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Chewning Tennis Center
Tar Heel Will Jansen was locked in a back-and-forth match against Matthew Thomson of Wake Forest on the first Sunday of April, the sounds of the Englishman grunting with each stroke alternating with the pop of the yellow ball and squeak of the players' shoes. Spectators on both the north and south ends of the court leaned forward in their sparkling new seats (Carolina blue, no less, with seat backs and arm rests) taking in the twists and turns in the match, with Jansen scrambling back from a match point on deuce while trailing 3-5 in the third set. Five of his teammates whose matches were complete watched from one court away and alternately pivoted in the other direction to follow the one match still going at the far end of the six-court configuration. After each Jansen point, as he reeled off winning three games in a row to take the lead in the third set, the spectating Tar Heels belted out the shouts of TAR ... HEELS ... TAR ... HEELS ... across the stadium, the fans answering with gusto. And why not? It's a perfect spring afternoon, Carolina blue courts to match the sky, a new $18.5 million facility at long last open, and the home team riveted in a tight match with an old rival. When Wake Forest's Thomson flared a volley wide right, Jansen flipped his racket to the ground, clenched his fists, screamed with delight, and was mobbed by a dozen teammates. His win clinched a 4-3 team victory, Carolina's first win in the new outdoor tennis facility – newly dedicated as the Chewning Tennis Center. "One of best parts of college tennis is an atmosphere like that," teammate Ryan Seggerman reflected afterward. "Will will remember this the rest of his life, being fully in the moment, embracing the crowd, embracing the new facility. Being loud, cheering for each other, that's why we play college tennis. This match means a lot because of the rivalry with Wake Forest. It was so close, it came down to a couple of points here and there. This was an atmosphere you don't get everywhere. "It's a special place and a special time to be here." Among the spectators were a handful of members of the Carolina women's team, which on the previous two days had christened the new venue by handily dispatching Florida State and Miami. "What we have now is the perfect place to play college tennis," said Abbey Forbes, who as a graduate transfer from UCLA has seen dozens of facilities nationwide. "The game-changer is the southside seats. Having seats on both sides allows fans to be so intimate with the players. The players feel so supported by all the fans. No other school I know of has that level of intimacy between the players and fans." A game-changer is precisely what Carolina Athletics officials, coaches Sam Paul for the men and Brian Kalbas for the women, and a cabal of generous benefactors had in mind a half dozen years ago when plans were first hatched to upgrade the home of Tar Heel tennis – which originally opened in 1992 on land behind the Friday Center just off Hwy. 54 east of campus. The courts and stadium were officially dedicated in a ceremony Friday just before the Carolina women's team, ranked No. 1 in the nation, played Duke. Primary on the agenda was the recognition of Tom Chewning, a Tar Heel tennis player from 1965-67 and the lead benefactor of the new outdoor complex now known as the Chewning Tennis Center. "I am delighted we now have a facility that matches the high level of tennis our teams have competed at for so many years," Chewning says. "It's met our expectations. This is a tribute to the legacy of Carolina Tennis. To use the Chinese proverb, 'As you drink the water, remember those who dug the well.' This is worthy of all the effort of the former coaches and players and a tribute to them as well as the coaches and players we have today." That is a high level indeed.