THE VIRGINIAN-PILOT
Copyright (c) 1996, Landmark Communications, Inc.
DATE: Tuesday, July 16, 1996 TAG: 9607160424
SECTION: SPORTS PAGE: C1 EDITION: FINAL
SOURCE: BY JAMES C. BLACK, STAFF WRITER
DATELINE: VIRGINIA BEACH LENGTH: 113 lines
Tournaments are as commonplace as aces and volleys at the Virginia Beach Tennis & Country Club.
One week, local amateurs fill the courts for a fund raiser. This week, teens invade the club for the USTA Girls 16 National Clay Court Championships.
These events, however, pale in comparison to the club's glory days.
Years ago, the tournament field was attractive enough to catch the eye of CBS. The nationally televised 1977 Virginia Beach Classic featured some of tennis' biggest stars: Ion Tiriac, Ilie Nastase, Guillermo Vilas, Adriano Panatta and Vitas Gerulaitis.
``We had never done anything like that before, so it was new and exciting,'' said Beezie Shiflet, who owns the club with her husband, Harvey.
On July 4, 1975, the club opened with an exhibition featuring resident pro Bobby Brien and his friend Tiriac. Less than two years later, the real deal was taking place.
Players who had performed in exhibitions and others who were unfamiliar to the club were playing for a $100,000 purse - raised by the Shiflets through area sponsors.
``The players were happy to basically come and play in a tournament, but you had to have someone like Tiriac to guarantee to you that they would show up,'' said Beezie Shiflet, the coordinator of the classic. ``And to guarantee to them that this was a legitimate thing - that they were going to get paid at the end of the tournament.''
And the players showed up, including a 17-year-old high school senior from New York named John McEnroe.
``It was fantastic looking back and I don't know if people really realized at the time what we had brought here,'' Beezie Shiflet said. ``That was sort of McEnroe's beginning.''
In the Virginia Beach Classic, Vilas defeated Nastase in the singles final and received a $32,000 check. McEnroe and Francisco Gonzalez lost to Patrice Dominguez and Ray Ruffels in the doubles championship.
The following year, the club hosted the $25,000 American Express Racquet Club Open. Not quite the caliber of the previous year's event, the singles final featured Deon Joubert and Mike Cahill. Yet the Shiflets were doing something unheard of in Hampton Roads - bringing pro tennis to the area.
``We were fairly successful because of our contacts, and the money wasn't at the level it is now,'' said Harvey Shiflet, a dentist.
A decade later, the club hosted two women's exhibitions - the Subaru Challenges in 1987 and '88. Zina Garrison and Gabriela Sabatini, who would go on to be among the best on the world, were the headliners. But since then, pro exhibitions and six-figure tournaments have vanished at the club. The reasons are many.
For one, tennis' popularity has grown internationally in the last 10 years and more tournaments are being hosted abroad.
Secondly, as with most sports, salaries and purses have taken a gigantic leap in the last decade. The Mercedes 9 events, the top non-Grand Slam tournaments, all have purses that exceed $2 million.
``You need a tie with the agents to get the players,'' Harvey Shiflet said.
``And then you have to have the sponsors, because the money has gotten so big when you bring in the big players.''
And probably most importantly, the structure of pro tournaments has changed.
The ATP, established in 1972, formed a tour for the men's circuit in 1990. Under the women's governing body, the WTA, a city can bid for a tier-one tournament ($107,500 purse) for the following year. Both the ATP and WTA tournaments are franchises that belong to particular cities.
``You're not likely to have new events and weekends created on the map, but there is potential for movement,'' ATP Tour communications manager Joe Lynch said.
Boston had an annual tennis classic through 1989 but lost its tournament when the ATP Tour formed. However, because Schenectady, N.Y., will not continue its tournament, Boston will join the ATP Tour in August 1997.
Building a tennis complex with permanent seating would be a way of attracting professional tennis to Hampton Roads, to Harvey Shiflet said.
``You would end up spending less to bring in major league tennis,'' Shiflet said, ``and you would have something you don't have to worry about the team jumping to another city.''
When the club hosted major events in the past, the Shiflets had to rent 2,000 to 3,000 seats.
Meanwhile, Williamsburg has steadily been improving its pro tennis reputation. William and Mary hosted four Wightman Cups last decade, including the final one in 1989. Last spring, the school made an addition to its tennis facilities - the $3.5 million McCormack-Nagelsen Center.
Financed by Mark McCormack, president and CEO of International Management Group, the center is expected to make future bids for the Federation Cup, another international women's tournament.
``The advantage of having it here is we have a center court, good seating, an intimate setting and three courts to practice on,'' Millie West, director of special projects at William and Mary, said of the six-court indoor facility.
William and Mary has an advantage with McCormack's tennis connections and its relationship with the USTA - the U.S. coordinator of the Fed Cup.
McCormack, a 1951 graduate of William and Mary, has represented Monica Seles, Jennifer Capriati, Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert. His wife, Betsy Nagelsen, played on the pro circuit.
With Tiriac overseas managing tournaments of his own, the Shiflets lack the big contact they once had. So for now, no Steffi Grafs or Andre Agassis at the Virginia Beach Tennis & Country club. Just some amateurs and high-profile teens. ILLUSTRATION: PHOTOS COURTESY OF VIRGINIA BEACH RAQUET CLUB
VIRGINIA BEACH CLASSIC ALUMNI
Zina Garrison
Vita Gerulaitis, far left
Ilie Nastase, center
John McEnroe, above
Adriano Panatta
Gabriela Sabatini
Pam Shriver
Ion Tiriac
Guillermo Vilas by CNB