Tennis Players Headed to the Big Dance

Being a champion is to be a part of a unique fraternity. In golf, it is symbolized by a green jacket; in college basketball it devolves in March Madness and the Final Four. No matter the sport, everyone wants to go the big dance.

Tennis' big dance, the show, is coming to Mobile, Alabama. Players would be fighting tooth and nail to enter the hallowed halls of the Futures championship.

Somdev Dev Varman

Somdev Dev Varman is a member of that fraternity. He won the first futures of the year in Wesley Chapel-St. Leo, Florida. He beat top seed Dusan Vemic 4-6, 6-4, 6-4. Twenty-three-year-old Dev Varman is from Chennai, India.

Uladzimir Ignatik

Uladzimir Ignatik also went to the big dance. He won in North Miami Beach, Florida, defeating Todd Paul 4-6, 7-6(8), 6-2. Ignatik won the French Open junior championship and trained at the Andy Roddick family tennis center, the John Roddick Total Tennis Academy.

Gastao Elias

Gastao Elias won his second Futures championship in Boca Raton, Florida. He was a winner over Alberto Francis 6-2, 2-6, 6-0. Elias won a Futures tournament in Mexico last October.

Jamie Baker

Jamie Baker established himself in February by winning two championships in a row in Brownsville and in Harlingen, Texas. Baker defeated Kevin Anderson in Brownsville. Anderson was the one who went into an ATP tournament the very next week and made it all the way to the final.

Artem Sitak

Artem Sitak is headed to Mobile looking for another championship. He won the last one in McAllen, Texas. The Russian staved off Tim Smyczek 6-4, 6-2.

The Tennis Hacker Futures Rankings

Jamie Baker, winner of two tennis Futures championship in a row, is ranked 220 in the world by the ATP. Other players who Jamie played against in the recent Texas Futures are

Noam Okun (ranked 280),

Pavel Chekhov 284, and

Alberto Francis 323.

Related:

Jamie Baker: The Power of Words

Noam Okun: Let the Chips Fall

Dusan Vemic, Highest Ranked Tennis Hacker

Resources:

Alberto Francis' Home

Gastao Elias Poised To Make a Move

Gastao Elias. Photo by Tessa Kolodny.

Gastao Elias is poised to make a big move on the tennis scene over the next few years. Elias of Portugal won the Boca Raton tennis Futures tournament in January and has since been invited to play some Challenger level tournaments.

Elias played Challenger tournaments in Ecuador and Colombia in March. He defeated Alberto Francis 7-5, 6-4, to win the Boca Raton Futures, his only tournament championship of the year.

Elias gained a bit of confidence by winning his Futures tournament in Mexico in November, 1987.

Milan Pokrajac. Elias defeated Pokrajac 6-4, 7-6 (2) in the semifinal of the Boca Raton Futures. Photo by Tessa Kolodny.

Related:

Gastao Elias Wins Eddie Herr

Resources:

Gastao Elias in Key Biscayne

Gastao Elias: Crunch The Numbers

Top Seeds in McAllen Futures Tournament

The Marquez and Marquez Men's Futures of McAllen is going on in McAllen, Texas.

Top Seeds

1. Jamie Baker

2. Noam Okun

3. Izak Van Der Merwe

4. Pavel Chekhov

5. Ryler De Heart

6. Victor Estrella

7. Todd Widom

8. Alberto Francis