EMPIRE TENNIS ACADEMY

2026 WINTER NEWSLETTER

From all of us here at Empire Tennis Academy, we would like to wish each of you an amazing year ahead filled with health, happiness, and yes, tennis :) Since our last newsletter, we have held several events that we wanted to share with you. Please scroll down to view images and recaps from several of our events including our 9th Annual Parent/Child Tournament, Holiday Break event recaps, Adult Team Tennis as well as USTA Orange Ball Round Robin results.

2025 EMPRIE HOLIDAY PARTY

On Thursday 12/18/2025, our staff ventured out this year for our annual staff party to throw some stones and take curling lessons with friendly competition against each other at the Rochester Curling Club. Some of us glided down the ice, some of us fell, but there was a lot of enjoyment and laughing along the way. It's safe to say you will not see us at the Winter Olympics this year in Milan, but we may try to aim for 2030 in Nice, France. After curling we all enjoyed some quality food at Dumpling Man. Thank you to the staff at The Rochester Curling Club for your training and expertise!

9th Annual Parent/Child Tournament

On Saturday 1/17/2026, Empire hosted our 9th Annual Parent/Child Tournament at Salmon Creek Country Club. A total of seven teams participated with some quality tennis being put on display. Congratulations to this year's winners, Joshua and Norman Yung who defeated Eric and Bryce Bender in the finals. Thank you to all of the teams who joined us for this fun family event!

1/19/26 Parent/ Child Tournament Winner Norm Yung and his son Joshua Yung

1/19/26 Parent/ Child Tournament Participants

2025 USTA Eastern Outstanding Tournament Facility

Empire Tennis is very happy to announce that the USTA has awarded us with receiving the 2025 Outstanding Tournament Facility. Due to our dedication of hosting USTA Orange Ball events and Early Development Camps. We graciously thank the USTA Eastern for this recognition and banner.

Orange Ball and Green Ball Match Play

Participants from 9/27/2025 USTA Orange Ball Round Robin • Winner Aiden Bin

Empire is proud to be the leader in hosting USTA tournament round robins for players using the Orange progression balls, and are also hosting both UTR Green Ball Tournaments and 2 in 2 match play events. We are consistently hosting multiple events every month for developing juniors. These events allow players from both Empire Academy and also from outside of our program an outlet to compete and gain valuable match play experience. Congratulations to all of the participants and winners from our events!

Participants from 11/1/2025 USTA Orange Ball Round Robin • Winner Zayan Qureshi

Participants from 9/27/2025 USTA Orange Ball Round Robin • Winner Luciano Martello

Participants from 10/18/2025 USTA Orange Ball Round Robin • Winner Carter States

Participants from 1/17/2026 USTA Orange Ball Round Robin • Winner Joe Kapper (Far Left)

Holiday Break Event Recap

Empire Tennis Academy paused our regular adult and junior programming from 12/20 - 1/2 over the holiday break and hosted a total of 15 Matchplay Events for Adults and Juniors. Also we hosted morning camps for juniors playing on the Red, Orange and Green progression balls. Amongst our UTR events, a total of 183 singles and doubles matches were played! We also hosted an Adult Cardio Tennis Party on New Years Day for 10 of our adults who joined us to start the New Year with Tennis and Fitness! Thank you to all of the participants who joined us over the holidays!

Participants from 12/22/2025 Adult Doubles Game N Play @ Empire

Adult Team Tennis and Adult USTA Team Matchplay

Empire Tennis Academy has fostered two teams of adult players to compete a nearly weekly basis against other teams from The Tennis Club of Rochester and Midtown Athletic Club. These events give the adults in our program an outlet to compete in both singles and doubles matches against players from outside of our program.

From 1/9/2026, Team Empire takes on Team Midtown • Joe Pratt, Manasi Ladrigan, Dale Dorsett, Bindiya Stancampiano

We love collaborating with local clubs, and give our players more opportunities to test their skills and gain valuable match play experience. Thank you Tennis Club of Rochester and Midtown Athletic Club for working together and thank you to all of our adults representing Empire Tennis. We are very proud of you all!

Parent/Child Play Day

On Saturday 10/11/2025, Empire hosted a U8 (kids ages 5-8) Parent/Child Play Day for our young players to take the court with their parents and play together. These Play Days are great for kids to bond with their parents, play cooperative games, hit targets, laugh and have an overall fantastic time. We are so excited to host these events periodically and it's great seeing parents on the court with their kids!

We hope you all enjoy the newsletter. Thank you to all our community partners for helping us make these opportunities available. And a big thank you for each of you making Empire Tennis Academy such a special place to grow, compete and love the sport.

Frank Solome

Empire Tennis Academy

Director of Marketing

Director of Adult Program

USPTA Professional

USPTA Pickleball Profesional

frank@empiretennisacademy.com