$30,000 Purnell-Thomas Memorial

First Match Times

Tournament Information

This is a $30,000 men's prize money tournament that benefits Coastal Hospice in Salisbury, Md. This is not a sanctioned event and will not count toward state, sectional, national or ATP rankings. To submit an entry, please visit our tournament website and fill out the online entry form. The tournament committee will review applications and select competitors based on their own criteria which will include ATP points, national and sectional USTA rankings as well as collegiate rankings. Please supply us with any information that will aid us in our decision making process.

Money is paid starting in the round of 32 for singles and the round of 16 for doubles. Byes, if any, do not count as wins. A player receiving a bye must win a round before any prize money will be paid. Players are asked to check in on Tuesday, August 14th in person in Salisbury, Md. There is a pro-am and player party at the tennis courts that evening and the draws will be unveiled at that time. Free housing is available upon request and will be with a local host family or in the dorms if requests exceed available host family housing. Please expect to play your first round match between 10:00 AM and 1:00 PM on Wednesday, August 15th.

Mercedes-Benz Championships

We are thrilled that the Purnell-Thomas Memorial Tournament has been selected as a regional event for the Mercedes-Benz Dealer Championships for the second year! This is a nationwide amateur competition whereby sectional qualifying tournaments are held. To be a part of the program, the sectional event must donate its proceeds to charity. The top two amateurs from our tournament will advance to a regional championship.

Last year, our two amateurs and a guest enjoyed a 3 night stay and competition at The Pinehurst Resort in North Carolina compliments of Mercedes-Benz. This year, our top two amateurs will be receiving an expense-paid trip to The Turtle Bay Resort in Oahu, Hawaii!

In the event of ties (all amateurs lose in the first round or three in the second round), they will be broken by number of games won. Should a tie still exist, we will use the earlier entry received. You must be over 21 and not be a currently or recently ranked professional. In addition, collegiate players that will be returning to their teams would violate NCAA rules in accepting the trip.

Since our tournament is usually comprised of at least a dozen ATP ranked players, a slew of college players and several nationally-ranked junior players, there aren't a whole lot of "amateurs" from which to choose. Remember, we limit the draw to 64 and usually receive many more entries than this. Make sure that if you sign up, and you're not ATP or NCAA ranked and your USTA ranking isn't high, you make a good case for why the committee should select you for our event.

Facilities

We will be using 11 of the 12 outdoor hard courts at Salisbury University for all matches. One court is used for box seats for our major sponsors. There are three nice indoor courts available on campus for practice in case of inclement weather. These will not be used for the main draw unless the committee feels we are too far behind and must make use of them. The indoor courts play very much like the outdoor courts and are painted exactly the same (thick baselines and such), but have direct flourescent lighting.

Entries

As we receive entries via the tournament website, we are putting them into the tournament software. To verify that we have received your entry, click on competitors. This is only a list of received entries, not committee selections. Should we exceed 64 applicants in singles or 32 in doubles, we will then meet as a committee to go over applicants and select the field.

Hospitality

Free housing is available to all players and will be with a local host family who will provide transportation to and from the courts if needed. Should housing requests exceed available host families, we will use the university dorms. There is a pro-am and player party on Tuesday, August 14th at the tennis courts and a player party Saturday, August 18th. Players are encouraged to come to both events if possible. On other nights, dinner is served at the courts and is donated by local restaurants that are sponsors of our event. There is a free shuttle service available to players from BWI International Airport in Baltimore, Md. This service is provided by Bayrunner Shuttle, another of our sponsors. BWI also houses an Amtrak station.

Directions and Parking

For GPS directions, please use 227 W College Ave Salisbury, MD 21801. The courts are directly across the street from this address. Please mind the parking signs on the side streets. Free parking is available on College Avenue. Do not park on Smith Street which intersects with College Ave. next to the tennis courts. The city will ticket you. There is an entrance to campus at the tennis courts. If you enter there and follow the little road around to the left, there is a lot at the opposite end of the tennis courts reserved for the tournament. Please let us know if you park in this lot as we may need to give you a permit.