Future tennis stars shine in USTA tournament at Jake Hess Stadium

By Dan Elledge     10/8/13 7:00pm

Even though Rice men's tennis team is on hiatus right now, there is still some high-level tennis action going on at Jake Hess Stadium with the United State Tennis Association Futures event, which started Oct. 5 and ends Oct. 13. The main draw, which starts Wednesday, will feature 32 of the best young players in the world, ranked from 300 to 800 in the Association of Tennis Professionals rankings. The winner of the event will take home $15,000, along with ATP points that will help boost the winner's international ranking and chances at entering future events.

Rice men's tennis Assistant Coach Bojan Szumanski said Rice was excited to hear it could host the event after a site in Austin dropped out as a host earlier this season.

"For some reason, Austin did not want to host anymore, so we jumped on it," Szumanski said. "USTA said that the facilities looked good, and we wanted to bring good tennis to Houston and get our guys exposed to more international players and get a chance to compete on the court."

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Szumanski said the tournament could be important for improving Rice's status on both a national and international level. He said he hoped hosting the tournament would increase Rice's prestige.

"It can help improve the visibility of Rice on a national level, and [it's important to] bring some good tennis to the community, too, and maybe help promote Futures tennis," Szumanski said.

Two Owls won wild card spots into the main draw. Sophomore Tommy Bennett won a wild card spot at a qualifying tournament earlier in September and sophomore Adam Gustafsson won the second spot by winning an inter-team competition. Szumanski said Bennett and Gustafsson have played in major tournaments before and will be prepared to face highly talented competitors in the tournament.

"Both of these guys have played these kind of events before," Szumanski said. "[Gustafsson] has played in Europe, and [Bennett] played in junior Wimbledon two years ago."

Szumanski said this could be remarkable experience for Bennett and Gustafsson before the collegiate tennis season gets going. Even with their previous experiences in Europe, any match against elite opponents is crucial for their development.

 "For them to win a round or two in this tournament, that would be a great confidence booster, and their hard work would come to fruition because they have both made a great deal of progress," Szumanski said.

The rest of the team participated in the qualifying portion that lasted from Saturday through Monday. Junior Srikar Alla won all three of his matches to earn a spot in the main draw, joining Bennett and Gustafsson.

On the team with Alla are three new tennis players on Rice's roster: freshmen Max Andrews, David Warren and Zachary Yablon. Szumanski said this team seems to work better as a cohesive group compared with previous squads. Szumanski said he and Head Coach Efe Ustundag are excited for the upcoming season.

 "I think our energy overall has been better than last year," Szumanski said. "I think [we have] very good team chemistry this year. Everybody is working hard, and the level of talent will definitely [give us more depth] than last year. In the tournaments, I've seen some good results."

 Szumanski said hosting Futures events is not a one-time thing. He said especially with the George R. Brown Tennis Complex on the way next year, Rice has the facilities to showcase events like this and will hopefully be welcoming the future stars of tennis for years to come. 

 "That's our plan, especially with the new facility that will be ready next June, so next year, we will have 14 courts at our disposal with locker rooms," Szumanski said. "We are hoping to keep this, if we could, every year and give our guys a chance to compete."

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