Former ATP World Tour ranked tennis professionals and aspiring competitive players age 40 and over are invited to participate in a special senior prize money tennis tournament March 1-4 at the Jack Kramer Tennis Club in Rolling Hills Estates, Calif., 20 miles from downtown Los Angeles.
The Jack Kramer Club Past Masters Challenge will feature a 40-and-over singles tournament and a 50-and-over doubles tournament with prize money being awarded to singles and doubles semifinalists, finalists and champions. Prize money amounts will be determined based on a prize money pot that will be made up of tournament entry fees as well as fees raised through tournament competitors participating in pro-am, hit-with-the-pros sessions with patrons.
Former Top 50 professional 2000 U.S. Olympic team member Jeff Tarango, the new director of tennis at the Kramer Club, will be playing and hosting the event.
Players who ranked in the top 50 of the ATP singles rankings in their careers who enter the event will receive a bye into the singles semifinals of the event and if there are more than three who enter, they will receive a bye into the quarterfinals or another appropriate round based on the number of players of this level entered into the event. Former top 20 doubles players and their partners will be accorded the same in the doubles competition. All other entries, whether former ATP ranked players who did not receive a top 50 singles ranking or top 20 doubles ranking or are an aspiring competitive tournament players who did not receive a world ranking, will compete in a feed-in draw. ALL ENTRIES FOR ANY PLAYER WHO MEET AGE REQUIREMENTS WILL BE ACCEPTED. THIS IS AN OPEN TOURNAMENT.Matches will be best-of-three FAST4 sets (first to four games, tie-breaker at 3-3, no-ad scoring)
“This is a fascinating grass roots effort to create some competitive playing opportunities for money for former ATP touring professionals,” said Tarango, who reached a career high singles ranking of No. 42 in 1992. “It’s very appropriate that we are hosting an event like this at the Jack Kramer Club as Kramer was perhaps the premier pro tennis promoter and many of the early pro events that he played in and later promoted had the competing players dividing portions of the profits of the event. I look forward to seeing many players competing at the Jack Kramer Club in March and hope that more of these type of events can be hosted in the future.”
To sign up for the event, go to this link: https://campscui.active.com/orgs/TennisGrandStand?orglink=camps-registration
Entries will close on Friday, February 23. Former Top 100 ranked ATP singles players will have entry fees waived if they participate in at least one one-hour pro-am, clinic or hit with the pros opportunity with amateurs or pay $95 “ante” entry fee to compete in the singles event. For all other entrants (whether former ATP ranked singles, doubles players or tournament players who did not earn ATP rankings), the entry fee (or “ante”) is $95 for singles and $150 per doubles team and players must be available to participate in at least one one-hour pro-am, clinic or hit-with-the-pros session.
Amateurs who would like to play in the one-hour pro-am, clinic or hit-with-the pros sessions will cost $90, which includes admission to the club for the day and admission to watch the matches. To sign up, click here: https://campscui.active.com/orgs/TennisGrandStand?orglink=camps-registration
All entry fees and pro-am fees go into a “prize money pot” that will be used to award prize money to the singles and doubles players. The more tournament entries there are and the most pro-am players there are, the more then prize money will be, so participating players are encouraged to promote and market the event themselves, encourage fellow players to enter the tournament or participate in the hit-with-the-pros events.
The prize money breakdown is as follows:
Singles winner (40-and-over): 15 percent of the “pot” and runner-up gets 7.5 percent
Singles semifinalists get 4 percent of the “pot”
Doubles winner (50-and-over): 10 percent (split) of the “pot” and runner-up splits 5 percent
Doubles semifinalists split 2 percent of the “pot” each
Remaining portion of the pot goes to administrative fees, costs, the club/promoter
Schedule of Play
Thursday, March 1
Opening round singles and doubles matches starting at Noon (special requests for match times will be considered)
Friday, March 2
Second day of singles and doubles matches starting at Noon (special requests for match times will be considered, flexible)
Pro-Am/Hit-with-Pros/Clinic can be scheduled if needed
Saturday, March 3
Pro-Am/Hit-with-Pros/Clinic at 11 am
Doubles semifinals starting at noon (simultaneously or one after another) and final to follow at about 3 pm (FAST4 sets, can be flexible)
Third day of singles matches, quarterfinal matches to start at 1 pm or so (flexible)
Sunday, March 4
Pro-Am/Hit-with-Pros/Clinic at 11 am
Singles semifinals starting at noon (simultaneously or one after another) and final to follow at about 3 pm (FAST4 sets, can be flexible)
Founded in 1962 during the golden era of tennis by legendary tennis player and promoter Jack Kramer and famed tennis coach Vic Braden, the Jack Kramer Club was the created to be a hub for developing tennis champions in a family focused club environment. The club features 13 tennis courts, a fitness center, an Olympic swimming pool and an iconic South Bay clubhouse. The club was focused on building tennis champions and succeeded as Pete Sampras, Tracy Austin, Lindsay Davenport, Eliot Teltscher among others.
