Indiana University Athletics
ITA Summer Nationals Begin Saturday at IU
8/6/2010 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Aug. 6, 2010
BlOOMINGTON, Ind. - The ITA/USTA National Summer Championships begin this Saturday, August 8th at the Indiana University Varsity Tennis Courts. The ITA/USTA National Summer Championships are the pinnacle of the ITA Collegiate Summer Circuit, which was played at 32 regional sites throughout the country last month. A total of 2,965 players participated in ITA Summer Circuit events this year, falling just short of 2009's record-breaking mark of 2,976.
Five Hoosiers are expected to play in the event, five members of the men's team and Kayla Fujimoto of the women's team. Representing Head Men's Coach Randy Bloemendaal will be Isade Juneau, Santiago Gruter, Stephen Vogl, Will Kendall and Jeremy Langer.
The circuit is the brainchild of Indiana head women's tennis coach Lin Loring and provides college tennis players the opportunity to compete in organized events virtually year round. It is made up of seven regional circuits (East, Southeast, Midwest, Central, Mountain, Southwest and West) and each region consists of four consecutive tournaments played during the month of July, leading up to the ITA/USTA National Summer Championships, August 8-12.


The singles and doubles champions from the ITA/USTA National Summer Championships earn wild cards into the first national tournaments of the 2009-10 collegiate tennis season - the D'Novo Men's and Riviera/ITA Women's All-American Championships in early October. This is the eighth straight year IU is serving as tournament host (admission is free). IU associate head women's tennis coach Ramiro Azcui is serving as tournament director.
Nearly 30,000 men and women have competed in ITA Summer Circuit events since it began in 1993. The circuit provides college (and junior and alumni) players the opportunity to compete in organized events virtually year round. Although the primary focus of the circuit is to provide incoming freshman and collegiate players the chance to compete in the summer months, for NCAA compliance purposes, the events within the ITA Summer Circuit are categorized as "open"; therefore anyone is eligible to compete in these events as long as he/she is a current ITA member.
Players Mentioned
