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Memphis pro tennis event names first female tournament director [The Commercial Appeal, Memphis, Tenn.](Commercial Appeal (Memphis, TN) Via Acquire Media NewsEdge) Oct. 01--The U.S. National Indoor Tennis Championships, an annual stop on the men's professional tour played each February at The Racquet Club, has a new, and historic, tournament director. The United States Tennis Association, majority owner of the ATP World Tour 250 event, officially will announce Erin Mazurek as tournament director Wednesday. Mazurek, 31, is the first female tournament director of the Indoor in the event's nearly 40-year existence. She replaces Peter Lebedevs, who left earlier this year to help run the men's pro event in Atlanta. The U.S. Indoor will be held Feb. 9-15 at The Racquet Club, which was purchased in March from San Jose, California-based Sharks Sports & Entertainment by a local group headed by managing partners Dabney Collier and Steve Valentine. Valentine is general manager of The Racquet Club. Mazurek will be in her second stint as a tournament director. She served in the same capacity for the USTA Pro Circuit's Dow Corning Tennis Classic in Midland, Michigan, from 2004 to 2009. The Dow Corning Classic is a $100,000 event on the women's developmental tour. "I have a history with the tennis industry," Mazurek said. "And I have a passion for the sport. I'm a player. I'm a fan." She said she remained in contact with associates at the USTA after leaving her post as the Dow Corning Classic tournament director. She has spent the past five years with the NHL's Detroit Red Wings and Olympia Entertainment in Detroit as director of private event sales. She earned a bachelor's degree in business administration from Northwood University in Midland in 2005. "When word of this (Memphis) opportunity (surfaced), the (USTA) reached out and we started conversing about it," Mazurek said. "It sounded very exciting. "The more research I did on Memphis, and the market, and the tournament, it seemed to me there is a very good engine rolling. There is a ton of history and a lot of years of success and community involvement. It was definitely appealing from Day 1." The naming of Mazurek is another step in the re-energizing of the event and club. The tournament and the facility in East Memphis had been owned by Sharks Sports & Entertainment since being acquired from former club owner Mac Winker in 2008. Attendance had lagged in recent years. "The biggest priority is going to be reinvigorating a building on its history and past success," Mazurek said. "Obviously, when you come into something that is close to celebrating 40 years in a given market there are going to be so many roots already built with sponsorships and the partners and the box-seat holders and the members of The Racquet Club ... for me it's just going to be about reigniting the passion that is there." At the U.S. Indoor, Mazurek will work closely with Jeff Ryan, the USTA Director of Team Events who is involved with the U.S. Davis Cup, Fed Cup and Olympic teams. Ryan said his emphasis will be using all available USTA resources to bring "the tournament back to the premier event it is on the ATP Tour." Ryan and members of the USTA's New York-based staff will make regular trips to Memphis to assist Mazurek, who will be based in Memphis. "(The Indoor) was managed from afar (by the San Jose group) and it was not necessarily a business priority for the previous owners," Ryan said. "But tennis is our business. And we're all very excited to be doing this." Among their priorities will be securing title sponsorship for an event that hasn't had one since 2011. Ryan said USTA Chief Revenue Officer Lew Sherr will be involved in the title sponsorship search, as well as other sponsors. But Mazurek and Ryan will take the lead. "Erin understands how to bring the various pieces together and market an event and present an event to fans to sponsors and players," said Chris Widmaier, the USTA's managing director for corporate communications. "And Jeff's background is in team events and going into markets and presenting tennis in ways that have not been done before. We believe we've put together a team that's going to do a lot of good for Memphis." ___ (c)2014 The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tenn.) Visit The Commercial Appeal (Memphis, Tenn.) at www.commercialappeal.com Distributed by MCT Information Services |