As the week progressed for the 2023 Atlanta Tennis Open, you could really see how the court came alive with some amazing tennis matches and an unmatched sense of community. As someone who has worked with this prestigious tournament for four years now, I am more than happy to say that it exceeded my expectations.

These exhilarating matches showed off the hard work of these players. One performance that truly captured the hearts of the fans was Taylor Fritz’s remarkable victory. As someone who was on the court when he received his trophy, you could feel that Atlanta Love raining and pouring down from the stands as they cheered him on. Being a first-hand witness to the skills these players have was a true testament to how truly great this tournament was.

Being a volunteer for this event for the past four years has always been an incredible experience, and for the past three years, my passion for the sport and volunteering has grown. What truly makes this tournament unique to me is the sense of camaraderie when it comes to us volunteers. We all come from different backgrounds, but our love for tennis unites us to create an environment of support and teamwork.

Just like any large-scale event, the 2023 Atlanta Tennis Open did encounter its fair share of challenges; that being said, with the help of each division of people, we were able to work swiftly through the issue and keep the tournament running. We really saw this on the 28th, during a massive rain delay. Each time we got people out there, it started to rain again. Eventually, the rain stopped, but it took the help of operations, the ball kids, and even the ATP Chair officials to help us dry the courts in time to keep the matches going. By the end of that day, we were there till almost 2AM, and in just a few more hours, we would wake up and do our jobs for the next day.

Something that most people don’t know is that when it comes to The Atlanta Tennis Open, what sets us apart from other tournaments is that we have the love and support of the tennis community. Instead of holding events during the tournament that are sponsor-based events or tennis clinic events, we actually bring out organizations like Special Pops, Net Generation, and ALTA. Throughout the course of the tournament, we saw each of these organizations hold events that were truly about celebrating our city’s tennis players, not just the pros. Net Generation came to the family courts and held events for first-year tennis players, it shows the tournament’s commitment to nurturing future talent. The Special Pops brought out some of their players on the court of the official matches to do the pre-game coin flip. And on the day of the Semi-Finals, ALTA held their mixed doubles event. The Atlanta Open takes immense pride in celebrating the tennis players of the community, and the inclusivity for the players of all skill levels is what makes our tournament truly special.

~Jaxon L Spradling August 2023