Macon professional tennis tournament gets an upgrade

The W.L. Amos Sr. Tennis Classic, which will be played once again at Mercer’s Leroy Peddy Tennis Center, has been upgraded to a USTA Pro Circuit 80K event.

This year marks the fifth year for the tournament, which will include a 32-player singles draw and a 16-team doubles draw for women’s players, along with a 32-player qualifying draw the first weekend.

“I’ve been running these USTA Pro Circuit tournaments for 15 years, and I’m never going to say ‘no’ when the USTA Pro Circuit shows confidence in us (as a tennis community) to elevate our event,” tournament director and mercer head coach Eric Hayes said.

Players competing in the tournament can earn valuable WTA ranking points and a spot in the first major of 2017 — the Australian Open.

“The USTA Pro Circuit is thrilled that the W. L. Amos, Sr. Tennis Classic has agreed to raise its prize money from $50,000 to $80,000 in 2017,” said Brian Early, the director of the USTA Pro Circuit and U.S. Open referee. “This tournament is part of an important three-week, year-end series that provides opportunities for players to earn WTA ranking points for entry into the following year's Australian Open. The added prize money will increase the number of points available and the player field is likely to be even stronger than in the past."

This story was originally published February 8, 2017 at 1:49 PM with the headline "Macon professional tennis tournament gets an upgrade."