Top-class tennis returns to Ocho Rios with Invitational Classic

The garden parish of St Ann has produced some of the island’s top tennis players in the past, local stars such as Jermaine ‘Giant’ Smith, Nicholas Malcolm, Peter Gordon and Elvis Henry, to name a few.

Starting today, a number of former Davis Cup players will be on show in Ocho Rios as top-class tennis returns to the parish in the form of the Bounty Invitational Tennis Classic, which will be held from today until Sunday at Couples Tower Isle and Couples San Souci Resorts.

Former champion and local boy Damion Johnson will be the top seed in the men’s Open, which will also feature Jeremy Miller, Yussuf Migoko and Matthew Rodrigues.

The quartet will be going all guns blazing over the three days to see who will come out on top to claim the $100,000 first prize with all the players down to the quarter-finalists receiving cash prizes.

The competition will also intensify in the men’s and ladies’ amateur categories with men’s Class Two set to be hotly contested with the likes of Montego Bay’s Michael Sutherland, veteran Richard Ferdinand, Rudi Jackson and Seretse Bell, all title contenders.

The men’s Class Three will be highlighted with the likes of top seed Ricardo Livingston and Bryan Lumley, with the ladies’ amateur event likely to feature Maureen Williams, Megan Skyers and Helena Parkinson.

There will also be play in the mixed doubles event which will see the players taking to the artificial turf and hardcourts across the two venues.

Tournament Director Simon Casserly has welcomed the return of top-class tennis to Ocho Rios with a 2 p.m. start in today’s men’s Open.

“We are happy that we are bringing competition back to Ocho Rios after such a long hiatus. We expect some very competitive high-quality tennis with a number of players in each draw capable of winning their event,” Casserly said.

Veteran tennis coach and administrator David Sanguinetti will do refereeing duties with David Isaacs to lead the charge as the chief umpire.