Seems the Ritzy West Side Tennis Club at Forest Hills, the old site of the US Open, has bought itself a WTA Tour event. But if you get what you pay for their wallet can't be light, with no Top 25 players and only a 16-woman field for the Tier V event. Admission is free until the Saturday final ($10 a head), and play doesn't begin until Tuesday. The top eight players in the field according to the entry list are
Emilie Loit,
Elena Likhovtseva,
Nicole Pratt, Lina Krasnoroutskaya, Kristina "You're a Fine Girl" Brandi,
Maria Sanchez Lorenzo, Anabel "Funky Cold" Medina Garrigues, and
Virginia Ruano Pascual. OK, so that's why it's free.
"This is tremendous news for The West Side Tennis Club and for the City of New York. The success of last May's inaugural (exhibition) event proved to the USTA and to The West Side Tennis Club that there is a tremendous appetite for professional tennis here in New York," said The West Side Tennis Club president Jack Leibler.
The West Side Tennis Club has 39 courts on 4 different surfaces.
