A special college tennis players exhibition will take place this Saturday at the USTA Billie Jean King National Tennis Center in New York. Former Gustavus Adolphus collegiate player Eric Butorac, a doubles player on the ATP World Tour, decided to ask his fellow players who also played college tennis to take part in a series of exhibition matches.
Top ATP players including John Isner, world #14, and former top 5 ATP Player James Blake are amongthose taking part. The matches will be held on Court 10 at the US Open grounds, from 9:30am-12.30pm. Most of the players are competing at the US Open, which starts Monday, August 26.
"Arthur Ashe Kids' Day is all about exposing tennis to the next generation,” Butorac said. “The motivation behind this event was to show kids that it's possible to get a great education and use that as a stepping stone to play in the biggest tennis tournament in the world, the US Open."
"I am thrilled at how excited each of the players are to participate in this exhibition. I think it shows that even a number of years removed, they are still proud to be a part of their collegiate program."
The matches and schedule is as follows:
9:30am Scott Lipsky/Bradley Klahn (Stanford) vs Mac Styslinger/Jarmere Jenkins (Virginia)
10:15am Nick Monroe (North Carolina) / Treat Huey (Virginia) vs Rajeev Ram (Illinois)/Bobby Reynolds (Vanderbilt)
11am Rhyne Williams (Tennessee) vs Steve Johnson (USC)
11:45am John Isner (Georgia) vs James Blake (Harvard)
*Emcee: Eric Butorac (Gustavus Adolphus)
"We are hoping that the fans of these collegiate programs will be out to support their famous alumni both at this event and at the US Open." Butorac added.
Grounds open at 9:30am with a ticket to Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day so everyone is invited to watch these top players compete in friendly exhibition matches.
For more information on Arthur Ashe Kids’ Day, please visit http://www.arthurashekidsday.com/schedule_of_events/
