It’s tennis mania in Ojai. One of the nation’s oldest and largest tennis tournaments is underway.
The tournament known as The Ojai is celebrating its 123rd year. More than 1,200 players are competing in 23 divisions. And, for the first time, it’s hosting the college Big Ten Conference Women’s Tennis Tournament.
"We have the D1 (Division 1 NCAA) tennis. But, we also have junior CIF, Open Division, community colleges, so we use courts all the way into Ventura. We use private courts. We use public schools, private schools, we use all the courts. So, we're all over the place," said Carolyn Burke.
She's President of the Ojai Valley Tennis Club, which hosts the event. The club works with an army of 600 volunteers to run the tournament, which attracts tens of thousands of people for its five days of competition.
"My phone goes off pretty much all day," laughed Burke. "Really random things come up. Everyone is in their zone, and taking care of their responsibilities, but then someone will say, 'What about this?' We all just kind of band together. If there's a problem, how do we solve it?"
She said after each year's tournament, they take a week off, and then begin planning the next one.
What makes the tournament so special?
"I think it's the small town vibe," said Mark Zimmerman. The Ventura man has been a tournament volunteer for 20 years. "The community loves this tennis tournament, and everybody comes together."
The tournament has been home to the Pac-12 college men’s and women’s championships for decades. But, after USC, UCLA, and other universities left the league for other conferences, it left the tournament in a quandary. The championships were one of its marquee events.
"We started planning in the fall of 2023, during their last year," said Burke. "We started reaching out. What do we want to do? Do we want to find another D1 tennis conference? What can we do? So, we thought, let's just reach out and see. We talked to different conferences, and the more we talked with the Big Ten, the more interested they were. We thought it was going to be a good fit."
As you walk around Libby Park, which is home base for the tournament, you see Big Ten conference banners everywhere, as well as pennants for the schools.
"It's amazing. They've opened this community with wide arms and welcomed us, and welcomed our 12 schools, and they've been very gracious in hosting us," said Noor Davis, who is the Assistant Director of Sports Administration for the Big Ten Conference.
The Ojai will alternate between hosting the women’s and men’s champions each year. USC and UCLA are back here on familiar turf, but there are new teams like Wisconsin.
"For the first time, we are in Ojai, in Cali (California), and it's a really beautiful area. The nature is amazing. Definitely different than Penn State," said Katerina Dimitrova, who is a player with Penn State.
For tennis fans, you can literally spend the entire weekend watching tennis.
Some tennis legends have played in this tournament over the decades, including Arthur Ashe, Billie Jean King, Stan Smith, Pete Sampras, and Ventura County’s own Bryan Brothers.
Longtime tournament photographer Holly Roberts is wrapping up production of a documentary about the event.
"We did probably 60 interviews with coaches, players, officials, volunteers, board members, all kinds of people, just to get a flavor for the tournament. We thought we were getting close to wrapping it up, and all of a sudden, the Pac-12 dissolved. So, all of a sudden, it added an interesting twist to the plot," said Roberts. She's in final production on the project.
"Whether it's the college level, or the open level, or the junior level, it's just wonderful to see this level of tennis," said tournament volunteer Steve Carr. He said it’s a huge week for the 1,200 competitors, but also for anyone who enjoys the sport.
The Big 10 finals will take place Saturday night, and the Men’s and Women’s open, with $20,000 in prize money up for grabs, will take place on Sunday.
