April 14, 1998

The University of Kentucky will serve as host to its first major event at the newly renovated Hilary J. Boone Tennis Center on the UK campus.

The Southeastern Conference Women’s Tennis Championships will be held Thursday, April 16, through Sunday, April 19. Play begins at 10 a.m. Thursday through Saturday, and the championship match takes place at noon on Sunday.

The Tennis Center was completed during the summer of last year. The $1.5 million facility features a 1,500-seat stadium for its two center courts with an additional four hard courts. Funding was generated for the project through private donations as well as exhibitions featuring top tennis professionals Martina Navratilova and Jennifer Capriati (Dec. 5, 1992) and Jim Courier and John McEnroe (Feb. 4, 1993).

In addition to the exhibitions, a bulk of the private donations were derived from the Ryan C. Holder Memorial Tennis Fund. Holder, a top-ranked junior player and Dunbar High School student, was killed in an automobile accident in 1995. The center courts were dedicated in Holder’s memory on Aug. 3, 1997.

“We are very fortunate to have such a great facility,” said UK women’s tennis head coach Mark Guilbeau. “Indoors and outdoors, UK has one of the very best facilities in the entire country.”

The Wildcats played on the new courts for the first time last weekend.”It’s just a beautiful atmosphere for college tennis,” Guilbeau said. “A lot of little things go into making it a great facility great playing surface, beautiful landscaping, sets of bleachers next to every court, and the flags of all the SEC schools.”

Guilbeau said the Center is a perfect setting for the SEC tournament.

“From a player standpoint, it’s exciting to participate in an event where the facility is so nice and where the fans can be close and supportive,” he said.