Beach Tennis USA and Vision Italia Present
THE 2010 SONY ERICSSON OPEN
The First All-Paddle Tournament in the US
MARCH 27 - 30, 2010
Key Biscayne, FL - Beach Tennis USA's first major tournament of 2010 was co-produced with Vision Italia and held at the Sony Ericsson Open in Crandon Park. Mens and Womens PRO and Amateur play was held and competitors included players from throughout the U.S. and around the world.
This was the fourth consecutive year that BTUSA held a tournament at the Sony Ericsson Open, but the first in which paddles were used instead of tennis rackets. BTUSA made the switch to paddles this year to facilitate unification of the many international Beach Tennis associations throughout Europe, South America and Asia.
Winners of the BTUSA tournament PRO Divisions at the Sony Ericsson Open were Joslyn Burkett and Lee Whitwell of San Diego (Womens) and Alex Mingozzi and Alessandro Calbucci of Ravenna, Italy (Mens). For Burkett and Whitwell, it was a nice follow-up to their win at the 2009 BTUSA National Championship.
"Once again, our tournament at Sony Ericsson was a huge success," said BTUSA President Jim Lorenzo. "Our relationship with the City of Miami and Miami Dade County has progressed to the point where they gave us permission to set up 5 permanent Beach Tennis courts."
The first BTUSA Instructor Certification Program was held at the Sony Ericsson Open. According to Mr. Lorenzo, 12 individuals completed the one day certification program, which was taught by master instructors Alex Mingozzi, Massimo Mattei and Matteo Marighella of Italy.