Park Readied for Ojai Tennis Tournament

Volunteers began readying Libbey Park on Monday for the 93rd annual Ojai Tennis Tournament.

The tourney, touted as the largest and oldest tennis tournament of its kind held annually in the United States, gets under way Thursday morning. It will feature about 1,500 young tennis players from across the country, tournament spokeswoman Gerry Roe said.

Organizing the four-day tournament, with its 700 matches daily on more than 140 courts across Ventura and the Ojai Valley, is a logistical nightmare requiring in-depth planning, Roe said.

Thousands of fans descend on Ojai from across Southern California each year to watch the future stars of the tennis world compete as amateurs, former tournament president Jack Morrison said.

Some of the tournament’s 600 local volunteers were at work Monday, moving umpire stands, chairs, tents and scoring tables from storage places around Ojai to Libbey Park, where the main matches and finals are held, Morrison said.

“It took us a day and four truckloads, but we got it all in,” Morrison said.

The Ojai, as it is known by tennis fans, is famous for spotlighting such budding talents as Jimmy Connors, Billie Jean King, Tracy Austin and Arthur Ashe, all of whom played in the event before beginning their professional careers, Roe said.

“What you are seeing here, in our tournament, is next year’s pros,” Roe said.

The tournament is not only known for the future pros who have played it, Roe said, but for a tradition of providing free orange juice, tea and cookies to all players, officials and spectators.

“William Thacher, who started the tournament, really liked both tennis and tea, so he served tea every year to all the people who played and all the people who came out to watch,” Roe said.

Play begins in Ojai at 8 a.m. Thursday, Roe said. Tickets are available at Libbey Park, at Signal Street and Ojai Avenue.