Top tennis juniors play on grass for first time at Alex Kuhn Invitational

By John Burbridge sports@charlescitypress.com

CHARLES CITY — When Mark Kuhn borrowed the phrase traditionally used to start play at Wimbledon — “The courts are dressed for championship tennis” — to cap the opening ceremonies for the Alex J. Kuhn Memorial Invitational this past weekend, he was speaking from more than just experience.

He was also speaking with the passion of a dreamer who, despite suffering a terrible loss, never stopped dreaming.

Inspired by listening to the late, great Jack Kramer call Wimbledon matches on his father’s short-wave radio, Kuhn eventually followed through on his dream of building a grass court on his family’s farm. His meticulous efforts caught the attention of national media, and helped procure connections “over the pond” to where Kuhn earned the distinction of becoming one of the few if not the only American to serve as an honorary attendant at Wimbledon’s Center Court for last year’s championships.

Shortly after Kuhn returned home last summer, his 34-year-old son — Alex, a tennis lover himself who accompanied his father to Wimbledon in 2015 when the two

served as correspondents for a regional newspaper — committed suicide.

Grieving from their loss, Kuhn and his wife Denise had to cancel nearly 70 reservations from people around the country who wanted to play — for free — on the “All Iowa Lawn Tennis Club’s” grass court.

So the court was dormant most of last summer. But after needed repair to its irrigation system and changing the surface from bentgrass to the more Wimbledon-like ryegrass, the court formally reopened on Saturday for the invite.

“This is where Alex enjoyed some of the best moments of his life,” Kuhn said during the introduction, which also served to christen the court the “Alex J. Kuhn Court of Dreams”.

To honor Alex’s involvement with youth in the community, the invitational conceived by Kuhn and co-tourney director Brian Parrott featured the top 12-and-under junior talent from Iowa and Minnesota, which squared off in a Davis Cup-format team competition.

The Iowa team consisted of Declan Galligan, Reed Kruger, Justin Yarahmadi, Ava Peterson and Kathryn Zylstra.

The Minnesota team consisted of Matthew Fullerton, Nolan Ranger, Hank Trodson, Amanda Diao, Annika Munson, Sarah Shahbaz and Unnisa Vu.

The Minnesota team won the traveling trophy. Not only did the team have exceptionally good players, it had some good player-coaches.

“Nice hit … but now switch sides,” Munson said to KCHA owner and radio personality Tad Barry during a local-celebrity doubles match against Diao and Charles City Schools Superintendent Dan Cox.

Barry even got some advice from opponent Diao who lectured that “tennis is not baseball” while the two hit pre-match warm-ups.

But even for the young accomplished tennis players, playing on the “Court of Dreams” was a new experience.

“The ball slides off the grass faster than a hard-court surface,” said Galligan, Iowa’s top-ranked Boys 12-and-under player who earned his team a victory when he defeated a trio of alternating Minnesota players in a set up to four.

“It took me awhile to get used to the footing,” said West Des Moines resident Galligan, who has never played on a grass surface before. “I kept feeling that I was going to twist my ankle.

“It’s different, but it was fun. I would like to play on grass again.”

For Vu, of Maplewood, Minn., this was also her first time playing on grass.

“You’ve just got to move your feet quicker,” said Vu, who is her state’s top-ranked Girls 12-and-under player and is also ranked No. 4 while playing as a 14-and-under.

“I can use my drop shot better on grass,” said Vu, who did just that while defeating Galligan in an added mixed match.

“She’s going to end up going pro,” Parrott said of Vu, who also possesses a devastating two-handed backhand and a lob shot with eyes.

The inaugural Alex J. Kuhn Memorial Invitational was being covered by CBS News for an “On the Road with Steve Hartman” feature.