Rackets in hand, more than 530
gay and lesbian tennis players will converge on three U.S.
cities and Montreal over Labor Day Weekend for some of the
oldest and largest events on the gay tennis circuit. It’s a
four-day stretch that tennis junkies dream of.
The Los Angeles Tennis Association hosts the Centre Court
Championships, the oldest of the three tournaments in its
27th year, while the Atlanta Team Tennis Association puts on
the largest with the Peach International Tennis
Championships, celebrating its 20th year. Team Portland
Tennis is preparing the 17th staging of the Rose City Open.
“Through the years, there are
more and more tournaments and people have choices. They can
pick and choose,” says Ken Grassel, Centre Court’s director.
“We just want people to enjoy themselves at all levels. It’s
not just for the glory of the best players. It’s for the
glory of playing tennis, competing and having a good time.”
The Gay and Lesbian Tennis Association (GLTA), formed in
1991, manages and sanctions the gay tennis circuit around
the globe. Some 39 annual GLTA tournaments draw an estimated
5,500 players each year in the U.S., Canada and Europe. In
addition to the three U.S. events over Labor Day, the 14th
La Coupe de la Reine is also scheduled for Sept. 1-3 in
Montreal.
The U.S. events follow a similar format: Each opens with a
draw party the night before competition starts to find out
who is playing whom and allow participants to mingle and
socialize before they hit the courts. Competitive play runs
two to three days, depending on the tournament, and across
five divisions – open is for top-level players with
experience, while divisions A, B, C and D are for players in
descending skill levels. Players can compete in singles,
doubles and mixed doubles events. Athletes gather for a
banquet the evening before the last day of the tournament,
which features the championship rounds.
And each tournament includes a charitable side. The Peach
expects to donate about $5,000 to AIDS Survival Project, an
Atlanta non-profit that provides advocacy, education,
support and other services for people with HIV. Organizers
of the Rose City Open hope to split about $5,000 between two
Portland AIDS agencies, Esther’s Pantry and Our House. In
Los Angeles, proceeds from Centre Court are absorbed into
the group’s operating budget, but each year about $5,000 is
donated to local charitable organizations.
The tournaments compete for players, mostly in the top
division, but organizers say there are enough participants
to go around. Nearing 130, Rose City Open Director Kody
Leonard said the event has attracted two-dozen more athletes
than a year ago.
“It’s our largest turnout we’ve had in a long time. The
other tournaments don’t seem to be affecting us. We seem to
be able to fill our draws,” Leonard says. “A lot of people
participating have some sort of tie to Portland and they
want to come back and visit the city. It’s a smaller city
and a lot of fun.”
Adam Helewski, one of two Peach directors, says that with
226 participants, the Atlanta tournament offers one of the
largest pools of female competitors – 60 – across the GLTA
circuit. The event also offers special brackets for players
age 40 and over. With most players coming from the Southeast
and East Coast, he says the other tournaments don’t
seriously impact the Peach.
“The players that are going to L.A. are not generally the
same ones that are going to come here. There are enough
tennis players to go around for all of us,” Helewski says.
In Portland, about 10 percent of the expected 130
participants are women, about the same level of female
athletes registered for Centre Court – 18 of 183 players.
Though all three events draw heavily from their local gay
tennis club, athletes are traveling across the U.S. and from
Africa, Belgium, Canada, Japan and Vietnam to take part.
“When you can be with like-minded people and doing something
you enjoy, who wouldn’t love that,” Helewski says. “There
are definitely some good matches, especially when you get to
those upper levels. It is incredible to watch them play.”
