119th St. Tennis Association

Welcome to the 119th St. Tennis Association Website.

You've come to the right place to find association news, learn about upcoming events and tournaments, find new hitting partners, and learn about all of the benefits of membership. We encourage you to visit the site frequently since we update content on a regular basis. Also, we have put together a section for people that are interested in joining. We hope to count you among our members this 2008 season!

Note: NYC Parks and Recreation mailed out the 2008 Tennis Permit Renewal Applications. Permits are required from Saturday, April 5 - November, 2008. See the NYC Parks and Recreation website for further information and to renew online.

Letter from the President

Happy Springtime!

Routine maintenance is underway at our courts. The courts were pressure washed on March 28 and 31st. We have scheduled crack repair for Monday, May 3 - Wednesday, May 5, weather permitting. There will be some court closings during this necessary upkeep. Check back to this site for the work schedule. We'll also post notices at the gate.

Many schools have been issued permits to use our courts on weekday afternoons for practice and matches. We are getting the schedule of blocked time from Parks and posting the information at the courts. In general though, school programs are given no more than a total of 4 to 5 courts from 3:00-6:00 p.m. on weekdays only.

We currently have four attendants assigned to our courts: Jack, Nellie, "G" and Major. They have been working hard to get the leaves and twigs off the courts! Presently there is no gate coverage on Sundays or Mondays so, the honor system of signing in for an hour for singles and two hours for doubles is in effect. Please be considerate of your fellow tennis enthusiasts and give up your court at the appointed hour if others are waiting to play.

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We concluded a most exciting tournament season in September. We held our first mixed-doubles tournament in August and the Men's Invitational wrapped up on Sunday of Labor Day weekend. The Invitational Final featured Jonathan Levey vs. Michael Newberry. It was nearly a three hour match and ended in an exciting tie-break. Levey def. Newberry 5-7, 6-2, 7-6 (2). Earlier in June and July we hosted a Men's Open, a Women's Open and a 45+ Men's Tournament. See pictures of our members and friends honoring the 2007 Tournament Champions at our Awards Reception held at Symposium Restaurant on Oct. 15th - visit our photo gallery.

In addition, on June 16, we cohosted a "Speed Tennis Event" with NYC Tennis Partners wherein participants changed opponents every twenty minutes over a two-hour period. It was a great way for players to find new partners and meet fellow tennis enthusiasts! We have had great participation in all our events this year.

As we are always seeking ways to continue to grow the game of tennis, we were pleased to sponsor free tennis lessons for children from the Dorothy Day Apartments in Harlem. Woody Schneider of Grand Central Racquets generously donated racquets for this program, and we very much appreciate his support. We also hosted the City Parks Foundation's free summer tennis camp for kids of all ages.

Maintainance of the courts is always ongoing. In August we pressure washed many of the courts as well as touched up the coating and fixed cracks on the surface. With money raised from our Speed Tennis event, we replaced some of the ragged divider curtains. Anne-Marie Jannuzzo, our Director of Public Affairs wrote a grant proposal to USTA/Eastern Metro and we were awarded $2,700 at a ceremony in August. The money is slated to fix the dips and cracks on Court 2 in April 2008.

The Matthew Shepard Memorial Tennis JAM was held on Sunday, September 16 (postponed from the 15th due to rain). We had a terrific day of round-robin tennis and drills that raised money for the Matthew Shepard Foundation. Assemblyman Daniel O'Donnell and Broadway star Liz Callaway were among the luminaries who participated! Jody O'Neil and the Metropolitan Tennis Group did a fabulous job organizing this spectacular event. Check out the article at the USTA Eastern Website.

We celebrated our tournament winners at our Awards Reception at Symposium Restaurant on October 15. This was a terrific event with lots of delicious food, much merriment and a record number of guests!

We had about 20 members attend the 119th Street Tennis Association's General Meeting for Members held on Monday, March 10, 2008. It was a lively meeting discussing court needs as well as improvements underway in the park. In order to ensure that you are invited to events sponsored by the 119th Street Association, we hope you will support our efforts by joining or continuing your membership in the Association.

Come visit us soon. Spring has sprung at 119th Street!

Sincerely,

Liz Westbrook Hydes
President

The 119th Street Tennis Association is pleased to be an affiliate of Riverside Park Fund.

To reach someone at the Association, check out our contact page.