Some of the best tennis players in the world will be competing in our backyard July 23rd-29th at the Taube Family Tennis Center on the Stanford campus.

The tournament, in its 37th year, is the longest-running women-only professional tennis tournament in the world and is the first stop of the US Open Series. A Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Tier II event, the Bank of the West Classic features a 28-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles draw with total prize money of $600,000. Held at Stanford since 1997, former champions include: Billie Jean King, Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Andrea Jaeger, Monica Seles, Martina Hingis, Lindsay Davenport and Venus Williams.

This year’s tournament features eight time Grand Slam Champion Serena Williams and 2007 Wimbledon Finalist Marion Bartoli.  More info: Bank of the West Classic 

We had a full house at last night’s fund-raiser at the Menlo Circus Club.  Our final count was at 372 guests, about 100 more attendees than we have ever had in the past! We raised over $400,000, a good portion of our $650,000 annual budget. Jack Gifford made a brief announcement at the dinner where he pointed out that financially, EPATT survives “year-to-year.” Without the support we get from our annual dinner, the program would not exist! 

Last night began with a tennis exhibition featuring Stanford players Paul Morrissey, a freshman from Ireland, and Whitney Deason, a junior from Texas. After tennis, everyone gathered in the Circus Club’s dining room for a spectacular dinner and program, which included a video and four unforgettable speeches.  Many thanks to all our generous supporters, many of whom have been donors since our first dinner 15 years ago!  Also, special thanks to all the first-timers who joined us last night. We hope to see you again next year.

Every third Sunday of the month, from 10 am to 1 pm, PATC hosts “drop-in” tennis at Rinconada Park, an informal yet structured, fun event that is open to the public. The drop-in Directors will match you with other players who have similar ratings. Played in 40 minute shifts, you leave the court after each round and get assigned different opponents. It’s important to show-up at 10, or even a little before, as the draws fill-up quickly. Depending on how many people there are, you may have to sit out a round.  It’s an excellent way to meet people who share a common interest! This event is co-sponsored by the City of Palo Alto.

PATC serves hundreds of tennis enthusiasts, both residents and non-residents of Palo Alto. The club offers numerous social and competitive events throughout the year, for both juniors and adults.  This is my second year as a member of the Palo Alto Tennis Club and my first year serving on the Board of Directors.  For more information about the club, go to www.paloaltotennis.com.

Rinconada Park is located at 777 Embarcadero Rd. in Palo Alto. The entrance to the tennis courts is on Hopkins Avenue off of Newell Road.

Here’s a link to a map of all the public tennis courts in Palo Alto: http://www.paloaltotennis.com/directory/courts/map/

The Annual Fund Raiser for the East Palo Alto Tennis and Tutoring Program takes place on Tuesday, May 1st. This year’s event is being held at the Menlo Circus Club in Atherton and features an exhibition by EPATT kids and members of the Stanford University Men’s and Women’s Tennis Teams.

This is the program’s 15th annual dinner, and my 13th. It’s been time well spent! The most enjoyable part of the evening is watching the EPATT kids interact with the guests. It’s an unfamiliar environment for the kids, so at first they’re very quiet and reserved. By the end of the night, though, after making a bunch of new friends, the kids are extremely wound up and don’t want to leave.

Our steering committee has just one meeting left, a walk-through. We’re anticipating this to be our best dinner ever.

Pictured here with EPATT kids are Stanford players Richard Wire, Theresa Logar and Eric McKean.