By Daily Press staff
SM BEACH — A tennis tournament here this weekend will kick off a national tour for Beach Tennis USA.
Beach Tennis USA, the organization that launched the sport of beach tennis in North America last year, will feature high-caliber play by local tennis pros as well as top-ranked players from last season’s tour.
Last year, Beach Tennis USA held tournaments and “learn and play” events in cities along the East Coast. Through a grass-roots campaign, the company introduced beach tennis to people of all ages and skill levels as more than 25,000 Americans played the sport between last May and September, event organizers say.
The event will be held at Santa Monica Beach, just south of the Santa Monica Pier between lifeguard stations 17 and 18, and directly across from Shutters on the Beach Hotel Resort.
The tournament will begin on Saturday with registration at 11 a.m. Open play starts at noon and ends at 6 p.m. On Sunday, open play begins at 11 a.m. and the tournament begins at 1 p.m., ending at 6 p.m. There also will be a “fun division” for those who are more interested in learning a new sport while enjoying a day at the beach. Tennis rackets and tennis balls will be provided and there is no fee to play. Instruction will be provided all day. Beach tennis is played on a regulation beach volleyball court. Using regulation tennis rackets, two players on each team try to hit a tennis ball back and forth, directly over the net, without letting it hit the sand. Only one hit per team is allowed on each volley and scoring is the same as in tennis. If a player’s serve hits the net and goes over, it counts — just as in beach volleyball.
The founders of Beach Tennis USA are Marc Altheim, a New York City real estate developer, and his uncle, Fredric Finkelstein, a New York marketing and advertising executive, and Sjoerd de Vries, of Aruba. They started the company with the ultimate goal of making beach tennis a mainstream American sport.
Beach Tennis USA will head cross-country to Florida and then work its way up the East Coast. In addition to pro-level competition, events in each city along the tour will include teaching clinics for adults and children who want to learn how to play beach tennis. For the tournaments, Beach Tennis USA will draw its talent pool from 2005’s top-ranked players as well as newly recruited pros in the cities that will host the tour events.
Players wishing to compete in either of Beach Tennis USA’s California weekend tournaments should contact James Russo at (212) 318-1828 or For a full listing of events on the Beach Tennis USA 2006 National Tour, visit www.beachtennisusa.net.
Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on April 7, 2006. Read the original PDF.