VERO BEACH — About a dozen painters, carpenters, mowers and handymen are hard at work renovating the Vero Beach Tennis Club & Fitness for a June 23 grand opening, which means the life-long dream of four Mexican-born tennis pros is close at hand.
In the midst of sawing, cutting and drilling in the club house and on the grounds at Timber Ridge Trail, tennis pros Jorge Lozano, Marco Osorio, Veronica Cantu and Loyra Coronel are constantly on the phone and the computers, or in meetings preparing for the grand opening of the club and fitness center in about a week.
The four pros started throwing around the idea of owning and running their own tennis club a few years ago in Mexico City.
In the beginning it was only talk — only a dream — but then they began figuring out how to finance their dream and find the ideal place for it.
At first, they looked in Texas, but soon decided South Florida was a better choice.
“Tennis is huge here,” said Cantu. “Besides, it’s so beautiful.”
They began Googling properties and traveling to South Florida to see them. They found the for-sale tennis center on Timber Ridge Trail tremendously appealing: 14 Har-Tru courts among pines and oaks, a 3,500-square-foot club house, with a fitness gym, a communal area, a pro shop, a large office, a bar and even a fireplace.
The property is over seven acres with a pool and a separate, wooden cottage.
What works so well for the owners, said Osorio, is that each of them has a different expertise.
Lozano is a former tournament player; Osorio, a Davis Cup coach. Coronel’s specialty has become business and marketing, and Cantu’s skills are in the psychology of producing confident and contented players.
“We’ve put together a very impressive team,” said Osorio.
The most well-known of the four owners is Lozano, 49, who was born in Guadalajara.
In 1988, Lozano won the French Open and Forest Hills doubles titles. In 1990, he again won the French Open, boosting his doubles ranking to fourth in the world. His top singles ranking was 51st in the world.
Osorio won a silver medal at the Pan-American games in the late 90s and ranked 268th in the world in men’s singles.
A third tennis coach will be working with them: former U.S. tennis great Roscoe Tanner, who won two Australian Opens and was ranked fourth in the world in men’s singles in 1979.
The fitness trainer, Francisco Munoz, has worked on fitness teams for Rafael Nadal, Feliciano Lopez and Svetlana Kuznetsova.
The new Vero Beach Tennis Club & Fitness center now has 130 members and offers annual, semi-annual, monthly and weekly memberships.
It will also bring in young players from around the U.S., Mexico and South America to train at the club.
They will live with house parents in furnished rental homes in the Timber Ridge community.
Ana Paula de la Pena has just arrived from Monterrey, Mexico, where she is a college student. A recent tennis gold medalist from the Pan American Games, she will train at the tennis club for three weeks before going to tournaments in Bolivia and Peru.
“Working with these coaches is an opportunity I didn’t want to miss,” she said.
The program for young players consists of five to six hours of practice a day, one to two hours of fitness training and an hour of mental coaching.
There is also a less-strenuous summer camp for local kids, with tennis lessons, swimming and other sports.
The goal of the staff, said Cantu, is lofty, but something they believe they can achieve:
“With such a well-rounded team, we hope to improve tennis here, in Mexico and in South America,” she said.