Thanks to Tennis Town, Bowling Green will officially become Kentuckys tennis town for one weekend this year and maybe for the foreseeable future. Over 600 tennis players are expected to converge on Bowling Green Sept. 5-7 to compete in the USA League Tennis Kentucky Mixed Doubles Championships. The field will consist of players 18 and older, representing top teams throughout the state in six different ability levels, starting from beginner to advanced and even seniors (50+). Bowling Green has never hosted an event of this size, Southern Kentucky Tennis Association president Tracy Rogers said. Were hoping with an event this size we can start promoting tennis, not only in the Bowling Green area, but the Kentucky area. Tennis Town, which is the base of the Southern Kentucky Tennis Association, was instrumental in helping bring the event to Bowling Green, with hopes that it will help spread tennis fever to the area for ages young and old. This will help us in promoting tennis in this area, getting not only adults playing, but more juniors playing. Thats our big goal, get more juniors playing and just let it grow from that area, Rogers said. Its estimated the event will bring at least $1.2 million in revenue to area hotels, restaurants and other tourist-related businesses. Steve Small, sports sales director for the Bowling Area Tourist and Convention Commission, said the event should be an economic lift for Bowling Green. This is a continuation of sports growing, Small said. Its going to be a tremendous amount of money and at the right time. September is a great month for the hotels who, when they find out, will probably be doing cartwheels. Kereiakes Park, which has 10 courts, will be the host site, with Bowling Green, Greenwood, Warren Central and Warren East high schools also supplying courts for the three-day event. With an abundance of sites available, Bowling Green seemed like a logical choice for the event, Rogers said. Once we told them we had this many courts, they said Heck yeah, she said. If all goes well, both Rogers and Small would like to see Bowling Green become the events permanent home. Its going to bring in people from everywhere that might not have come. Weve had BMX, SOKY soccer, the girls state tournament; this is as big as any event Bowling Green has seen, Small said. Hopefully well be having an event that will come back here yearly, Rogers said. It shows tennis is growing in this area for the USTA to have confidence to bring this to our area.”Athletes will come from the 10 separate leagues throughout the state. The two top teams from each skill level will compete for the right to advance to the next stage in the USA League Tennis Southern Sectional Mixed Doubles Championship in Chattanooga, Tenn. The winners from that will advance to the finals in Pensacola, Fla. While the 10 leagues are in Kentucky, athletes from other states can compete as long as theyve been a member of a Kentucky tennis club, league or organization for the past year. Players from West Virginia, Illinois, Indiana, Arkansas and Tennessee will be among those competing. Over 280,000 USTA members participate yearly in the nationwide event.