The Intercollegiate Tennis Association (ITA), and the Milwaukee Tennis Classic (MTC) today announced a partnership that will commence with the 42nd Annual Milwaukee Tennis Classic on September 20-24, 2017, in Milwaukee, Wisconsin.
This "ITA Gold Level Event" will provide the men's and women's singles champions with wildcards (WC) into the 2017 Oracle ITA National Fall Championships, which takes place November 1-5, at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden (CA) and other resort locations.
The ITA and MTC joined forces to provide not only an exceptional tennis venue and competition, but also present an event to maximize the overall college tennis experience. MTC has several decades experience and reputation of providing outstanding men's and women's college tennis and meaningful, community involvement using tennis as the common thread.
The 42nd MTC tournament will feature a draw of 32 for men's singles, 32 for women's singles and 16 for men's and women's doubles.
The MTC is returning to its original individual tournament format which commenced in 1975. For the past eight years, MTC had been a team format. The individual tournament returns with broad based tennis and community support, including the finals in the downtown ATP setting University of Wisconsin-Milwaukee Panther Arena.
The women's draw will be held at The Town Club (TC), and the men's draw will be held at the Western Racquet Club (WRC). Both the TC and WRC have exceptional tennis, dining and meeting facilities. The TC is over 100 years old and hosted the USTA National Clay Courts in the mid-1960s and WRC has equally prestigious tennis credentials hosting multiple ATP events.
The MTC finals will be played in the 10,000-seat UWM Panther Arena in downtown Milwaukee which hosted the 1998 Davis Cup World Semi-Final between the U.S. and Italy, drawing a total of 18,000 people over three days. The UWM Panther Arena has also hosted numerous professional tennis exhibitions over the years including legendary John McEnroe, Jan Borg and other tennis celebrities.
MTC will continue its 40-plus year tradition of providing housing with tennis families during the tournament. Those families usually "adopt" their players providing transportation, attending matches and cheering for their players for the duration of the tournament. MTC and ITA will host a mandatory briefing on the tournament, release the singles draws and have a social music event planned by the players on the evening of Wednesday, Sept. 20, 2017 at the TC.
MTC has a long and distinguished list of former champions from nearly every major tennis program in the U.S., including but not limited to, Ohio State, Virginia, North Carolina, University of Southern California, Texas, Oklahoma, UCLA, Texas A&M, California, Michigan, Florida, Kentucky, Northwestern, Stanford, TCU, Illinois, South Carolina, Memphis, Florida State, Wisconsin, Louisville, SMU and Marquette.
Coaches are encouraged to submit completed tournament applications on or before August 1, for this prestigious, national tennis tournament. The MTC ITA Selection Committee will determine the admission of each player. Coaches are encouraged to submit between two and four players, recognizing that final admission decisions will be based on rankings, strength of program and available places in the draw.
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