For this wild card tournament, with the objective being finding a last man standing at the end of three days play, the seeding really doesn’t matter for our purposes as you have to beat everyone anyway to earn the wild card. However, we want to have the best tournament possible and the best players reaching the latter rounds.

Sure enough, just two hours after the draw was made, the No. 2 seed Justin Butsch, a former LSU standout, pulled out of the draw. He said in an email that he hurt his knee in practice and wouldn’t be able to play. I pleaded to him to wait a few days and see if he could still give it a go – the No. 2 seed pulling out blows up your draw. This is exactly what happened at the 2017 U.S. Open when the No. 2 seed Andy Murray pulled out of the event after the draw was made.

One player emailed me to see if they could get into the draw, despite missing the deadline. Spencer Gary of Boca Raton, Florida took Butsch’s spot on line No. 32 of the draw as the alternate. Another email came in the next day from former University of Virginia team member John Richmond of Pawley’s Island, S.C., one of the two 5-8 seeds of the bottom half of the draw that was now devoid of the No. 2 seed. He was also withdrawing due to injury. The bottom half of the draw now had another huge crater in it. Then came another withdrawal. Viju George, a good 12 UTR rated player from South Florida, said he had bad hip injury in practice. At least he was in the top half of the draw. I asked him if he had any chance to recovering in time. “No, it’s serious. I may have torn a muscle,” he said.

On Monday morning, just two days before the start of play, Brian Battistone, the tennis cult figure with his double-handed racquet, volleyball style serve and ambidextrous skills, texted me to say he also was going to pull out. This right thumb was not quite healed from a sprain. Battistone, who has played in the U.S. Open and ATP events before, was a marquee player in our tournament, based on his crazy playing style. I texted him back to let him know that he could wait until the last minute to pull out and perhaps there was a chance for him to play. He texted back and said he would give it another try in practice later in the day. Battistone coaches a pair of brothers, Jack and Jaime Vance, who were also in our draw. He would be coming to Vero Beach anyway so why not give it whirl, I texted him. Later that night, he texted me back and said the thumb wasn’t so bad. “I’ll try and play. I can always play lefty” texted the ambidextrous Battistone.

The morning of the first day of play, Louis Siegler a Yale University recruit from South Florida, emailed me to say that he had to withdraw due to personal reasons. That made it three walkovers in the first round.

As we had planned from the previous year at the Sea Oaks club, we would have this wild card event played over three days on a Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. With a 32-draw, we had to double-up with matches on two of the three days to get this done. Our format of two sets and a decisive match-tie-breaker in lieu of a third set would help this and would mirror the current match format used for the qualifying rounds on ITF World Tennis Tour events starting in 2019. With the likelihood of one-sided first round matches – and the constant threat of unsettled weather in Florida – I decided to play the first two rounds on the first day of play, giving players an hour or 90-minutes of rest between matches. Wednesday night at 4:30 pm at Sea Oaks is their traditional tennis exhibition night, so our content of tournament play fit perfectly into this already organized event that draws several hundred tennis-loving fans. We would have the most attractive match with the most popular and marketable players from the second round matches wedged into this 4:30 start time. We’d have a back-up match also played on another court at this time, just in case of a withdrawal and to prevent no match being played at this time. Thursday would be one round of quarterfinals matches and the final day, Friday, would have the semifinals played in the morning at 10 am and then the final at 5 pm to coincide with the club’s Friday Happy Hour, that also draws several hundred people.

The first round of matches were mostly routine. A player named Sebastien Flores from Orlando came to the tournament desk and asked me to watch over his decisive match-tiebreaker against Vitor Jordao. “There haven’t been any problems so far, but I’d like you there, just in case, since it is a match tiebreaker.” Flores ended up winning the match tiebreaker 10-7.

The another first round match that intrigued me was the No. 1 seed J. J. Mercer from Huntington, West Virginia. He has the highest UTR of the entries and he had just committed to play college tennis for the No. 1 ranked Ohio State Buckeyes. In my pre-event research on the top seed, I also learned that both his mother and father played and coached college tennis, his sister plays for the University of Virginia and his younger brother is also a top junior. I even listened to a podcast with J.J. from the enthusiastic people at “Cracked Racquets.” To boot, I found out his grandmother also lived in Vero Beach!

Mercer’s first round opponent was a local entry who I had not heard of. His name was Juan Sebastian Mendoza. I was worried when the local Vero Beach high school player is playing one of the top junior players in the country, but I was pleasantly surprised watching Mendoza ripping forehands from the baseline and running the top seed from corner to corner. He ended up losing by a 6-3, 6-1 margin, but it seemed much closer than that. I spoke Juan Sebastian’s mother Jessica, who told me that 11 years earlier, little Juan got inspired in tennis when he met none other than Mardy Fish during an event in town. How great and appropriate was it that Juan’s tennis journey would lead to him to play great tennis against a quality opponent in the wild card tournament in Mardy’s name. It’s a great example of how star players meeting and interacting with young children can really have an impact. Kids can draw inspiration from meeting star players at a young age where an encouraging word can really motivate a young child to pursue the sport of tennis.

Because Battistone was such a draw and fun to watch with his ambidextrous style, volleyball serve and double-handed racquet, I put his first round match against another 12-rated UTR player named Chris Rosensteel of New Windsor, N.J. on the Stadium Court at Sea Oaks. With Battistone’s injury – and him facing a tough first-round opponent – this could have been the only match he would play in the event. Battistone battled hard a won 6-3, 6-2 and set up a round of 16 match that I had been anticipating since the draw was made – a match against 18-year-old Matthew Segura, who like Battistone, also is an ambidextrous player. I was confident that there had never been a pro tennis match before played between two ambidextrous players.

Battistone’s pupil Jaime Vance came off the court, relieved after winning his second-round match Olavo Neto 4-6, 6-2, 10-8. “I was up 9-3 in the tiebreaker and almost choked,” said Vance as he walked to the tournament desk. Jaime’s twin brother Jack benefited from the Siegler withdrawal and got a walk-over into the round of 16. There he won 6-0, 6-0 against James Bratt, meaning he didn’t lose a game in his first day of work.

As the late afternoon daylight faded, Tyler Mercier, the No. 3 seed from Tampa, was in a battle with Tommi Carnevale-Miino, and Italian from Milan who now lives in Florida, taking a year off of school after graduating. The match started at 4 pm and after two hours, they started a decisive match-tiebreaker.

Carnevele-Miino was lucky to even be in the tournament. In his first round match, he was down match point 9-8 in the decisive match tiebreaker against Jonathan Olive-Blanco. Carnevele-Miino then described to a gaggle by the tournament desk that Olive-Blanco hit a great body serve that he was barely able to lob back into the court. All Olive-Blanco had to close out the match was a sitter forehand right on top of the net. He wound up to knock the heck out of the ball for a winner, Carnevale-Miino said, but he mishit it and the ball went straight down off the bottom of the racquet, into the bottom of the net. Carnevele-Miino then won the next two points to win the match tiebreaker 11-9.

Against Mercier, Carnevale-Miino lost the first set 6-4, but scrapped out the second set 7-6 (5) forcing a match-tiebreaker to determine the winner. Mercier had match point at 9-8 and then 10-9 and then fought off a match point at 11-10. The darkening skies were becoming filled with dark clouds and rumbles of thunder were getting louder and louder and flashes of lightning.

At 11-11, the two combatants engaged in another furious groundstroke rally. It ended when Mercier hit a groundstroke in the net. When he went to retrieve the ball to send over to his opponent, he saw that the felt on the ball had started to peel off. “The ball is broken!” he yelled. “We have to replay the point. That’s the rule! I swear.” Mercier turned towards me, standing courtside. With no referee or official on site, I had to be the arbiter. I quickly took out my Iphone and googled the rule for “Broken Ball” but couldn’t find anything on my first search. With the skies darkening, thunder getting louder and lighting getting brighter, we were in a rush to make a judgment and get this match finished. My gut told me that the point should stand, since both players had endure the same condition, and that the ball should now be placed out of play. I thought it might be quicker to get David Littlefield, the tour supervisor for our main draw event, on the phone. I called him but got his voice mail. I did another google search and saw the rule that if the ball was broken, the point should be replayed. “Replay the point,” I said. “I told you,” said Mercier. The two had another hard-fought baseline rally and Carnevale-Miino again won the point. Holding match point, Carnevale-Miino was closed out the match as Mercier netted a groundstroke to end another brutal baseline dual. Carnevale-Miino could not contain his excitement with a self-congratulatory roar. In two matches in the day, he won two match tiebreakers and saved three match points.

Brad Leu, the long-time director of tennis at Sea Oaks, grabbed the “broken” ball that was in question and tossed it to me after the match and said “you want a memento of the occasion?” I grabbed it and took it home. As a post-script, I took a photo of the ball and emailed the circumstance to Littlefield and told him what my missed call was about. He responded later in the day saying that broken felt does not qualify as a broken ball, only when the ball loses its compression. I had blown the call, but at least I was lucky in that it did not affect the outcome of the match. The blown call made me think that for these wild card events, while technically “unofficial” events, should perhaps have an official referee or official be present to make these calls when they come up. I had made a few calls where I had to decide if a mark on a clay court was out or not.

While the Carnevale-Miino vs. Mercier drama was taking place, Battistone and Segura were playing their “historic” match, or at least how I labeled it. Nearly 500 fans ringed the center court at the club and fans even watching from the top floor of the clubhouse, looking down 40 feet to follow these two ambidextrous players. It was fascinating to see Segura alternate between righty serve and lefty serves while watching Battistone, who hit right-handed volleyball style serves (as seen here in slow motion: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=IIzXxpx-dvU ), hit lefty and right forehands and forehand volleys. Segura hit often with two-hands on both sides, much like his great uncle Pancho Segura, the International Tennis Hall of Famer who tutored young Matthew before his death in 2018. Segura was a fan favorite, so to speak, at Sea Oaks due to his family background and the fact that he won our same wild card tournament the year before at Sea Oaks. To boot, he’s a super nice kid and a fierce competitor.

Segura, at 18 years old, was 21 years younger than Battistone won the first set 6-3, but trailed 4-1, two breaks, in the second set. However, Segura started to wear down his older opponent and won four games in a row to lead 5-4 when the lightning strikes became too close for comfort. We pulled the players off the court and immediately ran to the only remaining match being played at the time – our back-up feature match between No. 1 seed J.J. Mercer and Brazil’s Bernardo Costa. By the time we got there, match point had just concluded with the clay-courter Costa upsetting the top-seed Mercer, more adapt on faster services, by a 6-3, 6-2 scoreline. Soon, the skies erupted in a downpour.

The next day at 1:30 pm, Segura and Battistone resumed their match, with Segura winning two of the three games played to finish off a 6-3, 7-5 victory. We gave Matthew an hour rest and then he was back on the court, beating Costa, the conqueror of the No. 1 seed Mercer, by a 6-3, 6-4 scoreline. I put Jack Vance and Carnevale-Miino on the Stadium Court since that looked like the most competitive quarterfinal match and to give those two players a chance to play on the main court so they could get used to the conditions on that court, which was a bit different with the flurry and noise of the fans watching on that court.  It turned out to be a competitive and entertaining match with Vance winning 6-4, 7-6 (3). Jaime Vance, the taller twin brother, however, wasn’t as fortunate, losing to No. 4 seed Perry Gregg 6-1, 6-0. In the fourth and final quarterfinal, Spencer Gray, an Auburn University recruit, lost to Ron Hohmann, an LSU recruit, in an future All-Southeastern Conference battle. I asked both guys to wear their future college hats so I could take a photo for social media.

The semifinals featured Perry, an 18-year-old from Chicago who said he just turned professional, against Hohmann and Jack Vance against Segura, which was a rematch of the final of the same event the previous year. Gregg was actually the first player to enter the draw and was the name I looked at for weeks as the single entry in the event until the other 31 players entered the event on TennisLink.com in the days before the deadline, as it happens with almost every event.

I had a bit of a dilemma as to what match to play on the Stadium and what to play on the No. 2 court. Segura and Vance was a rematch of the previous year’s final and was clearly the more attractive match, but both players had had their fair share of experience on the Stadium Court, from the previous year and also both having played at least one match on the Stadium. Gregg and Hohmann was the “less marquee” match, if you could have that at this level tournament and the other issue came from Hohmann. The Oyster Bay, N.Y. seemed to have picked up a habit of another former tennis-playing resident of that Long Island town, John McEnroe, and that was a temper. Hohmann, the former winner of the boys’ 16 title at the Eddie Herr junior championship, was seen throwing his racquet more than a few times – and some good chucks at that. He also shouted and admonished himself often after missed shots. It again brought up the issue of whether wild card events should have referees to issue point penalties. Would it be bad if we put Hohmann on the Stadium Court and he acted up in front of the Sea Oaks membership? Could this jeopardize us hosting this event at the club in the future?

I left the club Thursday night convinced that I would put Segura and Vance on Stadium Court. However, waking up in the middle of the night, I decided that it was more fair to allow Gregg and Hohmann have their chance to play on the Stadium. I remembered the scenario where at Wimbledon in 2002 when David Nalbandian reached the final without having playing on Centre Court…ever. It was an anomaly brought on by constant rain that year at The Championships. It was suggested to me that I have a talk with Hohmann before the semifinal on the Stadium. He is a nice kid and I had developed good camaraderie with him. “Have a great time out there, but please watch your temper and the racquet throwing. You are at a private club here as a guest and you are playing in front of former CEOS, Olympic medalists and NBA champions” – which was all true.

For the most part, Hohmann behaved better, with a few outbursts, and after he lost match point at 9-7 in the match tie-breaker, he did slam his racquet head into the clay, creating a sound of a crack in the graphite. Segura beat Vance on the No. 2 court, incredibly, by the exact same 6-3, 6-4 scoreline as their final 12 months earlier.

The final was played at 5 pm on Friday night, to coincide with the club’s happy hour, and a crowd of about 500 fans crammed around the court to see if Segura could once again win the wild card into our Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships. It might have been the biggest match and biggest opportunity of Perry Gregg’s playing career. Since he had decided to turn professional – while Segura was still undecided on a pro vs. college career, the match was, in a way, bigger for him. Neither player had an ATP ranking and were not able to directly get into even 15K ITF World Tour events, so the opportunity to win this final match to earn the wild card into our 25K match was a big deal. The rallies were furious and Gregg served and competed hard, but fell just short, losing to Segura 7-6(0), 6-4. You felt badly for Gregg, who played hard and acted like a true professional. Many of the fans at Sea Oaks felt the same way and he was consoled and encouraged by many club members who visited with him courtside after the final. Among those was Jeff Mullins, a Duke University basketball legend, 1964 U.S. Olympic basketball gold medal winning team member and a member of the 1975 NBA Champion Golden State Warriors. Gregg, at six-foot-six, would have gotten rebounds of Mullins.

While Segura will get a main draw position once again into our event – a well-earned slot – Perry will have to search again for other opportunities to get into main draws and qualifying events at the 15K or 25K level. We hope he comes back to play in our UTR qualifying wild card event (a pre-qualifier) April 24-27 in Vero Beach at The Boulevard Club.