The Louisiana Family Medicine Clinic City Championships gets underway Monday at the Bossier Tennis Center.
It’s the eighth straight year the tournament, known as The City, has been held at the BTC since it was revived in 2018 after being dormant for about 10 years. This is the 102 anniversary of the first City tournament in 1923.
The tournament runs though Sunday and is free for spectators.
There are 323 players competing in 23 divisions.
The divisions include men’s and women’s open singles, doubles and mixed doubles along with other doubles based on the the USTA’s National Tennis Ratings Program. There are also family doubles divisions like mother-daughter and father-son.
The tournament is open to anyone who lives in or north of Alexandria or has lived in Northwest Louisiana for a period of five consecutive years at any point in their life.
Bossier Tennis Center Director of Tennis Todd Killen and longtime local players Jeffrey Goodman and Rick Holland spearheaded the revival of the tournament.
They have honored the tournament’s past with a City Hall of Fame. This year’s inductees are multiple men’s open singles champion Bill Borders, his sister Anne, and John Liles.
“There was a generation or two who either never got to experience The City or only experienced it when it was on its last legs,” Goodman said in a press release.
“We knew to make it important again we had to explain what it had been for all those years for so many of us.”
The tournament has awarded prize money since its revival and this year is no exception. The total amount is more than $8,000. In past years, the men’s open singles winner has received $1,000.
Former champion Anthony McMaster of Shreveport is the No. 1 seed. Michael Pereira of Shreveport is No. 2 followed by Marc Paz of Bossier City and Kevin Chhang of Bossier City.
Pereira is the Director of Tennis at Querbes Park Tennis Center. He played collegiately at UNC Wilmington.
Monroe’s Steven Schwab, last year’s champion, is not in the field.
Defending champion Frances Altick of Monroe is the top seed in the women’s open singles. Angela Basto of Shreveport is No. 2.
Matches will be played in the evening throughout the week and all day Saturday and Sunday. The men’s open singles finals is Sunday at 1 p.m. The women’s is Sunday at 10:30 a.m.
The Hall of Fame ceremony will take place 30 minutes before the men’s final.