USTA Press Release, May 2, 2023
The USTA Southern California Section is kicking off National Tennis Month today announcing seven consecutive weeks of men’s and women’s tournaments at Southern California tennis facilities in both San Diego and Los Angeles counties. Debuting successfully in 2022, the SoCal Pro Series will once again give Southern California players the chance to earn valuable ATP and WTA world ranking points.
The $15,000-purse events for both men and women are part of the USTA Pro Circuit and ITF World Tour. This year, the top men’s and women’s player accumulating the most points throughout the seven events will be granted a wild card into qualifying at next year’s BNP Paribas Open. The “Road to Indian Wells” wild card is available to U.S. citizens who are Southern California residents or full-time Southern California college students.
The SoCal Pro Series’ upcoming seven tournament dates and locations are:
- May 29-June 4 – Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club, Rancho Santa Fe
- June 5-11 – University of San Diego, San Diego
- June 12-18 – Barnes Tennis Center, San Diego
- June 19-25 – Jack Kramer Club, Rolling Hills Estates
- June 26-July 2 – Racquet Club of Irvine, Irvine
- July 3-9 – Lakewood Tennis Center, Lakewood
- July 10-16 – Lakewood Tennis Center, Lakewood
“The SoCal Pro Series returns to give Southern California’s top junior and college players a chance to compete for world ranking points and test their level against other top international pros and national collegiate players,” said Chris Boyer, USTA Southern California Board Vice President and SoCal Pro Series Committee Chair. “This was the goal all along of the SoCal Pro Series and we are excited to see what this series of seven events holds for the section’s top players.”
In 2022, young pros and college players shined in the six-event SoCal Pro Series. Highlights included back-to-back wins by 20-year-old San Diego native Zachary Svajda, who won events in Week 4 and 5. Svajda went on to win his first ATP Challenger $80k event and is now ranked in the top 225 in the ATP World Tour rankings. Svajda beat Brandon Holt in a SoCal Pro Series final at Jack Kramer Club last July. Holt qualified for the US Open and beat ATP top-10 player Taylor Fritz, the world’s highest-ranking American player, for his first career Grand Slam main-draw win.
Other 2022 SoCal Pro Series highlights included three singles titles in six events from current USC players as Snow Han won at USD and Lakewood, and Eryn Cayetano won singles and doubles as a wild card at Jack Kramer Club.
In addition, SoCal juniors such as Aliso Viejo’s Alex Michelsen, 2023 Australian Open junior doubles champion and USC freshman Learner Tien, from Irvine, and San Diego’s Katherine Hui, a high school senior committed to Stanford, all won multiple rounds and earned ranking points. Michelsen, committed to the University of Georgia, had no world ranking prior to 2022 but his SoCal Pro Series participation has helped to vault him into the top 275 of the ATP world rankings.
Southern California players can register to play in pre-qualifying events for a chance to make the main draw. The upcoming pre-qualifying schedule includes: Jack Kramer Club in Rolling Hills Estates, May 5-7; University of San Diego, May 12-14; Racquet Club of Irvine, May 19-21; Barnes Tennis Center, May 26-28; Lakewood Tennis Club, June 2-5 and June 20-July 3. SoCal players can register for events at: https://www.ustasocal.com/proseries.
Weekend semifinals and finals matches will be live-streamed and commentated by popular Cracked Racquets podcast host Alex Gruskin, who called the inaugural SoCal Pro Series action over the summer of 2022. He will be joined by special guests throughout the series, which past included Paul Annacone and San Diego product and current ATP player Bradley Klahn. In addition, Ken Thomas and RadioTennis.com will be on-site on selected days providing commentary.
To learn more about the SoCal Pro Series, go to: https://www.ustasocal.com/proseries.
