Blu Baker Wins Mardy Fish USTA Pro Circuit Title in Vero Beach

Blu Baker, a Brit who resides in Boca Raton, Florida, defeated fellow Boca Raton resident William Grant 7-6 (3), 6-4 last weekend to win the 2025 Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club. 

Baker became the second player from Britain to win this tournament in the 30 years of its existence, joining former Australian Open semifinalist Kyle Edmund who won the title in Vero Beach in 2013. Tim Henman, one of the all-time great British players, reached the semifinals in Vero Beach in its first year as a tournament in 1995.

Baker, ranked No. 1,068 in the ATP singles rankings, is the second player in two three years to win the title with a ranking below 1,000 in the world, joining Dan Martin of Canada, who was ranked No. 1,063 when he won the title in 2023, also at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club. Grant, a member of the University of Florida’s 2021 NCAA Championship-winning team, was seeking his first ITF World Tennis Tour title after losing in final three previous times.

Above: Blu Baker. Source: Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation

The ITF World Tennis Tour title is the second for Baker, who is currently the 41st ranked British man in the ATP Tour singles rankings. He previously won the $15,000 ITF World Tennis Tour event in Boca Raton, Fla., in 2023. He has also won a record 13 titles at the infamous “Battle of Boca” Universal Tennis tournament series.

Peter Bertran of the Dominican Republic and Jesse Flores of Costa Rica won the Mardy Fish doubles title beating American teenagers Keaton Hance, 17, and Jack Kennedy, 16, 6-2, 7-5 in the final. Bertran, who won the Mardy Fish doubles title in 2023, became the third player to win two doubles titles in Vero Beach, joining Junior Ore of Miami who won titles in 2018 and at the Universal Sports sanctioned event in 2020, and David Witt of Jacksonville, Florida, who won in Vero Beach in 1996 and 1997.

The Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships is a $15,000 U.S. Tennis Association Pro Circuit event that is part of the International Tennis Federation World Tennis Tour and is an entry level pro tennis tournament. The event benefits the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation, the non-profit organization benefitting at-risk children in Indian River County named for Vero Beach native son Mardy Fish, the former top 10 tennis star, U.S. Davis Cup hero and silver medalist at the 2004 Olympic Games.

From left to right: Tom Fish, Blu Baker, and Lynn Southerly. Source: Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation

Some of the past competitors at the USTA Vero Beach Futures have gone on to succeed at the highest levels of professional tennis, winning major singles and doubles titles, Olympic medals and Davis Cup championships and earning No. 1 world rankings. Andy Roddick, the 2003 U.S. Open champion who attained the world No. 1 ranking and helped the United States win the Davis Cup in 2007, competed in Vero Beach in 1999 in his first ever professional tournament.  

Thomas Johansson of Sweden, who reached the second round of the Vero Beach Futures in 1995, won the Australian Open seven years later in 2002. Nicolas Massu, the 1998 singles runner-up in Vero Beach, won the singles and doubles gold medals at the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens, Greece, beating Fish in the gold medal singles match. Other notable former competitors in Vero Beach include former world No. 2 Magnus Norman, former world No. 4 Tim Henman, 2016 Wimbledon finalist Milos Raonic, 2021 Wimbledon semifinalist Denis Shapovalov, 2022 U.S. Open semifinalist France Tiafoe, 2023 Australian Open semifinalist Tommy Paul and new rising star and 2023 U.S. Open semifinalist Ben Shelton. Former Vero Beach competitors have combined to win 19 titles in singles, doubles and mixed doubles at Grand Slam tournaments. Eleven former Vero Beach players have gone on to play Davis Cup for the United States – Roddick, Fish, Taylor Dent, Jared Palmer, Donald Young, Ryan Harrison, Frances Tiafoe, Tommy Paul, Ben Shelton, Reilly Opelka and Alex Michelsen.

Affectionately known as “Timber Ridge” to locals, the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club has been a staple in the community for over 30 years and has been owned and run since 2016 by James and Joseph van Deinse. The club boasts 14 Har-Tru tennis courts, a pickleball court, pool and clubhouse with fitness center and bar. The facility previously hosted a $25,000 women’s USTA Pro circuit event in 2014 that featured future major tournament champions Naomi Osaka and Sofia Kenin, future top 10 star Jennifer Brady and future major doubles champions Nicole Melichar, Laura Siegemund and Gaby Dabrowski. The club is also the original home of the “King of the Hill” tennis competition, hosting the first seven editions of Vero Beach’s popular doubles competition from 1996 to 2002. The Vero Beach Fitness & Tennis Club will be the third different venue to host the tournament after being held at Grand Harbor Club for 17 years from 1995 to 2009 and in 2017 and 2018 and at The Boulevard where it was held for 11 years from 2010 to 2016 and from 2019 to 2022.

Founded in 2007, the Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation (@MardyFishFound on Twitter) currently supports over 2,400 children in 15 elementary schools, six middle schools, and several other community organizations in Indian River County, Florida by funding after-school exercise, nutritional and enrichment programs in a safe environment to prepare them for healthy, productive and successful lives. The Foundation introduced the “Six Healthy Habits” in 2012 which are Get Sleep; Drink Water; Exercise Daily, Eat Healthy; Brush and Floss; Make Friends.

Sponsors for the 2025 Mardy Fish Children's Foundation are led by Presenting Sponsor PNC Bank and Grand Slam sponsor Michael Merrill Real Estate. Other sponsors are Roberts Family Foundation, Boston Barricade, Michael Pierce - In Loving Memory of Kathie Pierce, Cliff Norris Real Estate, Antle Foundation, Gene Simonsen, Bob and Emilie Burr, Lynn Southerly, John and Sara Marshall, John and Marie McConnell, Peter and Ellen Kendall, Jaime Yordan, M&M Realty, Foglia Contracting Corp., Jim and Shirin Marver, Joe and Barbara Price, Hazelton Marketing Group, Kitchens by Design, Minuteman Press, Linda Delaney, Michael Williams, Wendy and Chase Carey, Steve and Karen Rubin, Carly Wittek, Tom Collins Insurance, Bill Baker, Sailfish Brewery, Evelyn's Plant Care, Nalzaro Music, Weatherman Umbrella and Natalie's Orange Juice.

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Source: Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation