Lexington and the University of Kentucky are hosting their 22nd professional tennis tournament this week. The tournament director calls it the ‘strongest field’ in the tourney’s history.
Rainy weather drove competitors indoors at the Kentucky Bank Tennis Championships Thursday. Some 150 men and women tennis players began the week Monday with hopes of advancing far enough to earn a ticket to the U.S. Open in a month.
Tournament Director Brooks Lundy says about eight out of this week’s group of competitors will make it to New York, “The prize money that they get from this tournament is great but, if they get a wild card into the U.S. Open, it will cover so many of their expenses for the entire year, just to get into the Open.”
Lundy says the winner this week earns 77 hundred dollars while the loser in a first round match in the Open will get a check for 30 thousand dollars. Doubles winners in Lexington will be crowned Saturday and the singles championship matches will be Sunday.
