Park Road Surprise

When I lived in Charlotte several years ago, I played frequently at the Park Road Park Tennis facility. It's a great public facility, with 12 courts and good lighting. When I moved back to Charlotte, I located in a home that is just a few blocks from the facility. Yesterday I took a walk to the facility to see if there was any good tennis being played.

The parking lot was packed as I approached the facility so I knew some kind of league play was taking place. I was incorrect in my guess. It turned out that a USTA junior event was taking place this weekend in Charlotte at the Jeff Adams Tennis Center. The 8th Annual Midcourt Cup had a large draw and the Park Road Tennis Facility was being used as an additional site for the tournament. This was the first time I saw a USTA junior event.

I ended up watching a Girls 18 singles round of 16 match with the number one seed, Aleah Morrow from Durham, NC and fourth seed Kristen Cox from Charlotte. Morrow looked very good. She has a great forehand and used an inside out stroke to her advantage numerous times. She won in straight sets 6-2, 6-0.

As I was standing watching the match, I noticed a young woman wearing a Notre Dame tennis warm up outfit. I asked her if she played for the Irish. It turns out her name is Jennifer Smith and she played for Notre Dame from 2003 through 2005. After she graduated she moved to Atlanta and then recently moved back to Charlotte. She grew up in Charlotte and played for South Mecklenburg High School prior to going to South Bend, Indiana. She is now a teaching tennis pro at the Old Providence Racquet Club, one of the great tennis clubs in Charlotte. It's very prestigious. In fact, I saw a Federation Cup match there a number of years ago when Jennifer Capriati was left out the competition due to a disagreement with then-captain Billie Jean King. The U.S. ended up losing the tie. Serious tennis fans will remember that incident.

I told Jen that I had visited ND a number of times and saw the men and women play the University of Southern California. The match took place the night before ND played a classic football game against USC when the Trojans won with nine seconds left in the game after a big fourth down play. I also told her I saw the Irish women's team play Georgia Tech in the quarterfinals of the NCAA tournament in Athens last season. Georgia Tech ended up winning that match 4-2 and went on to beat UCLA for the national championship.

Jen is coaching a local girl who was in the draw. I did not see the match, but ran into her this morning and learned that her player did not advance. Hopefully she will have better luck the next time out. One thing that was clear to me as I watched these kids play is that many of them have good game.

When I got home and checked scores from the day I saw that the Georgia Tech women beat Notre Dame in South Bend, 5-2. The Lady Jackets are having a great season. They recently won the National Indoor Championship for the second year in a row and are currently ranked second in the nation. Bryan Shelton has done a great job with the GT women's program.

Time.