Learner Tien photo by Pete Staples/USTA
The USTA Southern California Section’s popular SoCal Pro Series is returning for the fourth consecutive year, beginning May 26 at Barnes Tennis Center in San Diego.
The SoCal Pro Series consists of seven consecutive weeks of men’s and women’s $15,000-purse pro tennis tournaments which are affiliated with the USTA Pro Circuit and International Tennis Federation (ITF) World Tennis Tour and take place in San Diego and Los Angeles counties.
The Series puts Southern California junior and collegiate players on the fast track to earn valuable ATP and WTA world ranking points and make their way up the world rankings ladder. SoCal Pro Series main draw and qualifying-round wildcards will be available to U.S. citizens who are legal Southern California residents or full-time Southern California college students.
The SoCal Pro Series’ upcoming seven tournament dates and locations are:
- May 26-June 1 – Barnes Tennis Center, San Diego
- June 2-8 – University of San Diego, San Diego
- June 9-15 – University of San Diego, San Diego
- June 16-22 – Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club, Rancho Santa Fe
- June 23-29 – Lakewood Tennis Center, Lakewood
- June 30-July 6 – Jack Kramer Club, Rolling Hills Estates
- July 7-13 – San Diego State University, San Diego
While the SoCal Pro Series returns to five venues which have annually hosted its professional competition, San Diego State University is a new site to the circuit and will host the series’ concluding tournament in the second week of July.
“The SoCal Pro Series has been called a true stepping stone for so many of our junior and college players,” said Trevor Kronemann, USTA Southern California Executive Director. “But recently one of our current players said it was more like a trampoline into bigger tournaments on the ATP and WTA tours and he’s exactly right. This was the goal all along of the SoCal Pro Series and we are excited for the return of these seven straight weeks of play for our section’s top players.”
Holding true to its initial mission, the SoCal Pro Series has exposed elite juniors and collegiate players in and around Southern California to tennis competition at the professional level and has served those who have embarked on such pro careers in developing their talent and providing a springboard to higher series of tennis such as the Challenger and ATP/WTA Tours.
Through the first three years of the SoCal Pro series, 29 women and 16 men who are either Southern California residents or played collegiately in Southern California have earned their first WTA/ATP world ranking point through the circuit, including eight females and four males who achieved the feat in 2024.
Success stories abound. One needs to look back no further than January’s Australian Open, where three SoCal Pro Series products – Altadena’s Tristan Boyer, Aliso Viejo native Alex Michelsen and Irvine’s Learner Tien – won opening-round matches, and Michelsen and Tien advanced into the second week of a Grand Slam event for the first time by reaching the Round of 16 in Melbourne.
Michelsen’s meteoric rise up the professional ranks began at the inaugural SoCal Pro Series in 2022, while Tien won his first SoCal Pro Series event in his hometown in 2023 and added four more singles titles on the circuit just last summer. He is the winningest player in the SoCal Pro Series’ brief history.
The two aces who grew up as friends and training partners in Orange County found themselves competing in December’s Next Gen ATP Finals (open to the world’s eight highest-ranked players under 21) in Saudi Arabia and they are now the world’s highest-ranked American men under age 21 (the 20-year-old Michelsen at No. 33, and 19-year-old Tien at No. 67).
Other past SoCal Pro Series men’s singles champions and finalists in the ATP rankings’ top 250 include Rolling Hills Estates native Brandon Holt (No. 102), Ethan Quinn (No. 106), of Fresno, University of San Diego graduate August Holmgren (No. 188) and Pacific Beach’s Zach Svajda (No. 227).
Females who parlayed SoCal Pro Series success as teenagers into higher, heralded achievements include San Diegan Katherine Hui, who just months after playing in the 2023 SoCal Pro Series went on to win the 2023 US Open girls’ singles title, and Carlsbad resident Julieta Pareja, who earned her first WTA ranking point in Week 1 of the 2024 SoCal Pro Series, then won her first pro singles tournament just over three weeks later at the SoCal Pro Series event in Rancho Santa Fe at age 15. She went on to reach the third (and final) 2024 US Open qualifying round in August, and Pareja is now ranked No. 317 in the WTA rankings.
Southern California players can register to play in pre-qualifying events for a chance to earn their way into the main draw as wild cards. The upcoming pre-qualifying schedule includes: May 24-26, University of San Diego; May 30-June 3, Lakewood Tennis Center; June 13-15, Jack Kramer Club; June 20-22, San Diego State University. SoCal players can register for events at: https://www.ustasocal.com/proseries.
The post SoCal Pro Series Returns With Seven Consecutive Weeks of Professional Tennis Tournaments In San Diego And Los Angeles Counties Beginning May 26 at Barnes Tennis Center appeared first on 10sBalls.com • TennisBalls.com.
10sBalls.com • TennisBalls.com