The Georgia Tennis Association has named the Peachtree City Tennis Center its 1999 Facility of the Year, it was announced recently.

The award will be presented at a dinner in downtown Atlanta Oct. 22, with additional recognition to come in the 2000 GTA Players' Handbook.

Several hundred facilities, both public and private, of varying sizes are eligible for this award each year. Nominations are received from across the state which are then considered by the GTA, which is the Georgia district of the United States Tennis Association, before a winner is chosen.

About 45,000 USTA members live and play in Georgia, but more than 12,000 juniors and about 32,000 adults also participate in USTA-sponsored events and programs.

This is the fifth major state or national award the Tennis Center has received in three years.

After being named Junior Program of the Year in 1997, the center was honored as USTA Public Facility of the Year in 1998 for its size category (large — 12 courts or more).

Virgil Christian, the center's director, was named GTA Pro of the Year for 1998, and the center picked up the Junior Tournament of the Year award for its annual Peach State event held Memorial Day weekend.

Christian was understandably pleased at this most recent announcement, saying that he considered the Facility of the Year honor the biggest GTA award the center could win.

“It's a tribute to our staff, their organization, the programs we offer for kids and adults, our team play, and our long-term performance,” he said.

Christian added that one factor GTA officials consider strongly when selecting the Facility of the Year is the commitment to helping tennis grow in a community, which he says is a top priority for his staff in Peachtree City.

In addition to his staff, Christian said that the Development Authority of Peachtree City will be represented at the awards dinner, which he considers most appropriate since the authority directly governs and supports the center.

“This is our finest achievement,” said Christian, “to be recognized [by the GTA].”

But it's not Christian's biggest moment personally, even in the past month. His wife, Amy, gave birth Aug. 24, the day after the award announcement, to the couple's first child, a girl named Isabella.

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