Tennis : Warner Club Courting Big-Name Seniors

The Warner Center Club will attempt to lure some of the game’s biggest names from the recent past for a professional tournament this fall.

The event, to be held the weekend of Oct. 6-8, will consist of an eight-man field of players 35 and over. Already signed up are Vijay Amritraj and his brother Anand. Others being contacted include Roscoe Tanner and Stan Smith.

To be eligible, a participant must have been ranked in the top 10 in his country, or have played on a Davis Cup team, or won a Grand Slam event.

A pro-am event also is scheduled. Tickets are expected to go on sale in September at the 3,500-seat Warner Center Club.

The Warner Center facility will stage a United States Tennis Assn.-sanctioned tournament July 17-21 for players from Southern California.

Cabrillo serves notice: The Cabrillo Racquet Club swung into the spotlight at the Junior Team Tennis league playoffs held earlier this month at UCLA.

Cabrillo won titles in divisions for boys and girls aged 12 and for boys 15 and qualified for the state championships in competition that culminated the season for the 255-team league. In all, 1,500 youths from Bakersfield to San Diego play in the Southern California Tennis Assn. program.

The 15-year-old winners from Cabrillo--Mike and Bob Bryan, Darren Potkey, Scott Hill and McKinley Oswald--defeated West End of the South Bay League, 3-1, then beat the champion of the first half of the season, the Peninsula Racquet Club of Palos Verdes, 4-0.

The squad of 12-year-old boys from Cabrillo--Pete Webb, J. J. Oswald, Garrett Traub, Steve Schnugg and Andy White--won its title by shutting out Canyon Crest Country Club of the Inland Empire League, 4-0.

The Cabrillo girls also beat their counterparts from Canyon Crest, 3-1, on the strength of performances by Jessica Improta, Jennifer and Katie Messmer, Arezoo Jafroodi and Sarah Distad.

In the Novice division, the 12-year-old girls from Racquet Centre of Universal City--Jo-Ann Landry, Sarah Collins, Ravid Levy, Gracie Scharnberger, Olivia Russell and Amanda Cey (daughter of former Dodger third baseman Ron Cey)--blanked Westlake Village Racquet Club, 4-0.

The state championships, to be held Aug. 26-27 at Sierra Racquet Club in Fresno, match the top three squads from Southern California against the top three from Northern California. This is the second consecutive year Cabrillo has sent three of the six teams from the south.

Accommodating format: For all those players who complain they can never get into a tournament because of their busy schedules, there is a format for you.

It is called a convenience format and is being used by the Southern California Tennis Club in its third Summer Doubles Challenge Series tournament for both men and women.

Here’s how it works: You sign up as part of a doubles team and you’re matched up with an opponent. The teams then have two weeks to play their match in the single-elimination event, wherever and whenever they choose.

Your freedom only becomes limited in the championship rounds, beginning with the quarterfinals, which will be played on specific dates in August at the Racquet Centre in Studio City.

Add tournaments: The Racquet Centre will hold its second Seniors Satellite tennis tournament July 7-9. The event will include both men’s and women’s competition by age group in singles and doubles.