Liberty Tennis hosted the inaugural Liberty Indoor Open this past weekend. The non-profit professional tournament was hosted in the new Liberty Indoor Tennis Center. This $8 million 48,000 square-foot facility opened in 2021 and includes six tennis courts, locker rooms, a team lounge, a laundry facility, and a concessions area. This facility can host a max capacity of 100 spectators, providing an electric atmosphere for Flames tennis.
The Liberty Indoor Open included a variety of tennis players at all levels. This event included ATP professional players, ITA college players, and USTA juniors, who all competed on Liberty’s campus last weekend. Current Liberty players and potential recruits were also among the participants. The tournament began on Thursday and finished earlier today. Liberty’s Josh Wilson and Christiaan Worst took home the Men’s Doubles tournament crown, defeating Jordan Chrysostom from Virginia Tech and professional Andrew Rogers in the championship match. Wilson also advanced to the quarterfinals in the men’s singles tournament, as did fellow Flame Rafael Da Silva. Maria Juliana Parra Romero was the only Flame to advance as far as the quarterfinals on the women’s side, but six Flames total on both the men’s and women’s squads advanced to the Round of 16.
The Flames used this preseason tournament to prepare for the upcoming spring season. Liberty men’s tennis is looking for their third consecutive ASUN Championship in 2023, while the women (2022 ASUN runner-up), are looking to build off of their impressive run to last year’s ASUN title match as the #4 seed. The men’s team will prepare for a very tough non-conference slate, including hosting defending national champion and #1 ranked Virginia on January 19th. The Flames will then face last year’s NCAA runner-up (#9 Kentucky) just a few days later. The Flames have eight nationally ranked teams on their non-conference schedule. The Lady Flames will open the spring season against future conference mate Middle Tennessee State on January 13th. The Lady Flames will face a tough nonconference slate as well, which includes the likes of Michigan State, Virginia Tech, and Maryland.
