The Rancho Santa Fe Open hit the courts at the Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club on Sept. 30 through Oct. 6, featuring some of the top women tennis players in the world. Now in its fourth year, the Rancho Santa Fe Open is a professional women’s $60,000 singles and doubles tournament, part of the ITF World Tour and the USTA Competitive Pathway circuit.
“It’s become so much more than just a tournament,” said Stacey Pennington, tournament organizer and RSF Tennis Club board member.
Every year it just seems to get better, she said.
The first Rancho Santa Fe Open in 2021 was held shortly after John Chanfreau ed the club as general manager. He came to the Ranch from the Palos Verdes Tennis Club where he served as general manager—he had also spent 10 years as a head tennis pro at Lomas Santa Fe Country Club.
The ITF World Tour and USTA Pro Circuit event was supposed to be at the Barnes Tennis Center that year but there was a conflict with an ATP men’s tournament. Chanfreau’s cousin Ryan Redondo, the CEO at Barnes, asked if Rancho Santa Fe could possibly take on the tournament…with just seven weeks notice.
At the time, Pennington, who has a background in urban planning, design and community engagement, had just ed the tennis club board. They teamed up to put together a game plan and rally sponsorships for the first ever event in Rancho Santa Fe.
The driven pair now spends over six months of the year planning the tournament: “This year I equate it to producing a two to three day wedding,” Pennington said.
While the first three years have been successful and a lot of fun, Pennington said this was first year they felt that the event truly matched the high caliber of the event that they envisioned for both the players and the spectators.
“We transformed the clubhouse into a VIP lounge for the championship weekend and the excitement and energy was off the charts,” Pennington said.
She said the VIP section was buzzing with about 140 people attending over the weekend. While guests were enjoying the VIP vibes, they were also fully engaged in the play on the court.
Tennis legend Rod Laver, the Australian winner of 11 Grand Slam titles and four-time Wimbledon champion, even showed up and took a spot in the second row.
“It was really incredible,” Chanfreau said. “He’s got a court named after him at the Australian Open and here he is in Rancho Santa Fe.”
“My favorite thing to happen is seeing the attend and enjoy themselves so much and how proud they are to be a part of our club,” Chanfreau said.
On the court, 16-year old Iva Jovic from Torrance won the singles championship, beating her neighbor and friend Ena Shibahara, 6-3, 6-3. Earlier in the year Jovic won an ITF J300 junior tournament at the Barnes Tennis Center, in between her Australian Open and Wimbledon junior doubles titles. In August she was back at Barnes to win the USTA Billie Jean King 18s Nationals before winning her biggest career title at Rancho Santa Fe.
“San Diego has been good to me this year,” said Jovic in a press release. “I guess it’s the homecourt advantage.”
In the tournament’s doubles final, the Russian duo of Maria Kononova and Maria Kozyreva came out on top.
Pennington said every year they have done a better job getting more people in the community to come out and enjoy world- class tennis right in their backyard, adding activities throughout the week mixed in with the tennis. The tournament started with a well-attended kick-off cocktail party. All week there was an on-site coffee and snack bar, silent auction and a pop-up shop on the patio by Lanethix, a San Diego activewear brand. Rancho Santa Fe village’s Lollia Blooms provided beautiful florals for the tournament as part of an in-kind sponsorship.
This year they embraced a theme of health and wellness by featuring speaker events with Dr. Lakshmi Sunblad, who spoke about sun-smart skincare, as well as morning coffee talks with sports medicine doctor Dr. Anna Halbeisen, who shared about how to treat and prevent some of the most common tennis injuries through exercise, form and nutrition. Complimentary yoga classes were held on the weekend mornings before match play began.
A big focus this year was on elevating their game on the culinary side.
“I think we shocked people this year,” Pennington said. “The caliber was higher than what was even expected.”
San Diego’s El Faro Seafood provided high quality seafood on both weekends, including a caviar bar in the VIP lounge. Chefs working the event included Chef Russell Hawkins and Trey Foshee, the executive chef at George’s at the Cove. Foshee has a special connection to the club as his daughter Isabella grew up playing tennis at the Rancho Santa Fe Tennis Club and is now playing Division 1 tennis as a junior at Eastern Washington University.
The Rancho Santa Fe Open did not have title sponsorship this year but raised more money than ever through a significant number of silver, bronze and family-level sponsorships ($30,000 in silver and almost $25,000 in bronze). Gold and silver sponsors included The Vertical Collective Taktika Padel, Coastal Skin and Eye Institute, CH Court Tech, Engie, the OP Games and SLP Urban Planning.
The USTA provided the $60,000 in prize money and the event brought in $100,000 for the RSF Tennis Club.
“One thing I’m proud of is how much our staff cares about our club and our community,” Chanfreau said. “Everyone really cares about putting on something great for our community and it shows.”
The RSF Open also took a value-driven approach this year by partnering with the ICL Foundation and Academy, founded by RSF Tennis Club member Kirk Spahn. The Institute for Civic Leadership (ICL), is a nonprofit organization dedicated to helping high-achieving youth meet their academic and professional goals while developing character and leadership skills. The ICL Academy, a virtual school, helps students excel at a high level—just one example is ICL student and newly minted RSF Open champ Iva Jovic.
During the tournament, the ICL Foundation and the RSF Open collaborated together on “The Grind,” a digital series to highlight the journey toward success and the role of grassroots tournaments like the RSF Open for young professional tennis players striving to compete at the highest levels. The online videos featured tennis champions such as Monica Seles, Michael Chang and Kim Clijsters.
“The path for young players is so much harder,” said Clijsters, a Belgian tennis champion who won four Grand Slam titles in one video. “These events are critical for young players and their path toward professional tennis. I have so many great memories of competing at these types of tournaments and a lot of times they mean just as much if not more than winning on the next level.”
For Chanfreau and Pennington it is one of the most rewarding aspects of putting on the RSF Open for these young players grinding and chasing their dreams: “It’s a big part of why we care so much,” Pennington said. Their tournament can be a way to earn points on the tour and serve as a launching pad to bigger things. Last year’s finalist Lulu Sun made it to the Wimbledon quarterfinals over the summer and reached a world ranking of 41 by the Women’s Tennis Association.
“At this level of tournament, many of the players expressed it’s one of their favorite tournaments in the world to play,” Chanfreau said.
