Over the Fourth of July holiday weekend, the San Diego Tennis Federation (SDTF) hosted more than 250 players in its annual San Diego Open (SDO) tennis tournament. Players competed as singles and in doubles competition in six levels of play. In addition to playing some great tennis at four different facilities in the San Diego area, players were treated to tournament parties at Bacchus House and Bourbon Street and a tournament banquet.

Over 200 people attended the banquet, which was held at the Hall of Champions sports museum in Balboa Park, where they were treated to a performance by the SDTF’s Coconuts drag queens.

“Ken Baniqued helped put that together and he did a fabulous job with it,” said SDO co-director Ken Pomeroy. “The food was great, the entertainment, and we had the Coconuts – it was great. It really went off well.”

Vince Travaglione, Pomeroy’s co-director added, “We were really excited about the tournament this year. It was really due mostly to an amazing group of volunteers that help out every year.”

A large crowd gathered at the Balboa Tennis Club located at Morley Field on Monday, July 5, for the Open Division championship this year, which featured number-one seed and San Diego native Vince Riveroll taking on number-two seed and first time SDO participant John Lansville of Los Angeles.

Riveroll took a 5-2 lead in the first set, but Lansville battled back to tie it up at 6-6 and force a tie breaker game to win it 7-6. In the second set, Lansville had Riveroll on the ropes winning six in a row to take the second set and the match.

“This has been one of the years that meant a lot to me,” Riveroll said as he accepted his second-place trophy. “The reason being, when I came onto the court this year, I haven’t been playing a whole lot, and the people I played against this tournament were phenomenal. They’ve been sportsmen and gentlemen on the court and I appreciate playing against them, especially my opponent today, John, who did unbelievably well.”

Lansville, who has been playing tennis for 25 years, has picked up four first-place finishes and one second-place finish in the five tournaments he’s played so far on the gay circuit.

“Coming back from 5-2 was pretty nice,” Lansville told the Gay & Lesbian Times. “I was pretty happy with that. He was putting so much pressure on me with every ball; you know he hits the ball so hard. I think he was a little tired from his semi, he had a little tougher time than I did.”

Next year, the SDO will celebrate its 20th anniversary and this year’s organizers are already looking ahead to planning for the big celebration.

“People have already started thinking about next year and how we will improve,” Travaglione said. “We’re lucky because we have always been told it’s a well-run tournament and people are excited to come back year in and year out, but I think we are going to do something special next year for the 20th anniversary.”

To learn more about the SDTF, the SDO or to get involved in the gay tennis league, visit www.gaylesbiantimes.com for a link to the SDTF website.