The Central Coast Tennis Classic is back in Templeton after a two-year hiatus. The pandemic put a pause on the tournament but the players continued to practice and play throughout.
“It's tough for the organizers and the tournaments themselves, but you can only imagine the players, you know, they're working, you know, these last two years training for really not a whole lot of play,” said tournament director Scott Mitchell.
This time, around 80 of the top American and international players will be in Templeton to compete.
Two of those players are Delanie and Peyton Dunkle, sisters who who grew up in Arroyo Grande and now play for Cal Poly.
“I'm very excited. I haven't played this tournament before and so I'm really excited to get out there and represent Cal Poly and my team and see what I can do against this level of play,” Peyton Dunkle said.
“It's such a cool thing, like, to be able to represent the community and to just, like, be there for other girls to show like, hey, like, you can do this too, you know, like you can play at the college level and you can play like Pro-Level," Delanie Dunkle said.
The sisters are playing doubles together.
“It really is like a family affair. It's definitely like a Dunkle thing. Like everyone knows us as like the tennis family and so it's a very cool thing to be able to have like our dad as our coach,” Delanie went on to say.
“I have a lot of trust in her. I mean, we grew up together playing with our dad and so we've gotten to learn a lot of the same things in doubles and singles but our games are very similar, I would say,” Peyton added.
There will be 16 matches on Monday for the tournament, which runs through October 2. The players are competing for $60,000 in prize money.
Tournament organizers say events like these act as pathways for the players.
“The higher and the more points they get, the higher their ranking. Then they start getting into bigger and better tournaments,” said Mitchell.
The Dunkle sisters are competing as amateurs because they currently play at the collegiate level.
“I think playing like up to like the pro level, it almost makes you like play better, you know, you want to play up to the level. And so I think there's almost like not as much pressure I would say but yeah, so I think that's a good thing for us,” Peyton said.
Tickets can be purchased by clicking here.
