Editorial
Front Page - Friday, November 13, 2009
Pro tennis players to compete in Icy Hot Chattanooga Challenge
Samara Litvack
For the first time in nearly 30 years, some of the world’s greatest tennis players are coming to Chattanooga for a world-class, professional tennis event. As part of a four-day Tour of the South, world champion tennis players will stop for one night only in the Scenic City for the Icy Hot Chattanooga Challenge.
“It’s the first time we’ve ever done a tour like this,” says event promoter Trevor Short. His company, T and S Events, has been organizing and promoting tennis events for almost four years and is responsible for what has been the largest event in the state of Georgia for the past two years, the Infinite Energy Atlanta Slam.
“We had over 12,000 fans attend the last two years,” he says. “So this year, we wanted to branch out and do more and we wanted to try this four-day tour.”
The Icy Hot Chattanooga Challenge will be held at the UTC McKenzie Arena on Thursday, Dec. 3, at 6 p.m. Tickets range in price from $49.50 to $69.50, and groups of 10 or more receive a 10 percent discount.
The first match will feature Melanie Oudin, a Marietta, Ga., native with ties to the Chattanooga area. Oudin gained notoriety earlier this year by becoming the youngest tennis player since Serena Williams to play in the US Open quarterfinals.
Oudin will be playing at 6 p.m. against an unannounced opponent.
Playing in the second match will be Mardy Fish, one of the top-ranked tennis players in America, who won a silver medal in the 2004 Olympic games, and John Isner, well known for winning the NCAA doubles title as a sophomore at the University of Georgia and for leading his college team to an undefeated season his senior year.
Fish and Isner will play two sets against each other, and then compete side by side against world famous twin brothers Mike and Bob Bryan. United States Davis Cup members, the Bryan brothers are considered one of the greatest doubles teams of all times and are currently the number-one team in the world, after winning the ATP World Tour 500 tournament in Beijing earlier this year.
“It will be a great night of tennis,” says Trevor Short. “We’re really excited. I don’t think there’s been a event in Chattanooga in over 25 years, from what I’ve been told, of this magnitude, so I think this will probably be one of the biggest sporting events to ever come to the city of Chattanooga.”
Short mentions local businessman and tennis enthusiast Zan Guerry as a supporter of the event, and says Guerry and his company Icy Hot gave T and S Events the opportunity to put on the Icy Hot Chattanooga Challenge.
“I am so excited to bring professional tennis back to … Chattanooga,” says Short. “This is a wonderful tennis town and deserves to see the world’s best right at home.”
The Tour of the South will begin in Birmingham on Wednesday, Dec. 2, come to Chattanooga on Thursday, Dec. 3, travel to Atlanta on Friday, Dec. 4, and end in Nashville on Saturday, Dec. 5. For more
information, visit www.tandsevents.com.
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