Greeley tennis season starts

The Greeley summer tennis season will get off to a big start today with a pair of tennis tournaments at the Centennial Tennis Courts.

The City of Greeley Doubles tournament that always kicks off the summer tournament schedule will once again be held at the same time as the tennis portion of the Rocky Mountain Senior Games. The tennis competition of the senior games is always held prior to the rest of the senior games to be held June 18-22 in Greeley.

The two tournaments will share the courts Wednesday through Saturday with the Greeley doubles tournament concluding on Sunday.

Scheduling can be challenging for Greeley doubles tournament director Alice Smith.

For one, USTA leagues are already underway on Wednesday and Thursday nights, and Smith has to find a way to schedule around those matches. There are also some rescheduled matches in USTA mixed leagues on Saturday that Smith is working around.

Of course, there are also some players participating in both the senior games and the doubles tournament, but that is just fine with Smith.

"It makes it a little bit trickier for scheduling, but it works out real well and we enjoy each other's company," Smith said.

The doubles tournament has 67 participants entered in at least one event among the men's, women's and mixed divisions.

The biggest draw is in the mixed Level 7.5 doubles division where there are nine teams entered.

Wells Fargo Cancer Tournament: One of Greeley's biggest and most popular tournaments is almost at hand.

The Wells Fargo Bank Cancer Tennis Tournament will be held June 2-8 at the Centennial Tennis Courts with the one day Friends/Family/Junior tournament preceding it on May 31.

In the last 11 years, the tournament has raised more $120,000 and entries have increased from 115 to over 290.

Cost to enter the tournament is $25 for a first event and $15 for a second event. Deadline to register for the tournament is 5 p.m. on May 25.

Entry forms are available online at www.greeleytennis.com and at Work Out West, 5701 W. 20th St. For more information, contact Delia and John Haefeli at 970-371-0792 or 970-346-8778.

Fort Collins Country Club Tournament: Richard Beckey of Greeley and John Schroeder of Mead won the 4.0 doubles title at the Fort Collins Country Club Tennis Championships on May 1-4.

Beckey also placed third in 3.5 singles, while Schroeder placed third in 3.0 singles.

Wednesday-Sunday: City of Greeley Doubles Tournament, Centennial Tennis Courts

Wednesday-Saturday: Rocky Mountain Senior Games tournament, Centennial Tennis Courts

May 25-June 1: Northern Colorado Open, Rolland Moore Park, Fort Collins.

May 31: Wells Fargo Cancer Benefit Friends/Family/Junior Tournament, Centennial Tennis Courts

June 2-8: Wells Fargo Cancer Benefit Tennis Tournament, Centennial Tennis Courts

June 10-15: Debbie Boose Memorial Tournament, North Lake Park Tennis Courts, Loveland

June 21-28: Longmont Open, Longmont High School

July 7-11: Northern Colorado Junior Open, Centennial Tennis Courts

July 21-27: Greeley Tennis Championships, Centennial Tennis Courts