USTA Futures events begin Illinois swing

It may be a long way from Centre Court at Wimbledon and the glamor and lights of the U.S. Open in New York City, but the 19th annual Lewis and Clark Community College USTA Men’s Futures is a start for young tennis players from around the world.

At least that is the hope of UTSA Pro Circuit Director Brian Earley, who was on hand Friday in Godfrey to help kick off and promote a month-long swing of USTA Men’s Futures Tournaments in Illinois.

The 19th annual Lewis and Clark College USTA Futures event, the 11th oldest on the USTA Men’s Futures event in the nation, begins Saturday and is the first of four Futures events in Illinois during the next four weeks.

“This is developmental level tennis at its finest,” Earley said following a news conference on Friday. “It was 30 years ago you could go to college and gradually work your way to playing at the highest levels. It doesn’t work that way anymore. These tournaments are just so important towards building the next generation of players, and it’s so very vital that we have stable and excellent facilities to host these events in order to provide these excellent young players the opportunities to develop their games so that they can become successful, not only on the national level, but on the international levels as well.”

Beginning Saturday at Lewis and Clark College, a total of 32 players will compete for a share of the $25,000 purse and more importantly continue their quests to join the best players in the world.

“We’re looking forward to another great event here at Lewis and Clark College,” tournament director Doug Stotler said. “We feel very fortunate that our event here has been so successful in the past and the feedback we’ve gotten from players who have been here has been nothing but positive in terms of the way they are treated and the excellent facilities we have here. We’re looking forward to another great event.”

But the Lewis and Clark Tournament is just the start of a four-city, four-week tour through central and southern Illinois for the USTA Men’s Futures Circuit.

Edwardsville will host an event for the sixth straight year on July 22-31, followed by events in Decatur on July 30-Aug. 7 and Champaign on Aug. 6-13.

Edwardsville to host again

The sixth annual Edwardsville Futures Tournament will feature local players and international talent, according to tournament director Dave Lipe.

“We’re always excited to get started and welcome all of these great young players to both Godfrey and then Edwardsville. It’s been a lot of work to get to this point and once we get started, its all a blur from that point on,” Lipe said. “These are all great young players and we hope people come out and watch an extremely high level of play.”

Among the players competing at the Edwardsville stop are 16-year-old Missouri state champion Carson Haskins and the doubles team of St. Louis natives Dylan Steffans and Harvard University standout Michael Peters.

This story was originally published July 16, 2016 at 12:39 AM with the headline "USTA Futures events begin Illinois swing."