THE inaugural staging of the Douglas Burke Invitational Doubles Tennis Tournaments gets underway today and tomorrow at the Eric Bell Tennis Centre, beginning at 9:00 each day.

Burke, a former Davis Cup national representative, and one of Jamaica’s top tennis players, was also coach of many of the country’s players and teams.

The series has been endorsed by Tennis Jamaica Limited, and will feature all the usual age group categories, such as 10 and under, 12 and under, 14 and under, 16 and under, and 18 and under doubles.

It is also the brainchild of veteran coaches David Sanguinetti and Arthur Phillpotts, who is the chairman of the Doubles Series, to honour their colleague and good friend Burke, who has been the longest-serving national coach in Jamaica.

According to tournament director Sanguinetti earlier in the week, entries were pouring in, and the orgaisers had to institute a limit as everyone would like to participate in this tournament, which is expected to be a series of seven through to December, one for each month. “Approximately 150 players are expected to participate.”

Sanguinetti said both he and Phillpotts are trying to encourage more doubles play amongst the juniors for them to hone their skills, as currently no doubles-specific tournaments are held in the island.

“Good doubles play is crucial to players securing national high school championships, college scholarships and international Davis Cup advancement,” he said.

The tournament director added that points will be awarded to each pair depending on how far they advance in their respective event in each tournament, and at the end of the last tournament in the series in December, the pair which accumulates the most points from all seven tournaments will be awarded an overall grand prize.

Meanwhile, consolation events will also be held for first-round losers in all age group knockouts.

Apart from prizes being awarded to the winners and runners-ups in each category, there will also be awards to the best sports persons, most disciplined teams, most improved players, and most valuable player for each of the seven series.

The patrons of the series are Ken Morgan and Joycelyn Morgan. They both headed Tennis Jamaica for many years during Burke’s tenure as national coach.

Dates for the other series scheduled this year are, June 18-19, July 30-31, August 27-18, September 17-18, October 22-23, and December 17-18, 2016.