“Little Mo” tennis tourney coming to Newport Beach

Junior tennis players from 17 countries will converge on the Tennis Club Newport Beach this weekend for the fourth annual “Little Mo” Internationals tournament.

The tournament, in Orange County for the first time, is sponsored by the Maureen Connolly Brinker Tennis Foundation in memory of Maureen “Little Mo” Connolly. She was the first woman to win the calendar year Grand Slam (Wimbledon, U.S. Open, French Open and Australian Open) in 1953.

MCB Tennis Foundation executive vice-president and tournament chairwoman Carol Weyman said that about 170 junior tennis players, including many from the Coastal cities area, will be competing in the tournament. There will be a complimentary clinic for all “Little Mo” (ages 8-12) and “Big Mo” (ages 13-14) players on Friday at 2 p.m. at the Tennis Club, held by Tennis Club owner Sean Abdali and Wayne Bryan, the father and coach of the famous Bryan brothers doubles team.

The “Little Mo” opening ceremony will follow from 4 to 5 p.m. Players will parade with their country flag onto the stadium court.

Matches start Saturday at 8 a.m. in each age division and continue through the Fourth of July holiday on Tuesday, when the title matches will be.

“‘Little Mo’ is obviously a very prestigious tournament for the young ones,” Abdali said. “When I arrived to Orange County in 2009, I learned about it when I went to San Diego, at the Barnes Tennis Center. I was so blown away by how a junior tournament could look so close to a pro tournament. I mean, they have a players’ lounge, a pro shop, umpires. It was just decked out … It was one of my dreams to have Little Mo here, just like the [Newport Beach] ITF [which has been played at the Tennis Club the last two years].”

Two distinctions that separate the “Little Mo” from United States Tennis Assn. tournaments are that players compete against opponents that are their same age, and the younger players have the choice of playing with the “green dot” (reduced speed) balls or normal yellow balls.

“If you’ve advanced past ‘Chopsticks,’ why wait another year of playing ‘Chopsticks’ when you’re ready to move on?” Weyman said. “There’s talented and gifted kids in every [discipline] … the talented and gifted kids that Sean’s working with, they can’t be held back. They need to be moving forward and not playing with a ball like a training ball. It has a place — we offer the greens — but for kids that are like Sean’s kids, we want them to grow and get better.”

Weyman also believes that Southern California tennis players can grow and get better by playing opponents from other countries. There will be plenty of opportunities to do just that this weekend at the Tennis Club.

“About 10 years ago, I decided the kids from America needed to see international competition,” Weyman said. “Tennis was booming worldwide, and kids from America don’t see other styles of play, like kids from India or Germany or Australia or Russia. Tennis is so international now.”

“Little Mo” players can play singles, doubles and mixed doubles.

Here are the local junior tennis players who will be competing this weekend at the “Little Mo”:

*Girls’ 8s (green dot): Reagan Levine (Laguna Beach), Ryan Levine (Laguna Beach)

*Girls’ 9s (green dot): Mia Ben-Zvi (Newport Coast), Adelaide Games (Newport Beach), Rebecca MacCallum (Laguna Beach)

*Girls’ 11s: Athena Wardy (Corona del Mar)

*Girls’ 12s: Biella Games (Newport Beach)

*Girls’ 13s: Rebecca Lynn (Newport Beach)

*Boys’ 8s (yellow ball): Aarav Gupta (Costa Mesa), Mark Mrcela (Newport Coast)

*Boys’ 9s (green dot): Ivan Pflueger (Newport Beach)

*Boys’ 10s (green dot): Davin Grover (Newport Coast), Dillan Grover (Newport Coast), Ryan Honary (Newport Coast), Ansel Lee (Newport Beach)

*Boys’ 10s (yellow ball): Jagger Leach (Newport Beach)

*Boys’ 11s: Jacob Lynn (Newport Beach)

*Boys’ 12s: Perry Di Giulio (Newport Beach)

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