Mats Wilander Comes to Ossining

On October 4th, Mats Wilander, a former world #1 tennis player, will be rolling up in his Winnebago to Nelson Park in Ossining. Many weekend warriors have hit (and missed) plenty of balls at the Nelson Park courts.  But now, as if someone has waved a magic tennis racket, Wilander on Wheels, also known as WOW, is coming to town.

This means that 16 tennis players of varying abilities will get to hit with Mats Wilander—learning from the 7-time slam winner. The added bonus is that after hosting this fantasy camp, Ossining plans to increase the funds going to its children’s tennis programs. The event will raise dollars for Ossining, which means more kids can play, and who knows if one of them will be the next world #1?

      The idea to invite Mats WIlander came from a member of the high school tennis team, Paul Kleiman, 16. The Ossining High team plays at Nelson courts, and after Kleiman read in Tennis Magazine about WOW, he envisioned the visit. He went to the Ossining Community Tennis Association who immediately supported the project. Shannon Ross, the president of the association suggests that the money raised will introduce many more kids to tennis, especially those who wouldn’t ordinarily get to play.

Mats Wilander will be joined by Cameron Lickle (who’s not in the Tennis Hall of Fame like Wilander, but is in the Naval Academy Sports Hall of Fame and makes a great traveling assistant.) Everyone who partipates gets to eat supper with the two tennis stars.

The event will take place 4PM-7:45PM, Friday, October 4th. (Rain location at Premier Athletic Club’s indoor courts in Montrose.) For more information contact Paul.n.kleiman@gmail.com or Shannon Ross at sssross@aol.com .