The Holidays are upon us and soon we will be celebrating the New Year of 2024. I have to say that 2023 was a very good year for me personally as I have been on a “Celebratory Tour” celebrating “The Original 9” in Australia, the WTA’s 50th Anniversary in London, the 50th Anniversary of Equal Prize Money at the US Open in NY and the WTA Championships in Cancun. Each one has spurred some wonderful memories and have brought many of us together to reminisce and enjoy the fruits of our labor. We want to look to the future and it’s generations so we can continue to celebrate women’s tennis and the WTA and what we have accomplished.
2023 WTA FINALS CHAMPIONSHIP CANCUN:
It would be told that the WTA Finals was a memorable one but unfortunately not in the terms that would bring good memories. I was a guest of the WTA and have never witnessed Mother Nature in such a bad mood. Cancun is a tourist destination with beautiful weather, beaches and ocean. The rain and wind that became part of the landscape made playing almost impossible but the women did persevere to try and give the best under these horrendous conditions. I’ve played all over the world and the only other place that comes to mind when it comes to wind and rain was Hobart, Tasmania. Cancun fortunately is warm even though it rained and blew and kept the players and spectators on the move. The WTA staff went about their business doing their best to accommodate the players and tournament. The promoters “The Gusses” Santoscoy were under the gun with little time to set up the venue. Despite the weather and conditions they did a great job under the difficult circumstances and put a lovely site together with a party atmosphere. The margaritas flowed in the VIP Tent with the music and the Big Screen TV that kept us dry and entertained. The players couldn’t partake with the party festivities and had to stay dry and tethered to the ground.
Congratulations to Iga Swiatek for winning the GNP Seguros WTA Finals beating Jessica Pegula 6-1, 6-0. This secured her the number 1 year-end ranking for the second consecutive year. The doubles duo of Laura Siegmund & Vera Zvonareva win over Nicole Melichar Martinez & Ellen Perez 6-4, 6-4 for the WTA Doubles Title. Maybe 2024 WTA Finals will find it’s way indoors!!
LOVE & LOVE TENNIS FOUNDATION ANNALEE THURSTON AWARDS FUNDRAISER MARCH 9, 2024 AT PALM VALLEY COUNTY CLUB:
We are excited to be honoring PAM SHRIVER one of tennis’ best in singles and former doubles # 1. She’s a Hall of Famer (2002) and TV personality with ESPN, The Tennis Channel and other networks. She was the other half of the Navratilova partnership amassing 111 doubles titles, 22 Grand Slams doubles and 1 mixed doubles and an Olympic Gold Medal at the 1988 Seoul Olympics. Pam and Martina are the only women’s pair to complete the Grand Slam in a calendar year, winning all four majors in 1984.
Shriver has also been the MC for many of The Annalee Thurston Award Reception Dinners and does a wonderful job entertaining our dinner guests.
We hope you all will join us to celebrate Pam on the eve of Saturday, March 9, 2024 at the Palm Valley Country Club in Palm Desert. We are only 10 minutes away from the IWTG & BNP. Invitations will be forthcoming in December but our “Save-The-Date” is attached with all the information.
Compliments of IWTG and Ray Moore, if you purchase a dinner or guests, you will be entitled to receive complimentary entry into the BNP Paribas Open on Saturday & Sunday (March 9 & 10, 2023) when gates open. You will not be able to go to the Stadium Court but can see any other matches or enjoy the facility with your ground pass. Thanks Ray!
We are also happy to announce that WTA will be part of the Thurston festivities with a couple awards that we will announce on our next Christmas Newsletter. Stay tuned!!
THE ROSIE CUP DOUBLES SUNDAY, MARCH 10, 2024:
We hope to have a site for The Rosie Cup Round Robin Doubles Tournament. Unfortunately due to changes Woodhaven C.C. was not available. Stay tuned and we are hopeful we will find a home for this fun Round Robin Doubles Tournament.
As always I along with The Love & Love Tennis Foundation appreciates your support of this very important fundraiser!
LOVE & LOVE FREE TENNIS CLINICS NOVEMBER/DECEMBER & OTHER CLINICS 2024:
The LLTF is running free kids (ages 5-15 yrs) clinics at Fitz Burns Park in La Quinta every Saturday from 9-10:15am. We have confirmed December 2 & 9th as well. We also hope to confirm other locations for 2024 but are in need of volunteers to help with the clinics. I would like to thank all those who have come out to help us in La Quinta and with our other clinics.
HIGH SCHOOL TENNIS CLINICS:
Our High School Tennis Programs will probably start in the Spring of 2024 and I will share details in our next newsletter. In the past, 5 High Schools and their tennis teams have participated in giving free tennis clinics twice a week to the local youths in their areas. This provides a better outreach throughout the Coachella Valley and hopefully promotes interest within those communities. We also run these clinics in the summer which are a little more challenging due to the hot weather. The Foundation assists these schools with Grants between $500 & $1,000 to be used equally between the girls & boys teams for expenses.
We continue to try and provide rackets, balls, clothing and whatever equipment these schools are in need of as well as to other youth programs in the Coachchella Valley by partnerting with other foundations who distribute these items as well. Although we live in a beautiful resort atmosphere with great weather, tennis courts and golf courses, these are not available to those who live outside of gated communities and in underserved areas. We would like to be able to make tennis accessable to all kids who would like to learn how to play tennis. We hope to establish a tennis program with the Desert Recreation District who services most of the public parks in the C.V. Unfortunately there are few courts in the East Valley and most are located at the High Schools. Wouldn’t it be great if we could build a Tennis Center in the East Valley or maybe an old warehouse exists that we can use for tennis, especially in the summer!
All donations welcome anytime, any amount is greatly appreciated.
We do have Pay Pal on our lovelovetennisfoundation.com website.
Have a great Turkey Day and plenty of stuffing. Please stay tuned for more announcements!
xoxo
Rosie & Tory
“In the Spirit of Annalee”