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The Spokesman-Review Newspaper
Spokane, Washington  Est. May 19, 1883

Tennis fest courts youngsters


Shaun Jones, 4, keeps the balls in a row during the kids fun session at the Family Tennis Carnival at the Spokane Racquet Club on Sunday. 
 (Liz Kishimoto / The Spokesman-Review)

Some big names in the tennis world made a stop in Spokane over the weekend for the first Tennis Fest Spokane.

They put on three days of seminars, lessons and competition for players and coaches at the Spokane Racquet Club and the Spokane Club at the Fourth Avenue facility.

Six-year-old Ethan Jones said he liked the food and drinks best. “I learned how to hit backhands, forehands, how to walk the dog,” he said Sunday. “Walk the dog” is a practice technique of rolling a tennis ball with the racket down the court, he explained.

Jones was one of nearly 250 participants in the event sponsored by local businesses and put on by the United States Tennis Association/Pacific Northwest Section.

Organizers said they hoped to cast a wider net for the sport in the Spokane region.

“This was to celebrate tennis,” said Karen Green, tennis coordinator for USTA/PNW, based in Spokane.

She said the association hopes it can bring the event back to Spokane in two years.

Among the tennis celebrities was Jan-Michael Gambill, a Spokane native and one of the top 50 professional players in 2003, and Jonathan Stark, winner of two singles and 19 doubles titles in 12 years of professional touring. Stark is now director of junior tennis at the Seattle Tennis Club.

Gambill and Stark played an exhibition match Saturday evening to a packed house at the Fourth Avenue tennis facility. More than 500 people attended the sold-out match, an eight-game set won by Stark.

Instructors included Greg Patton, tennis coach at Boise State University; Tom Gullikson, who won the 1984 mixed doubles title at the U.S. Open and now works as a tennis coach; and Scott Shogreen, winner of the 2002 Men’s 35 national indoors title and now the tennis director at the Mill Creek Country Club in western Washington.

Sunday afternoon, nearly two dozen top youth players from throughout the Inland Northwest gathered for a junior clinic.

At the start of the session, Jim Markin of the USTA staff in Portland encouraged the players to give their best on every serve and every shot, but to leave their competitiveness on the court.

“We need to find the love and fun to compete,” Markin told the junior players during the session at the Spokane Racquet Club.

Markin said Tennis Fest created excitement for the sport in Spokane. “Since I’ve been here, everybody in the city is talking about tennis,” he said.

Green said young competitors from the Inland Northwest typically must travel to the West Side to compete in tournaments, so the Tennis Fest was held in Spokane to give the area’s players an event closer to home.

She said many young players had “just worked their tails off” during the three days.