With one day remaining to enter the Great Bend Recreation Commission’s United States Tennis Association Adult Open Tennis Tournament, which runs on Saturday and Sunday, the competition may not be able to put together enough players.
Tournament director Randy Moyers said he has five players signed up to play heading into today’s entry deadline.
“We can usually have a tournament as long as we have three or four (players) in a division,” Moyers said. “We have five right now, but we could have as many as 13 divisions. There’s usually one in this division and another in that division, and it comes down to whether they want to merge the divisions or not.”
The singles and doubles divisions are Men’s Open, Men’s 4.5, Men’s 3.5, Women’s Open, Women’s 4.5, Women’s 3.5 and Mixed Doubles.
The Mixed Doubles division will be played on Sunday morning, starting at 9, while the rest of the divisions will be played on Saturday, starting at 8. The tournament will be held at Veterans Memorial Park.
“We’ve had this tournament for as long as I can remember,” Moyers said. “I can remember playing as far back as the late 1970s or early ’80s. I don’t remember ever not having the tournament.”
Moyers said he does expect several last-minute entries.
“We had a gal from Kansas City (Mo.) come in for the kids’ tournament,” Moyers said. “But usually we get people from Topeka, Salina and Wichita. The guy who won the Open division last year’s from Pratt, Porter Loomis. I still haven’t heard from him, so hopefully he’ll contact me.
“Hopefully we’ll have a lot of people contact me either (Wednesday or Thursday), but right now, I wouldn’t have a tournament.”
Moyers said that the tournament is scheduled a week later than usual, which may be causing the problems.
“We did that hoping we might see more high school kids come out to help get a warm up before the girls’ season started,” Moyers said.
The entry fee is $14 for singles and $16 for doubles. The entry deadline is Wednesday, Aug. 7. To register, please stop by the Great Bend Recreation Commission (1214 Stone St.).
For more information, contact Moyers (620-793-9337).