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Presidents Day Junior Tournament
Young tennis enthusiasts compete at Pleasanton park

Twenty-five young tennis players gathered at the Pleasanton Tennis and Community Park for the Presidents Day Junior Tournament, which was delayed a few days due to rain.

The tournament was divided into two divisions, Bronze and Silver/Gold, based on skill level, representing the teams of the city's Lifetime Tennis Junior Development Program.

The Bronze Division had 12 players, with six randomly set up in Flight A, and the remaining placed in Flight B. Each player played everyone in his group round-robin style to determine the top players who then battled it out in the championship match.

The top player of Flight A was Abhai Sawkar; Flight B was won by Kushal Methukupally, who both won all five of their matches in the round robin phase. In the championship match, Abhai edged out Kushal in a dramatic second set tiebreak, winning 6-2, 7-6(3).

In the Silver/Gold Division, comprised of Silver and Gold Team players from the program, players were set up in a bracket, beginning in a round of 16. Ten players contested each other in the first round with three players getting a bye. After four rounds of play, top seed Casey Guan was victorious over Sidharth Bommakanti, who was the tournament's second seed, in two sets: 6-3, 6-3.

"It was a fun day full of laughs, excitement and, hopefully, lessons learned," said tournament organizers. "A few of the players' parents came to watch and lend support to their nervous kids. One dad even bought pizza for the entire group to enjoy."

The coaches themselves had a great time, playing ping pong in the club room with players awaiting their matches.

The average age of the boys and girls was 12. The youngest player, Rory Strauch, was 7 and, although he was nervous before his first match, he received encouragement from the older players.

To learn more about the Pleasanton tennis program, go to the Tennis and Community Park, 5801 Valley Ave. at Paseo Santa Cruz, call 931-3449, or visit www.lifetimetennis.com.