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Sunday, July 14, 2002

The future of professional tennis at the Mt. Lebanon Center could include a women's Futures tournament.

Tournament Director Don Mercer said it would be possible to stage three events concurrently next July -- the men's Futures of Pittsburgh, a women's Futures and the National Collegiate Clay Court/West Penn Championships. The men and women currently play in separate Futures tournaments.

"To get the girls to play on Hard-Tru that time of year will take a set of three USTA Futures events in the East," Mercer said. "We'd have to get other cities in the region, like Wheeling, Cleveland and Buffalo to host a women's tournament. I think we could run three tournaments as long as we keep the collegiate event with Pro sets in the doubles and no third sets in singles."

The Collegiate experimented with a seven-point tiebreaker rather than a third set if the match was tied at one set apiece. The first player to reach seven points by two was the winner.

The clay-court competition no longer seems to be taken seriously, particularly by the men. They seem more concerned about getting to the next site to qualify for a Futures event than sticking around to win a national clay-court title. Mercer's solution is to ensure the two men's singles finalists wild cards as automatic qualifiers in the upcoming Futures tournament.

"The wild cards would strengthen the collegiate draw," Mercer said. "We would have to limit the entries in the clay courts, probably 32 for men and women. We would have to be more selective in who gets in. If you aren't a top college player, you'd have to be either a high school state champion or have a high sectional ranking to get into the main draw. We would have a qualifier for the collegiate tournament to give local players a chance, and that would satisfy keeping the West Penn tradition part of the tournament. We might have to take the qualifiers to other sites because it wouldn't be possible to keep all the matches at Mt. Lebanon."

Glen Creek Tennis Club, near South Park, and Peters Township Municipal Courts are possible sites.

"It would make getting on the Mt. Lebanon courts something special," Mercer said. "To get on Mt. Lebanon's courts, you'd have to have either high credentials or come out of the qualifier."

To strengthen the field in the Futures, Mercer would like to boost the prize money to $15,000, an increase of $5,000, and increase the number of ATP points.

"That would make it more attractive," he said. "My goal is to have standing room only at the matches."

The crowds, for the most part, were sparse even though there was no admission.

"We need to have more of a marketing plan and coordinated advertising to get the word out that we have players with Grand Slam experience and some of the top collegiate players," he said. "It takes money to do these things, but we might be able to get a sponsor to do that. The players who come here are in the news.

Mercer would like to have the tournaments over the July 4th holiday again next summer.

"That's when people are talking tennis," he said. "We have players linked to Wimbledon, that's sensational."

New name, old tournament

The Pittsburgh Parks Championships, renamed the Paul G. Sullivan Championships in memory of the longtime tournament director, will be this week at the renovated clay courts at Frick Park in Regent Square. The men's singles final is scheduled for Saturday and the women's singles final next Sunday.

Sullivan, who died in February at the age of 98, had been director for 70 of the first 71 tournaments.

"It always has been Mr. Sullivan's tournament, and it's the right thing to do to name it after him," said Jim Rudolph, the new director. "We're carrying on the tradition as it always existed. It's a low-cost tournament for everybody."

What's happening

The Citiparks Championships with open and age-group divisions for men and women in singles, doubles and mixed doubles will be Aug. 3-11 at Schenley Park. For more information call, 412-244-4188.

The NAACP Championships will be Aug. 17-25 at Schenley Park. Call, 412-471-1024.