By John Goralski Sports Writer When Matt Wayton opened registration for the 2013 Wayton Open tennis tournament, he wasn’t ready for anything that followed. Within a few days, he was deluged with entries. Over the next few weeks, they flooded into his home office in an endless stream of emails and phone calls. “It was incredible,” said Wayton, a former Blue Knight tennis captain. “We had over 200 entries, and when you count all the doubles teams we have almost 400 people involved. We have five divisions this year with men’s singles, women’s singles, and doubles in both divisions. We’ve added mixed doubles, too.” With all the interest, Wayton began the mad scramble to secure courts, schedule matches, and organize the event. It became clear that there weren’t enough high school courts to accommodate the burgeoning brackets. It was evident that two weekends wasn’t enough time to play all of the matches even if the weather cooperated. Wayton made an impassioned plea to the Parks & Recreation Department, and they sent the cavalry. “We couldn’t do it without their help. They’ve been great to us. They gave us the courts at Panthorn Park and Recreation Park. We’ve become too big [...]
By John Goralski Sports Writer When Matt Wayton opened registration for the 2013 Wayton Open tennis tournament, he wasn’t ready for anything that followed. Within a few days, he was deluged with entries. Over the next few weeks, they flooded into his home office in an endless stream of emails and phone calls. “It was incredible,” said Wayton, a former Blue Knight tennis captain. “We had over 200 entries, and when you count all the doubles teams we have almost 400 people involved. We have five divisions this year with men’s singles, women’s singles, and doubles in both divisions. We’ve added mixed doubles, too.” With all the interest, Wayton began the mad scramble to secure courts, schedule matches, and organize the event. It became clear that there weren’t enough high school courts to accommodate the burgeoning brackets. It was evident that two weekends wasn’t enough time to play all of the matches even if the weather cooperated. Wayton made an impassioned plea to the Parks & Recreation Department, and they sent the cavalry. “We couldn’t do it without their help. They’ve been great to us. They gave us the courts at Panthorn Park and Recreation Park. We’ve become too big [...]