The SoCal Pro Series makes it return to Southern California with $25,000 men’s and women’s tournaments to take place Jan. 2-8 at Ralphs-Straus Tennis Center on the campus of Pepperdine University in Malibu, Calif., event organizers from USTA Southern California have announced.
“We couldn’t be happier to see the SoCal Pro Series expanded to include a combined men’s and women’s $25,000 event at Pepperdine to start the new year,” Boyer said. “Piggy-backing on the success we had during the 12 events held in SoCal over the summer, these tournaments will continue to give our young players like Learner Tien, Alex Michelsen, Eryn Cayetano, and Katherine Hui, just to name a few, an incredible opportunity to earn valuable ATP and WTA points and continue their rise up the world rankings.”
Boyer chairs a blue-chip committee that includes SoCal tennis luminaries such as Paul Annacone, Lindsey Davenport, Peggy Michel, Peter Smith, Cynthia Nieman, and Marianne Werdel. Major donations were provided by prominent members of the SoCal tennis community including Bruce Kleege, Heliane Steden, Toby Crabel, and others. Wilson Sporting Goods, the Bryan Bros. Foundation and Crabel Investments are major SoCal Pro Series sponsors.
This past summer, rising SoCal juniors, collegiates and aspiring touring professionals benefitted from six men’s and six women’s singles and doubles tournaments at sites in San Diego and Los Angeles County over seven weeks as part of the inaugural SoCal Pro Series, a USTA Pro Circuit event that are also part of the ITF World Tennis Tour.
Led by SoCal Pro Series Committee Chairman Chris Boyer, the tour filled a need for future touring pros who had few opportunities to earn ATP and WTA ranking points close to home without traveling to South America or Europe where the majority of the tournaments take place.
Like the summer tournaments, Boyer said all main draw and qualifying wild cards for both of the January events will be awarded to Southern California juniors or players attending universities full-time in Southern California. Boyer added that another 12 events consisting of six men’s and six women’s tournaments are planned for the start of the summer in 2023.
Cathy Jacobson, who for more than 40 years ran the popular Billie Jean King and El Dorado Park tennis centers in Long Beach, has been named the tournament director and supervisor for the January tournaments.
“I am proud and excited to be the Tournament Director for this prestigious tournament at Pepperdine in January, but also to be the Supervisor for all of the SoCal Pro Series tournaments coming up in 2023,” Jacobson said. “I am honored to be a part of this awesome and hard-working USTA SoCal team that provides growing opportunities for our SoCal players. Each of these events provide valuable exposure to professional competition for many up-and-coming talented athletes in Southern California.”
Weekend semifinals and finals matches will be live-streamed and commentated by Cracked Racquets popular analyst Alex Gruskin, who called the action over the summer and was joined by Annacone and San Diego product and current ATP player Bradley Klahn.
A pre-qualifying tournament with only Southern California residents and those attending college in the region eligible to enter and receive wild cards tookplace Dec. 9-11 at Lakewood Tennis Center. The singles winner received a main-draw wild card into the Pepperdine tournament, with the runner-up a wild card into qualifying.
To learn more about the SoCal Pro Series, go to: https://www.ustasocal.com/pro. Like the Facebook page at www.facebook.com/SoCalProCircuit; follow along on Instagram: @SoCalProCircuit
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