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The Casa de Campo tennis community enjoyed Casa de Campo’s premier tennis event of the season, the 6th Annual McDaniel Teaching Pro Tennis Tournament, played from Thursday the 10th of March through to Sunday the 13th. Here Casa de Campo local, tennis enthusiast and great supporter of Casa de Campo Living, Harry Moscatello shares with us the highlights of this year’s wonderfully successful event! On Wednesday, March 9th the tournament officially commenced with a luncheon at Chairman Rick McDaniels home to thank the growing number of sponsors that generously contribute to the event.  This year there were over  85 individual sponsors that supported the tournament’s mission, which is to provide educational opportunities for the ballboys, to stimulate good sportsmanship and competition among the professional players, and to provide great tennis entertainment to the community’s enthusiasts.

Sponsors luncheon at the McDaniel’s Casa de Campo Villa

Play began on Thursday morning with 32 participants in the main event. Over the years, both the level of play and the level of support have grown with a new higher fund-raising level achieved this year!  Also, the level of healthy competition between the players from La Terazza  and the La Romana Country Club has been heating up each year…making this years contest especially exciting! The semi finals were held on Saturday and featured a hotly contested match between Pedro Nolasco (last years champion) and Jose Santana (El Gato).  El Gato pressured Pedro for two sets, but the reining champion prevailed 7-6, 6-4. The other semi finalists were three time past champion Francisco Conception and past champion Miguel Mercedes.  Francisco cruised to victory resulting in the number 1 and 2 seeds for the finals. The largest crowd ever turned out to watch this years final match and were treated to an exhibition of superior athleticism and sportsmanship from both Pedro and Francisco.  The match went a full three sets with Pedro Nolasco prevailing again. The Casa de Campo professional tennis players, ballboys and their families as well as the many spectators, then enjoyed a wonderful buffet provided by the La Romana Country Club at the awards ceremony that followed the final match…… the highlight being a skit put on by two of our ballboys who demonstrated their newly acquired English language skills much to the delight of the crowd!

Ramon ‘Papo’ Menendez, the tournament’s honarary chairman present the prizes with Rick McDaniel, founder and chair of the tournament

The Casa de Campo tennis community thanks Rick McDaniel and his committee for organizing this premier event that shows our appreciation to the tennis players, ballboys and staff of both La Terrazza and LRCC.
Article and photos contributed by Harry Moscatello. Thank you VERY much Harry!
This article was written by Rebecca Hughes, editor of Casa de Campo Living and Casa de Campo’s entertainment specialist! Rebecca Hughes, Editorial and Events Marketing rhughes@casadecampoliving.com TEL: 809-523-2045   CEL: 809-949-8906 (evenings and weekends) BBM: 230DA5D1 Altos de Chavón, Casa de Campo This article was produced exclusively for www.casadecampoliving.com