'The Ojai' serves up sport's top talents
by Misty Volaski

The Mickey Mouse Club is to Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake as "The Ojai" is to Lindsey Davenport and Pete Sampras. And Jack Kramer. And Billy Jean King. And Bobby Riggs. And Arthur Ashe.
The Ojai Tennis Tournament, the oldest amateur tournament in the United States, has been a breeding ground for the top professional tennis players for the past 102 years. Many who have won in Ojai have gone on to compete at Wimbeldon to become some of the most-recognized athletes in the world.
Despite its significance today, "The Ojai" had a rather humble beginning. In 1895, William Thacher rounded up several tennis enthusiasts in Ojai (then called Nordhoff) for a meeting, which would eventually lead to the creation of the Ojai Tennis Club. Thacher and the club held the first Ojai Tennis Tournament two years later on May 23, 1896.
The first tournament was made up of mostly men, but women were allowed to participate in singles and mixed doubles divisions. The tournament had several divisions, including the men's open invitational singles and men's open invitational doubles. A few years later the women's open invitational singles and doubles were added, as well as the juniors events.
Though the tournament is technically 106th years old, it is really only in its 102nd year of official play. In 1924, due to an outbreak of "foot-and-mouth" disease, the Ojai Tennis Club agreed to call off the tournament for that year, and "co-operate with the quarantine officers." The tournament was also canceled from 1943 to 1946, due to World War II.
Through the years, many more events have been added, including the Big West, Pac-10, CIF finals, Division III and the independent and community college divisions.
The estimated 1,500 participants this year will be playing on courts around the valley, including courts at Libbey Park, all the local schools and many private courts, as well. Several courts in Ventura and Camarillo (such as Ventura Community College and Spanish Hills) will also be used during early tournament play today. Last year, more than 30,000 spectators showed up in Ojai to watch the tournament, and more are expected this year.
A surprising number of local players are anticipated to do well, including last year's girls' 16-and-under champion Lori Stern, the first Ojai native to win that title. Other youngsters to watch during the next few days include:
Inna Agababian of Ojai; she is listed as one of the top eight players in her age group.
Anna Tatishivili; she is an Ojai resident attending the Weil Tennis Academy, but is originally from the Republic of Georgia. She is currently one of the top 12-year-olds in the world, and made it to the quarterfinals of the Orange Bowl last year.
Yevgeny Supenko, of Ojai, but originally of Kyrgyzstan, placed third in the Spring Super Nationals and is placed in the top 10 in boys 16-and-under age group in the United States, and is a top eight player in California. He has been at Weil Tennis Academy for a year and a half.
Sesil Karatanchev is originally from Sofia, Bulgaria, and is currently residing in Ojai and attending the Weil Tennis Academy. Sesil just won prestigious Orange Bowl and is now the international world champion for the girls' 12-and-under age group. She has been entered in The Ojai in the girls' 16-and-under division, despite the fact that she is only 12 years old.
Rhett Walker and Tyson Barker of Nordhoff High School. As the No. 1 doubles team at Nordhoff, they will be playing in the boys' CIF doubles championship.
Andrew Nelson of Nordhoff. He will be playing in the boys' CIF singles championship.
In the PAC-10 division, look for Marcin Matkowski and Julien Rojer of the University of California at Los Angeles and Scott Lipsky and David Martin of Stanford to do well.
The tournament is going on now through Sunday, with the juniors' finals starting at 8 a.m. Saturday, and the PAC-10, Big West, Men's and Women's Opens, Community Colleges, Independent Colleges and Division III finals beginning Sunday morning.

© 2002 The Ojai Valley News

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