On Sunday, April 29, the San Diego Tennis Federation (SDTF) will close out its Team Tennis season with playoffs taking place at San Diego High School and San Diego City College.

The semifinals will begin with four teams taking the courts beginning at 11 a.m. The first seed will play the fourth, and the second seed will play the third. Each winner in the semifinal round will face each other in the finals and, according to Frank January, Team Tennis commissioner, there is no clear favorite.

“All the teams are very competitive,” January said.

A total of eight teams and 80 players competed over a seven-week schedule, with many matches starting as early as 9 a.m.

Teams are comprised of 10 players, each with an assigned number: 1, 2 or 3, all the way up to 10. The numbers are usually commensurate with a player’s skill level, so a player in the No. 1 slot will be the most competitive, while the player in the No. 10 spot might be new to the game and still working on their fundamentals. When two teams face each other, both No. 1 slots will play each other in singles matches, followed by both No. 2 slots, and so on.

Singles matches then give way to doubles, and players in the No. 1 and 2 spots will team up to play the same combination of players on their opposing teams. Every player on a team will play doubles matches, and the total wins and losses will be compiled to determine which team wins the overall match.

According to January, it came down to the final week to determine which teams would make it to the playoffs. “Three teams were fighting for two playoff spots going into the last few matches,” January said.

When the final four take to the courts, it will be all business. However, when teams chose their names, it was anything but serious.

Seemingly taking a page from the famed Over the Line tournament, players chose colorful names for their teams, such as “Legion of Doom,” “Porn Starz” and “Pound (My) Puppy.” Individual players too chose to adopt pseudonyms for themselves in keeping with the theme of their team, which explains why players were named Lex Luthor, Choo Choo La Vache and Cocker Daniel.

Colorful names won’t be the norm in a few months, however, as the SDTF prepares to host the 22nd San Diego Open, a tournament held around the 4th of July for the past 22 years.

The San Diego Open is one of the largest tennis tournaments on the gay tennis circuit, according to SDTF president Allen Sanchez. “Between 250 and 300 individual players register each year,” he said. “The open continues to be one of the more popular tournaments, and the fact that we continue to be considered part of the California series, which is the gay and lesbian version of the U.S. Open series, really helps us.”

Tournament play will begin early morning Saturday, June 30, and conclude Monday, July 2. Players will compete in five different skilled divisions: Open, A, B, C and D. Players in the Open division are the most skilled, and players in the D division are usually just starting out.

Players will be given the opportunity to play singles and doubles. Registration fees will include the tournament, a banquet and T-shirt.

The tournament is a co-ed draw, with women playing against men in whatever division they’re ranked. The tournament allows women to play down one division from where they are ranked, so if a woman player is ranked as a C player in the Women’s division, she can choose to play in the D division at the tournament. “However,” Sanchez said, “most choose to waive that right and play the male players straight up.”

Sanchez said he is proud of the tournament and the reaction it generates from players. “When out-of-towners come to the tournament, they always have the same response, ‘It’s competitive, well-organized and the people are nice,’” he said.

For more information about Team Tennis or to participate in the San Diego Open, please visit www.sftf.org.

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