UT Tyler To Hold Professional Tennis Tournament In November

July 29, 2001

The University of Texas at Tyler will hold the Patriot Challenger professional tennis tournament this fall, Ken Olivier, UT Tyler tennis head coach, announced.

The tournament, a $50,000 men's professional competition sanctioned by the United States Tennis Association, will be Nov. 3 - 11 at UT Tyler.

"The UT Tyler Patriot Challenger is considered a very prestigious event. The tournament will draw 70 world-class players and is the highest-level professional tournament ever played in East Texas. Players like Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic, Michael Chang and even Andre Agassi recently played challengers, so we are guaranteed name players," Olivier said.

"We will see many of the world's brightest stars of the same caliber as Andy Roddick and Michael Russell competing against higher-ranked tour players. This event is sanctioned by the International Tennis Federation and Association of Tennis Professionals. The tournament will be run by the USTA Pro Circuit staff from New York in conjunction with UT Tyler. A list of players will be released in October," he added.

Competition will take place at UT Tyler's newly designed Summers Tennis Center. The center is adding five new tennis courts built to meet USTA specifications for professional tennis, including lighting for featured night matches and on-court box seating, Olivier said.

This year, the USTA professional circuit will consist of over 100 tournaments and offer more than $3 million in prize money. The Challenger Series is designed to help players advance to the ATP tour and Grand Slam tournaments.

For more information, contact Olivier at (903) 566-7800.