Macon continues to be a large hub for tennis tournaments
"They just finished the adult state championship where they had probably 1,300 players here and used every available tennis court."
MACON, Georgia (41NBC/WMGT) — The Macon Area Tennis Association, in conjunction with the United States Tennis Association, hosted a tournament for 14 and under boys and girls featuring draws of 128 players each, with the best players from the southern region states.
“Players are selected off of their national ranking. And so one of our players who just played in the finals, his national ranking is 22,” said MATA’s tournament director Julie Kozyreva. “We host anywhere from level two all the way down to the lowest level, which is our entry-level tournament which is level seven. And it offers opportunities for the players to get more match play to earn those points to move up to those subsequent higher levels and then make it to the big stage.”
Not only do these tournaments help the athletes advance their careers, but with each player traveling with a coach or family, it brings an influx of revenue to the city of Macon.
“We do host all these people, and I don’t think a lot of people in Macon, at least before I got involved in tennis, I didn’t know that we have all these players from the beginner juniors all the way to the adults. They just finished the adult state championship, where they had probably 1,300 players here and used every available tennis court. And hotels sold out, restaurants you probably had longer wait time to wait for your table if you’re a local. But it’s a very important part to increase the economic base of Macon,” said Kozyreva.
But in recent years since COVID-19, the frequency of tournaments has dropped, but new technology has allowed the return of tournaments at a growing scale.
“We did have a ramp down when COVID hit, that we didn’t play any tennis. But fortunately, we had some mitigation measures put in to place where we actually instituted a virtual tournament desk so that the players didn’t have to come up to the tournament desk to check in, to report scores, to get their balls. The balls were left on the court for them, the gates were left open, so they had minimal touch points. And so that’s how we were able to re-open tennis tournaments the safest way. And so we have almost a tennis tournament every month,” said Kozyreva.
The next tournament in Macon will be held from July 29-30 for beginners 10 and under. Head to Macon Area Tennis Association or United States Tennis Association to get involved in tennis.
