CHOC Adds Cash to Event

No one will ever confuse the CHOC Tennis Tournament with a top flight ATP or WTA event. But this year, they might mistake it for a men’s or women’s satellite.

The event’s $35,000 in prize money is bigger than that of most satellites and three times the total paid out at the Adoption Guild, the county’s other big charity tennis tournament.

The CHOC tournament, beginning Sept. 22 and concluding Oct. 1, will be played at the Racquet Club of Irvine. Last year, the tournament raised more than $50,000 for the Children’s Hospital of Orange County.

“There’s a tremendous number of great players in this area,” said Dennis Claus, CHOC tournament director. “Hopefully, we’ll bring some of them out with this kind of money.”

Prize money for the men’s and women’s open singles events is $7,200 each--twice the size of last year’s. First place is worth $3,000, which is roughly equivalent to that of a $25,000 satellite event. The women’s and men’s open doubles money is $7,900. The mixed open doubles and men’s 35 doubles money is $2,400.

“We’d like to see some more interest generated in this tournament, and we’re hoping it will continue to grow,” Claus said.

In the past, local pros such as Scott Davis, Jim Pugh, Robert Van’t Hof, Debbie Graham and Danielle Scott have entered. But with more money available, the draw could include local pros who might prefer to stay closer to home than travel to satellite events in Europe or the East Coast.

For the first time, singles will be played in every division. Until this year, the CHOC was mainly a doubles tournament, except for the open divisions.

“We’d like to increase our entries from 450 to 800 this year,” Claus said.

Entry deadline is Sept. 8 and fees are $100 for doubles teams ($60 for students and novice players) and $50 for singles players ($40 for students and novice players). Interested players may sign up at https://www.active.com. The tournament will run Sept. 22-24 and Sept. 30 and Oct. 1.

DENT GAINING RESPECT

It has taken a few years and several agonizing and humbling losses, but Taylor Dent, a 19-year-old from Newport Beach, seems to be finally gaining the respect of his fellow tour players.

Dent, who has improved his ranking to a career-best 193, has recently lost against three of the top four players in the world--No. 1 Andre Agassi, No. 2 Gustavo Kuerten and No 4. Pete Sampras. In each loss, Dent has been competitive and has drawn praise from his opponent.

At Wimbledon, Dent retired with a knee injury in the fourth set against Agassi. Afterward, Agassi praised Dent: “I made him play to hold serve every game. He was hitting some good, deep volleys and not even letting me get a good look at a pass.”

Two weeks ago in Cincinnati, Dent defeated Jeff Tarango and then lost to Sampras in the second round, 7-6, 7-6. Sampras, who was 19 when he won the U.S. Open, was impressed with Dent, especially his serve, which Sampras failed to break.

“You always look at someone’s second serve on how good he’s really going to be,” Sampras said. “I was looking at the clock and he was serving over 100 [mph] and making them. He possesses the talent to take his game a long way.”

At the RCA Championships in Indianapolis last week, Dent lost to Kuerten, 6-2, 7-6 (7-4), in the third round. It was Dent’s first third-round showing in a main ATP Tour event. Dent’s ranking has risen over 100 points in the last eight months.

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