‘Great opportunity for NMI tennis to host ITF tourney again’

The recently concluded International Tennis Federation J30 Junior World Ranking Tournament (IT&E Northern Marianas Junior Championships) that was held last Tuesday to Sunday at the Pacific Islands Club Saipan tennis courts was once again an important and great opportunity for the CNMI tennis program, according to Northern Marianas Islands Tennis Association president Jeff Race.

After a five-year hiatus since 2019 due to the COVID-19 pandemic, the tournament was held in the CNMI.

The tournament featured 55 junior netters from 10 nations—the CNMI, Guam, Korea, Japan, Hong Kong, China, Australia, U.S., Great Britain, and Chinese-Taipei—as they vied for ITF points.

An ITF J30 event is a junior event with 30 world ranking points for the winner. It is the entry level event for emerging tennis players who are trying to acquire world ranking points to be accepted on the professional tour or win a scholarship to a U.S. college.

With that, Race said it was great exposure for NMI netters who joined the tourney: Simon Tang, June Yu, David Kwon, Matthew Hwang, Henry Choi, Ryan Choi, and Siwoo Lee, Serin and Irin Chung, Anne Lee, Hoo Wang, and Hannah Chae.

“It’s really important for our program to have this tournament because of several reasons: It gives our kids a chance to get a world ranking so that’s good for them. That means if they want to go and play in these tournaments elsewhere, it’d be much easier for them to get into either the main draw of the qualifying draw,” said Race.

Overall, he said, “All of our kids who were at least 13 years old had the opportunity to join the tournament so it’s a good experience for them and I think it’s also very motivating.”

As for how the tourney turned out, he said that the weather turned out great and cooperated besides a slight delay due to rain last Saturday.

Also, the level of competition “has been very high level,” said Race. “All these players in the finals have a pretty good level of world ranking, so the competition was very close overall. I think that a lot of our junior players have been watching so they get to see what the level is and where they need to get to.”

With athletes from all over the world converging in the CNMI for this tourney, Race was asked about how this contributed to sports tourism in the CNMI. He said, “This is what we should be doing. We—the government, [the Marianas Visitors Authority], the hotels, should be supporting sports tourism. I think that sports tourism is a really important niche for tourism here for us because we’re close to Asian countries. I think the more we do it, the more we become known for it, and then more events come here.”

Oceania Tennis Federation referee Patrick O’Rourke from New Zealand, for his part, said that the return of the tourney in the CNMI, “had very good numbers and very good standard. I’m sure Jeff and his team will be very pleased.”

He said that the CNMI was on the world circuit for the first time more than 10 years ago. He said that Guam and CNMI tournaments have always been one after the other, usually in the month of May.

“This year, in the last two weeks, we were in Guam [for the 2024 Citadel Guam World Tour], and this week, (last week) we’re here… it might be around the same time next year, but it’s up to Jeff and CNMI tennis to talk with Guam tennis and sort out dates and apply for the tournaments next year,” said O’Rourke.

Race then thanked the tourney’s sponsor IT&E, along with referees from Oceania Tennis, Patrick and Linda O’Rourke, Tan Holdings, Lydia Tan, umpires Nicky Nichols and Colin Ramsey, Jessie Jeoung, Pacific Islands Club Saipan, Sarka Jambor, Fayce El-Karaa Sunny Yim, Topnotch, Bobby Cruz, and Dr. Gary Ramsey. “Unfortunately, I’m sure I probably left someone out but thank you all!” said Race.