Unified Tennis Philippines lays out eventful 2019 plan

By: Kristoffer Ed Bellen
Date Published: February 7, 2019
MANILA--Fresh from establishing a successful season last year, the Unified Tennis
Philippines (UTP) bares its plan to stage a year full of tournaments this 2019,
featuring a total of 104 events in the light of its mission to produce world-class
tennis players from the country and popularize the sport at all levels.
Led by its president and founder Jean Henri Lhuillier, the UTP is set to stage 70
Junior tennis tournaments, 14 Senior tennis tournaments, 7 Professional Open tournaments,
1 Trainers Open, and a dozen of UTP Tennis Challenge Series this year.
"Getting these Filipino athletes out there to compete with other world-class tennis
players has been our lifelong dream. I'm glad that we have gained traction since
we've rolled out UTP's programs two years ago and so we will continue to fulfill
our mission to discover fresh talents and improve the quality of our tennis players
from the professional level down to the grassroots level by providing them with
proper training and international exposure," Lhuillier said.
Furthermore, UTP, which is sponsored by Cebuana Lhuillier, Palawan Pawnshop, Babolat,
HEAD, Chris' Sports, Dunlop, Toby's Sports, Wilson, Decathlon, Mr. Freeze, and Madison
Galleries, will also continue to form its junior tennis teams that will compete
in various international competitions--an initiative that they started last year
by forming several teams.
Recently, the UTP has already kicked off their season with the start of the Cebuana
Lhuillier and Palawan Pawnshop Age-Group Tennis Tournaments at the Meralco Tennis
Club in Pasig, as well as at the Actifit Sports Center in Valenzuela, respectively,
which featured some of the best rising tennis players in the country including John
David Velez, Stephan Lhuillier, Joewyn Pascua, Macey Carlos, Bliss Bayking, and
Anna De Myer.
Carlos and Bayking were the two representatives sent by UTP to represent the Philippines
at the WTA Future Stars during the WTA Finals in Singapore last year.
UTP will soon announce the cut-off period for selection of the 2019 UTP National
Juniors Tennis through social media.
Last year, UTP formed several teams that played in Malaysia and Indonesia and were
successful in producing winners in the ATF (Asian Tennis Federation) and ITF (International
Tennis Federation) tournaments with the Eala siblings Alex and Miko reaching the
finals.
New initiatives and programs are also underway including the introduction of an
online tournament registration in the second quarter of the year and staging of
more level-based tournaments for club players such as the UTP Tennis Challenge series.
Dunlop, the official ball partner of the 2019 Australian Open, will also provide
the official ball of all Palawan Pawnshop and Cebuana Lhuillier tournaments.
Source:
dugout.ph