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Providers created tennis events and matchplay opportunities all over the world in February. Universal Tennis is recognizing the club, event, and newcomer of the month.
Club of the Month: Emilio Sanchez Academy (Naples, Florida)
The Emilio Sanchez Academy in southwest Florida has been a bustling hub of tennis activity over the past few months. The academy hosted two UTR Pro Tennis Tour Men's $25Ks in January, three ITF M15s in February, and one ITF W15 in March. Over the weekends in February, the Academy created four Universal Tennis wild card events that awarded each winner a wild card into respective ITF M15 qualifying draws, held at the same venue. Interest was very high with each men's wild card event featuring 64-player draws.
The Emilio Sanchez Academy Digital Club has over 1,521 members and has run over 92 events on its 38-court facility. Sanchez is a former Top 10 singles player and a five-time doubles Grand Slam champion. After retiring in the 1990s, he turned to coaching and captained the winning Spanish Davis Cup team in 2008.
Event of the Month: Club Campestre Los Arrayanes (Bogota, Colombia)
Club Campestre Los Arrayanes is the first Universal Tennis club in Colombia to win a spotlight award. In their very first event held across six days, 122 players signed up to compete in level-based draws of the Primera Parada Torneo Ranking Interno Sencillos. In what has become the standard Universal Tennis format, round-robin group winners advanced to playoff rounds.
Newcomer of the Month: Levite Jewish Community Center (Birmingham, Alabama)
Located in Alabama, the Levite Jewish Community Center kicked off its Universal Tennis career with an event drawing in 56 players. Called the J Tennis Challenger, the weekend of tennis featured three doubles and four singles divisions to ensure level-based play. Each player was guaranteed two matches and coaching was permitted during changeovers.
Stay tuned for more Monthly Spotlights from Universal Tennis every month.