OPTA Blog

By Mike Holder: Reese Sager began training at Olde Providence Tennis Academy in 2016. She has seen her game progressively improve over the last five years. Tennisrecruiting.com lists her as a five-star recruit and the 3rd ranked player in North Carolina, 18th in the southeast, at her age. The 15-year-old recently found success winning the Girls’ 18 Singles Red Draw at Charleston (S.C.) Junior Championships. However, her success has not come without its share of adversity. Evgeny Slesarev (Director of Tennis Operations at Olde Providence Tennis Academy) reflected on obstacles Sager has overcome. “Reese was always a top-ranked player but has had to overcome challenges with quite a few serious injuries and setbacks. Two years ago she almost quit tennis due to a rotator cuff injury but she did not. Instead, she switched to two hands on both sides to keep the impact of her injury to a minimum. Not surprisingly, due to her competitive nature, she was able to return to National Levels a year ...

By Mike Holder: The year was 1971. The venue was Julian J. Clark Stadium at Olde Providence Racquet Club. Less than a decade after breaking ground, Cliff Turner, and the founding members’ goal of bringing world-class tennis to the club were realized as it played host to the Davis Cup Final between the United States and Romania. And while the club had seen elite-level players such as Arthur Ashe, Chrissie Evert, and Tony Roche (to name a few) come through prior to the tie, nothing could match the prestigious competition that took place from October 8-10, 1971. Davis Cup was founded in 1900 and carries with it a sense of national pride, much like the Olympics, where it is an honor for participants to compete for their respective countries. Interestingly, from 1937- 1973, the title went to either the United States or Australia which speaks to the rich talent pool from those countries during that time period. Legendary Australians such as Roche, John Newcombe, Roy Emerson, Fred Stolle, and...