The wildly popular Mardy Fish Children’s Foundation Tennis Championships are moving to the island for the first time next year.

The USTA Pro Circuit’s $15,000 men’s event, which has been played in Vero Beach since 1995 and earned recognition as one of the nation’s top minor-league tennis tournaments, is scheduled for May 4-10 at Sea Oaks.

“We are super-excited to have this event coming to our club,” Sea Oaks Tennis Director Joe Biedenharn said Sunday. “We’ve got a beautiful facility with members who love tennis, and this tournament has been very popular in our community for a long time.

“It’s a win-win for everyone.”

It’s certainly a triumph for the foundation, launched in 2007 by Mardy Fish, a former top-10 player on the ATP Tour, U.S. Davis Cup player and captain, and Olympic silver medalist.

Not only is the tournament relocating to a higher-stature and better-equipped facility – Sea Oaks has a stadium court, food-and-beverage service, and more parking – but it puts the event closer to a larger number of the foundation’s donors on the island.

The past three years, the tournament was held at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club at Timber Ridge, located on Oslo Road, just west of the railroad tracks.

“We’ll be forever grateful to Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness, which wasn’t only a generous host but also helped us when we needed it and treated us extremely well,” said Lynn Southerly, the foundation’s executive director.

“But we kept hearing the same complaint – the distance from our donor base,” she added. “And as much as the owners and members there did everything possible to accommodate our needs, you can’t move the club.

“So this move to Sea Oaks is important to us, and we’re excited about taking the tournament to a picturesque setting at a very prestigious club.”

Both Southerly and Biedenharn confirmed the contract between the foundation and club to hold the tournament at Sea Oaks was for only one year – with both parties saying they want to “see how it goes” before committing to extending the partnership.

Chances for success, though, are promising: Sea Oaks members have proven to be avid tennis fans, with many of them having served as tournament volunteers for years.

“It’s a very active tennis community, and they made us feel wanted,” Southerly said, adding that Sea Oaks representatives approached the foundation each of the past two years in hopes of bringing the tournament to their club.

Since 2018, Sea Oaks has been the site of the tournament’s annual “wild-card” singles competition – usually in late February or early March – with the winner receiving a berth in the 32-player main draw in the spring.

Sea Oaks will become the fourth local club to host the tournament, which was founded and operated by longtime island resident and Vero Beach tennis pro Mike Rahaley, who died in July 2019 at age 76.

Rahaley ran the tournament through 2015, then handed it off to the foundation, which uses the event as a major fundraiser.

The tournament was held at Grand Harbor from 1995 to 2009, and in 2017 and 2018. The Boulevard Tennis Club was the tournament’s host from 2010 to 2016, and from 2019 to 2022.

Unable to extend its contract with The Boulevard, the foundation scrambled to find a new home for the tournament. The Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club came to its rescue.

The 2026 Fish tournament is scheduled to be played one week later than it has been in recent years, returning to the early-May dates it enjoyed when Rahaley ran the event.

The change allows the tournament to avoid competition from a Challenger-level event in Savannah, Georgia, enhancing the chances of attracting a stronger field here.

The new place on the circuit’s schedule also removes any future conflicts with Easter.

In addition, the later date increases the likelihood that some seasonal Sea Oaks residents will have left for their summer homes, reducing the demand for courts during the tournament.

Sea Oaks has 16 courts, and Southerly said the tournament needs eight of them – for the first few days of the event, anyway.

“Moving back a week makes it easier for us to accommodate everyone,” Biedenharn said, adding that many Sea Oaks members choose to play earlier in the morning, before tournament matches begin. “I don’t think it will be a problem. Our members love to watch tennis.”

The only potential challenge could be parking, though tournament director Randy Walker said there are more spaces available at Sea Oaks than at the Vero Beach Tennis & Fitness Club.

“We’re addressing it,” Southerly said.

She said Sea Oaks members who live closer to the tennis complex will be encouraged to walk or ride bikes, the condo association is offering guest spaces, and Beach Club parking will be available.

Also, she said Sea Oaks residents already are offering to house players.

“We’ve made it work at other venues,” Southerly said. “We’ll make it work there.”

The entry-level pro tournament – the tennis equivalent of Class A baseball – has served as a proving ground for some of today’s top players, including Americans Ben Shelton, Tommy Paul and Frances Tiafoe.

Former No. 1 player Andy Roddick, the 2003 U.S. Open champion and last American man to win a Grand slam singles title, competed in his first pro tournament here in 1999.