NEW MEXICO STATE TENNIS CENTER IN LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO
NAMED AS 2013 USTA PRO CIRCUIT STOP
Women's professional tour to make early-summer swing through Las Cruces, June 3-9
LAS CRUCES, NEW MEXICO (February 2013) - The city of Las Cruces, New Mexico was recently added as an early-summer 2013 stop on the United States Tennis Association Women's Pro Circuit.
The newly-created $25,000 prize money tournament for fledgling WTA Tour female pros trying to make their way to the upper echelons of the professional ranks, will be part of nearly 40 women's pro circuit events held throughout the United States in 2013.
The USTA Women's Pro Circuit event in Las Cruces will be held this June 3-9 at the
New Mexico State University Tennis Center. The center has hosted several top-flight events since opening in 1987, including Aggie men's and women's dual tennis matches, several conference championships including last year's Western Athletic Championships, and, of course, several USTA local adult and junior tournaments annually.
This will be the first women's USTA Pro Circuit event ever held in Las Cruces.
The NMSU Tennis Center was overhauled in the spring of 2007 and re-opened in early 2008 with upgraded lighting for the center's 12 post-tension hard courts at the center to bring the facility up to championship quality enough to attract events like the USTA Pro Circuit.
"Members of the USTA Southern New Mexico District have been trying for several years to bring men and women pro circuit tennis to town, so we are very pleased and excited about holding an USTA Pro Circuit Women’s tournament event at NMSU this summer," said USTA Southern New Mexico president Don Hemingway. "The tournament provides a tremendous opportunity for the residents of Las Cruces and surrounding cities to view some excellent tennis in an up close setting."
The tournament in Las Cruces snagged the week normally reserved for the El Paso stop, the 2013 Hunt Communities $25K Pro Circuit Championships. The El Paso event was moved up a week on the calendar to May 27-June 2 this year. That event will continue at its longstanding venue, Tennis West Sports & Racquet Club.
It also makes those two stops a natural Southwest swing for up-and-coming pro players trying to work their way to the WTA Tour level events. Combined with two events in Phoenix and a $75K event in Albuquerque, the Section
VOLUNTEER
The Las Cruces Pro Circuit tournament will take a community-wide effort to put on, and the USTA Southern New Mexico district is still looking for volunteer help as well. If you are interested in volunteering or helping with the event in any capacity, please contact USTA Southern New Mexico president Don Hemingway at or Dr. Robert Czerniak at
LCprocircuit@gmail.com.
Entry lists for the event will be released closer to the tournament date, but players outside the top 100 world rankings will make up a large part of the field. Several of tennis' greatest champions have launched their careers on the USTA Pro Circuit, including recent 2013 Australian Open semifinalist Sloane Stephens (pictured above).
2013 HUNT COMMUNITIES CLASSIC IN EL PASO: The week prior to the Las Cruces event, the USTA Pro Circuit women's tour will make a swing through another Southwest city, El Paso, for the 2013 Hunt Communities Classic. The El Paso event will be held May 27-June 2 at Tennis West Sports & Racquet Club, and it one of the longer-running women's stops on the circuit. Like Las Cruces, it is a $25K prize money event.
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About the USTA Women's Pro Circuit
Women's events on the USTA Pro Circuit consist of $10,000, $25,000, $50,000 and $75,000 tournaments. Each event has 32 players in the main singles draw and 16 teams competing in doubles. The $10,000 tournaments are entry-level events and give young players the opportunity to earn their first ranking points.
The women who compete in them are usually top juniors and college players, and players who may be as high as No. 250 to 300 in the WTA Tour rankings.
The competition and ranking points increase at the $25,000 tournaments - the level at which a player can best determine whether her game is good enough to pursue a career as a touring pro. Indeed, the non-American champions of these events have often been the No. 1 players in their own countries.
The caliber of play at the premium-level events, the $50,000 and $75,000 tournaments, is close to that of the WTA Tour. It features women who are ranked as high as No. 40.
The singles qualifying draw size is 64 or 128 players for the $10,000 events, and 32 players for the $25,000, $50,000 and $75,000 events.
ABOUT THE USTA (United States Tennis Association)
The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. and the leader in promoting and developing the growth of tennis at every level -- from local communities to the highest level of the professional game.
A not-for-profit organization with more than 750,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds in growing the game. It owns and operates the US Open, the highest attended annual sporting event in the world, and launched the Emirates Airline US Open Series linking 10 summer tournaments to the US Open.
In addition, it owns the 90-plus Pro Circuit events throughout the U.S, and selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games. The USTA philanthropic entity, USTA Serves, provides grants and scholarships and helps underserved youth and people with disabilities.