Sept. 13 & 14: See Division I College tennis FREE in River Forest!

Hello Gladiators & Tennis Friends!

On Friday & Saturday, September 13 & 14, the fourth annual River Forest Collegiate Invitational tennis tournament will be held with matches starting both days at 9 a.m. and running till about 6:30 p.m. on Friday and 4/4:30 p.m. on Saturday. The River Forest Tennis Club (615 Lathrop Ave  River Forest; (708) 771-7783) is the primary tournament site, while the Oak Park Tennis Center (544 North Harlem Avenue; 708.366.9652) is a secondary venue. The tournament is free and tennis fans are encouraged to check out the exciting action!

The following Division I men’s teams will be participating in the tournament:

Belmont University (Nashville, TN)

Butler University (Indianapolis, IN)

Morehead State University (Morehead, KY)

Northern Illinois University (DeKalb, IL)

St. Louis University (St. Louis, MO)

University of Illinois at Chicago (Chicago, IL)

Valparaiso University (Valparaiso, IN)

 Youngstown State University (Youngstown, OH)

It is an official ITA event and will have USTA umpires/referee on site at all times. UIC is the host school.  Matches are played on the Har-Tru courts, all with the latest hydro-grid underground watering system. The event will look to move indoors in the event of inclement weather. Play will include three rounds of singles and three rounds of doubles for all players/teams which includes main draw, back draw and consolation rounds. The tournament is rapidly becoming one of the premier Midwest collegiate tennis events in the fall season.

The River Forest Tennis Club, the tournament’s primary host site, was designed by Frank Lloyd Wright and for many years hosted the U.S. National Men's Clay Courts, as well as the River Forest Junior Open and Girls' 18 & Under National Clay Court Championships .

John Griffin, the tournament director and past President of the River Forest Tennis Club, has asked me to help promote the event since I work as a Sports Editor for the Wednesday Journal of Oak Park & River Forest. John also played at Northern Illinois University and is a great guy and occasional hitting partner of mine on the tennis courts.

A handful of Gladiators recently attended Cincinnati’s ATP/WTA pro tennis event and everybody returned to Chicago raving about the experience. This tournament is another opportunity to watch high-level tennis up close but this time at no charge and much closer to home! Incidentally, I will be at the tournament as a reporter covering the matches for the Oak Park Wednesday Journal (www.oakpark.com) and also enjoying the action as a die-hard tennis fan!

Best,

Marty Farmer

Gladiator Tennis contributing writer/3.0 Far East player