Congratulations to professional tennis player Rajeev Ram who won his second ATP World Tour singles title this past weekend at the Hall of Fame Tennis Championships in Newport, R.I. He beat No. 1 seed John Isner and No. 5 seed Adrian Mannarino to get to the final, where he defeated No. 2 seed Ivo Karlovic 7-6(5), 5-7, 7-6(2), to win the title.

Rajeev will have a top-100 singles ranking again after his big win. His second singles title comes just a few weeks after he won his eighth ATP World Tour doubles title at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany.

Rajeev grew up playing tennis as a junior player in the USTA/Midwest, is a former MYTEF grant recipient, and is now giving back through his support of the MYTEF EntouRaj for Kids High Performance Grant.

Congratulations to former USTA/Midwest junior players and MYTEF grant recipients Brooke Austin and Rajeev Ram who have recently experienced success on the court. Also, current MYTEF program grant recipient Milwaukee Tennis & Education Foundation in Milwaukee, Wis., recently received recognition from the USTA.

Brooke Austin

Brooke Austin from Indianapolis who was recently named the Intercollegiate Tennis Association’s Rookie of the Year. Austin is a former USTA/Midwest Section junior player and Midwest Youth Tennis & Education Foundation grant recipient. Austin is a freshman at the University of Florida where she plays No. 1 singles and doubles.

Austin had a remarkable freshman year reaching the ITA Riviera All-American Championships singles semifinals and USTA/ITA Indoor Intercollegiate Championships singles semifinals last fall. Austin reached the NCAA Championships semifinals in doubles competition last month.

Austin has also been named the Southeastern Conference Freshman of the Year and Player of the Year. Austin finished 19-3 during the dual match season, and posted a 10-2 season record. She played a key role in helping the University of Florida capture the regular season conference title. Austin finished the 2014-2015 collegiate season ranked No. 4 in singles and No. 3 in doubles.

Collette Lewis, a journalist who lives in Kalamazoo and covers junior tennis, recently interviewed Brooke and here is a link to that article, http://www.tennisrecruiting.net/article.asp?id=2220.

Rajeev Ram

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Former USTA/Midwest Section junior player and MYTEF grant recipient Rajeev Ram who won his eighth ATP World Tour doubles title on June 21 at the Gerry Weber Open in Halle, Germany. He and doubles partner Raven Klaasen beat the No. 1 and 4 seeds en route to the final, where they defeated the No. 2-seeded team of Rohan Bopanna and Florin Mergea 7-6(5), 6-2, to take the title. Ram is now back to his career-high doubles ranking of No. 33 in the world.

Off the court, Ram is giving back to MYTEF through the creation of the EntouRaj for Kids High Performance Grant awarded annually to an MYTEF junior player. MYTEF is grateful to Ram for wanting to support junior tennis players in the Midwest after he received financial support years ago as a junior player.

Milwaukee Tennis & Education Foundation Congratulations to the Milwaukee Tennis & Education Foundation (MTEF) for recently receiving Four-Star recognition from the USTA as an NJTL Chapter. MTEF is only one out of 15 chapters that received this prestigious distinction out of 662 chapters nationwide. MTEF has received support and grant funding from MYTEF for several years to help with costs associated with expanding its tennis program to include additional sites.

Enjoy professional tennis and the world’s top players right here in the heart of the Midwest. The Midwest Youth Tennis & Education Foundation (MYTEF), the charitable arm of the USTA/Midwest Section, has the following pair of box seats available at the Western & Southern Open. These box seats are not available to purchase on an individual or single session basis. The seats are located at the end of the court and under cover, and have a ledge for food or beverages.

Two Box Seats for August 21 Evening – $350 Donation: ***Two box seats (Section 503) for Friday, August 21 evening session at 7:00 p.m. will provide exciting action to the Women’s and Men’s Quarterfinal matches (two matches total). The actual cost of the box seats is $300, you will be helping support junior tennis throughout the USTA/Midwest Section, and $50 of your purchase price will be a tax deductible donation to the MYTEF.

Please contact Kathy at the Midwest Youth Tennis & Education Foundation at 317-577-5127 or kathy@midwest.usta.com with questions and/or to purchase these box seats for the 2015 Western & Southern Open.

MYTEF provides grants to individual junior players as well as community programs. There are four deadlines during the year (applicants select one of the deadlines to apply), and the next deadline is April 1.

One of the grants offered is for junior tennis players of all tennis abilities, and these factors are considered when evaluating applications: age, standings, annual improvement, number events played, academic performance, income/financial need, other resources available, and good sportsmanship.

A second grant provided is for community based youth tennis programs including those which include the QuickStart format, schools needing equipment to teach students tennis in their physical education classes, and more. A current USTA Organization membership is a requirement to apply for a MYTEF program grant.

A third grant provided is through a partnership between MYTEF and EntouRaj for Kids called the EntouRaj for Kids High Performance Grant. Current ATP player and former MYTEF grant recipient Rajeev Ram is giving back through the establishment of an annual grant awarded to a player between the ages of 14 and 18 who competes at the national level, displays tennis improvement, and needs financial assistance.

Grant criteria as well as the applications are available at http://www.midwesttennisfoundation.com/#!grants/cimm.