Skyland – The Southern Indoor Tennis Championships were played at Asheville Racquet Club south, this past weekend Feb 4-6. The level 4 tourney always brings a high caliber of tennis to our area of Western North Carolina. The year’s event was attended by over 150 players from nine states in the south, from South Carolina, Mississippi, Tennessee, Virginia, Georgia and more. It has the reputation for being the best indoor tournament in our part of the state, at this time of the year.
There were 27 divisions for women and men with ages ranging from 30-90. This wide range of experience and skill makes for an entertaining weekend, even for those not on the court.
ARC south has new indoor lighting as well as court-side viewing directly above the courts, and TV-fed cameras on each court for easy viewing from the lounge area. Food and drink were provided for the players, and the cafe was open for all visitors and participating players.
Tournament director Jeff Wilson commented, “this year’s tournament had a great turn out, with about half the players from out of town, and enjoying the high level of play for this Southern Level Tournament. I have received a lot of positive feedback already, about how well organized we were for the weekend of matches. The weather played a positive role as well; I guess we were lucky we didn’t have a foot of snow making travel plans difficult. We look forward to getting more high-level tournaments like this and getting more of our players involved in competitive tennis. Lots of thanks go to the staff at ARC, and the tournament referee Dottie Mattern.”
