Michael Alford
"King of the Hill" Winner, Runner-Up Receive Main Draw Doubles Wild Card Into Mardy Fish Futures
manfr3dw · February 24, 2017 · Leave a Comment
James Van Deinse of the Vero Beach Tennis Club and Michael Alford of the Quail Valley River Club, the winner and runner-up respectively at the annual "King of the Hill" tennis competition, have been awarded a main draw doubles wild card into the 2017 Mardy Fish Children's Foundation Tennis Championships, to be held April 21 – 30 at Grand Harbor in Vero Beach, Florida.
Van Deinse and Alford were awarded the wild card by the Mardy Fish Children's Foundation, the operators of the Vero Beach $15,000 U.S. Tennis Association Pro Circuit "Futures" event, as part of an agreement with the 22-year "King of the Hill" (KOTH) competition and organizer Gigi Casapu to give a wild card entry into the Futures event to the KOTH winner and runner-up.
Van Deinse and Alford will play their first round doubles match on Tuesday, April 25 at 7 pm.
"We are happy to welcome James and Michael into our doubles field for the 2017 tournament and hope that their many Vero Beach fans come out to support two local residents as they compete against ATP-ranked professional players from around the world," said Tom Fish, President of the Mardy Fish Children's Foundation. "We are excited to have started a new tradition with our partnership with Gigi Casapu in awarding the 'King of the Hill' winner and runner-up a main draw doubles wild card into our event. We'd also like to start the tradition of having the 'King of the Hill' doubles team play on our opening main draw night session on Tuesdays, creating a 'King of the Hill' Tuesday night at the tournament."
"The King of Hill" is the annual doubles competition featuring tennis professionals from the Vero Beach area who compete in round-robin competitions on Tuesday nights to the determine the "king" of the local tennis professional. Proceeds from "King of the Hill" benefit the Youth Guidance Mentoring & Activities Program.
Many former KOTH champions and competitors have played in the Vero Beach USTA Futures, including four-time champion Robert Kowalczyk, the former USTA National Boy's 18 Hard Court Champion, four-time champion Aldo Burga, now of The Legacy club, two-time champion Kriegler Brink, a singles semifinalist at the Vero Beach Futures in 2011, and 2016 KOTH champion Mike Alford, a former standout at the University of Florida, among others.
Advance tickets for the Mardy Fish Children's Foundation Tennis Championships are available at www.VeroBeachTennisTickets.com. Season tickets for all 10 days of the competition are available for $100. Daily by-one-get-one free tickets for the qualifying rounds April 21-24 are for sale for $10, with daily tickets for the main draw sessions April 25-30 for sale for $20. A special $10 "Happy Hour" ticket is available for $10 after 5 pm for night sessions on Tuesday, April 25 – Friday, April 28 that includes a featured 7 pm night match. Admission for children 18 and under is free. Approximately 3,000 fans annually attend the event, which is seen as one of the best-attended events in the world on the "Futures" level of professional tennis tournaments. The 2016 event featured 13 players who played Davis Cup for their country and was won by Jonas Luetjen of Germany, who defeated Latvian Davis Cupper Martins Podzus in the final.
Tom Fish with Michael Alford, James Van Deinse
Features, Vero Beach Champions James Van Deinse, King of the Hill, Mardy Fish Children's Foundation, Michael Alford, USTA, Vero Beach