National League Tennis Championships Take Over OKC Tennis Center

This weekend some of the best tennis players in the world are competing, not in Arizona, California, or even Florida, they’re right here in Oklahoma City at the OKC Tennis Center. 

“It’s a very prestigious event, it’s the pinnacle for adult tennis, and it’s a really special thing to host,” said Steve Henry, facility director at the OKC Tennis Center.  

The USTA League Championships are big for the players.  

“This would be the national championship for our age division, so if you’re over forty and you play in this league and you win this, you’re a national champ,” said Jason Scanlon of Orange County, California.  

With 34 teams and twelve to fourteen players on each team, the event is also big for the city. 

“People are traveling in from the four corners of the country, from Puerto Rico to Hawaii to New England to Oregon they’re all meeting here,” said Henry.  

“Beautiful city, great weather right now, facilities are perfect, those courts are pretty much rocking,” said Francisco Perez with the Puerto Rico team.  

Perez is focused on the competition, however, when he’s not competing there is another big attraction to the state.  

“We’ve had some good food, some great steaks for now, we went to Cattleman’s, great, great steak from there so thank you very much for that,” said Perez.  

“I was excited to come get some good steaks or some bar-b-que I was kind of doing some recon to find out what was good around here,” said Kevin Springer of Orange County, California.  

Aside from the great food, over the three weekends, the tournament is great for the Oklahoma City economy.  

“Generating over 3,000 hotel room stays, the majority of the folks are flying in, renting cars, spending money in our restaurants,” said Henry.  

The OKC Tennis Center is laid out perfectly for the event with 22 outdoor courts as well as indoor courts in the event of bad weather.  

“Come out and watch this is a really high level of play this weekend. Anyone can come out, there’s no admission fee and its great tennis,” said Henry.  

Games will be played throughout the weekend with an awards ceremony on Sunday afternoon. Admission is free.