A lifetime supporting tennis

Bunny Williams’ life comes full circle every spring when she returns to Charlottesville for the Boyd Tinsley USTA Women’s Pro Tennis Championships at Boar’s Head Sports Club.

For Williams, this is where it all began — a career in the sport for which she carries such passion.

When the late John Rogan created Boar’s Head in the late 1960’s and established it as one of America’s greatest tennis centers, he hired Williams as tennis pro to work under director of tennis Alphonso Smith, a legendary figure in the sport’s amateur ranks. The transition was an easy one for the youngster, whose mother had moved to Ednam Forest from Statesville, N.C., and worked as a doctor in Charlottesville.

“It was a short walk to work,” Williams said. “That was my first tennis experience, my first job, and I thought, ‘Wow, this is the premier facility in the whole country and I get to work here.’”

“Boar’s Head was a big family that loved tennis and sports and Mr. Rogan always did everything first class,” she added.

Williams is back this week along with Missy Malool, the two most familiar faces on the USTA Women’s Pro Circuit, and perhaps the two most welcome faces the players in this week’s Tinsley event know outside their own families and coaches. They have both worked as USTA Tour supervisors for the past 12 years and spend 210 days a year directing 41 events from January through November.

Any player or tournament director on the circuit will point out that when Missy and Bunny ride into town, there is a peace that everything is going to be all right with the event.

“There’s all this planning for six or seven months before they get here, and Saturday afternoon at 2:00, Bunny and Missy pull in and then everything’s relaxed because they take over,” said Ron Manilla, director of tennis at Boar’s Head. “They make our lives so easy because they are so efficient in what they do. You couldn’t ask for two better tour supervisors. They are awesome people.”

Williams has known Manilla for at least 30 years, and it is definitely a case of mutual admiration.

“To come back to Charlottesville and to work with people that you cared so much about when you were younger is a pretty cool thing,” Williams said.

Williams moved on from Boar’s Head to coach college tennis, then worked for Dennis Van Der Meer and Billy Jean King, teaching their systems, then played tournament tennis before moving into the administrative phase with the USTA. Malool, who grew up in Birmingham, Ala., followed a somewhat similar path to the USTA. She picked up a racquet as a teen, began playing, then teaching, and went on to play at the University of South Carolina. She played the circuit until she ran out of money and eventually got into officiating the game. That led to her current position.

Both are highly respected officials on the circuit and for good reasons.

“They each have such a great rapport with the players,” Manilla pointed out. “They know them all really well. They know what makes them tick. They know what makes them not tick. They know their coaches and parents. They know every single thing about these players.”

Anyone who has spent time around a USTA women’s circuit event has no doubt witnessed how the players relate to the two supervisors and what they mean to the girls on tour.

“We fulfill a lot of roles on a daily basis,” Malool said. “Life goes on for these players whether they’re on the road or not. People get married. Players suffer injuries and have all the usual problems that everyone else does.”

That’s where Missy and Bunny come in from another element of their jobs, the human element. Not only do they run tournaments efficiently in all aspects, but they handle all sorts of other issues that pop up.

“I think Missy put it best when she was once asked, ‘Do you have kids?’” Williams said. “Missy said, ‘Yes, I have 64 a week.’ It’s true because you care about them very much and you want them to know that. I want every parent to know that if their daughter comes and plays our circuit, she has two supervisors that if she needs something in the middle of the night, she has someone she can call.”

Everything is done by the USTA rules and by the book, but if the players need help, they can count on Missy and Bunny.

More than once they’ve spent hours in the emergency room at various hospitals, including the University of Virginia Medical Center, making sure players were OK, including Jelena Jankovic’s playing partner when Jankovic played in the inaugural Tinsley event. Jankovic finished 2008 as the No. 1 ranked women’s player in the world.

“So many of these young players lives are so up and down, such a roller coaster, that for them to be able to walk into an event and see the same face adds some continuity to their lives,” Malool said. “It’s comforting for them to know they’ll see a friendly face. What we do for one, we do for all.”

Williams has become proficient at learning different languages, which helps considering that at any given tournament there can be players from 22 countries competing.

“I think it’s important that you learn a few words in every language so that when someone from Bejing comes in, you can say, ‘Ni hao ma?’ and all of a sudden, it breaks down walls,” Malool said. “It’s amazing how a little bit of language goes a long way. That opens up a lot and whether there’s a language barrier or not, you can start with that and then do the best you can from there. That’s one of our great successes is to make every player from every country feel welcome.”

Both work three weeks at the U.S. Open, Williams in the referees office and Malool as the leading official for “Hawkeye,” the USTA’s eye in the sky, a very important job. They both love the experience, but they also love coming to Charlottesville each year.

Boar’s Head, the crowds that show up, the families that take in players for the week, have all made the event special as has its sponsor, Boyd Tinsley, the violinist for Dave Matthews Band, and a tennis enthusiast.

“Boyd speaks to their generation,” Williams said. “He brings together every generation, but especially theirs. They all know him and it’s one thing to be a celebrity in name, but it’s anotherto be a celebrity on a daily basis. Not only does he support the tournament financially but shows up for the kids clinics and is around during the week so the players can meet him. He gives out CDs and signs them. He’s approachable, which is somewhat unusual for celebrities these days.”

“Boyd’s so genuine,” Malool said. “You just can’t help but love the guy. The girls are familiar with who he is and the fact they get to see him, talk to him, is a tremendous boost to them because he’s living his dream and providing an opportunity for these young athletes to live their dream, too.”