Thursday, 03/22/2012

Dear Friends,
 
We are at the midpoint of the season with plenty of excitement ahead.

Pac-12 Competition Begins
 
The Pac-12 season starts on March 30th when we travel to Salt lake City to play at Utah, and continue to Tucson where we play at Arizona on April 1st. We return home for matches with Washington (April 6th at 1:30pm) and Oregon (April 7th at 11am). We play at USC (April 13th) and at UCLA (April 14th), before returning home for a rare Friday finale with Stanford (Senior Day) at 3pm on April 20th.

We are excited to add a new component to the Pac-12 Tournament this year.  For the first time ever, the men’s teams will play a team tournament at the Pac-12 Championships in Ojai. The tournament starts a day earlier, Wednesday, April 25th and finishes with an exciting evening final on Saturday, April 28th. For more information go to http://www.pac-12.org/SPORTS/Tennis/Championships.aspx.
   
Honoring Our Legends
 
McManus Legends Day will be held during the Oregon match on Saturday, April 7th. Match time is 11am, and prior to the match, there will be a USTA Campus Kids Day at the Channing Courts at 9am.
 
Admission is FREE and the purpose of this annual celebration is to bring together former players, fans, and family to honor the Cal Tennis heritage, our Hall of Famers, All Americans, and Scholarship Endowment holders and recipients. Free lunch will be provided by Fuddruckers for the first 500 fans.
 
If you only attend one match this year, please come on April 7th.
    
Former Bears on the Tour - Conor Niland

It’s great to see former college players doing so well on the tour – John Isner (Georgia) had a great run at Indian Wells.
 
We have three players on tour at the moment. Conor Niland ('06) qualified for Wimbledon and the US Open last year in singles (losing to Novak Djokovic). He is currently injured, but on the mend. Last week, John Paul Fruttero ('03) won a doubles tournament in China to reach a career high #99 on the ATP Doubles rankings. Also playing last week, Pedro Zerbini ('11) won two rounds at a Futures event in Los Angeles earning his first 2 ATP points in Singles.
 
Men's Assistant Coach & Camp Director Tyler Browne
Cal Tennis Summer Camps

Men’s assistant coach Tyler Browne is directing 6 weeks of camps this summer from June 18th – July 27th. Head coaches Peter Wright (1st, 5th and 6th week) and Amanda Augustus (2nd, 3rd, and 4th week) will be on hand to teach all levels of players and share their coaching tips. One thing that sets our camps apart from the rest is that most of our instructors are current and former men’s and women’s team members.
 
The camp registration is OPEN and the camps are filling up quickly. To register on-line, please go to www.calbears.com/camps.
 
Don't forget to follow us on Facebook ( facebook.com/calmenstennis) and Twitter (@CalMensTennis) for all the latest updates. We're trying to get to 500 Facebook "Likes" and 250 Twitter followers, and appreciate your support in reaching both numbers.
 
Finally, the date is set for our Men’s and Women’s Team Banquet: Thursday, May 3rd. It is a great evening, highlighted by the Senior speeches. More details to follow.
 
Go Bears!!
 
Peter