“Tennis is a Fresa sport,” says Antonio Rey, the man behind Club Laquetas, a tennis group based in Chula Vista. Fresa means strawberry in Spanish and is slang for preppy.
“This club breaks stereotypes,” added Ray, known as El Tony Tee.
As you approach the court where Club Racketas practices, Spanglish and laughter mix with the sound of rackets and tennis balls being tied together. Ray says it's not just about tennis here, it's also about community and cotleo (Spanish slang for chatting or hanging out). Although the majority of members are Latinos living in the South Bay, all kinds of people attend the club's lessons.
“There was a void in the Latinx tennis community,” Ray says. “[Latinos] Half of California, as far as I know, one guy named Emilio Nava is representing us on tour. Professional tennis has serious problems with Mexican and Mexican-American representation. It's an accessibility issue. ”
To fill this gap, Ray founded the Hard Court Club in 2022 with the goal of introducing more Latinos to the sport. He's the perfect spokesperson. That's mainly because it took him a while to start playing tennis himself.
Ray is the man behind Corazon de Torta, the popular taco truck located outside breweries like Fall Brewing and Pure Project in North Park. Before launching his truck, Ray made a tough living as an underground party promoter in Tijuana. When he became a father and was diagnosed with diabetic ketoacidosis in 2019, Ray changed the way he lived his life.
“At 41, I wanted to learn something new. I wanted to learn something athletic so my daughter could see an active father figure,” he says. He started playing tennis and fell in love with it.
The club hosts classes on Mondays and Tuesdays at Terra Nova Park in Chula Vista. The Monday 7:30pm meeting is for women only. “We created a women-only class,” Ray explains. “It's to make women feel comfortable.” [learning] At your own pace. It's called Ella Volea Sola, a play on Bad Bunny. [lyric] “Ella Perea Sola”.
The $15 fee for each class goes toward paying coaches, including Latino student-athletes like San Ysidro native Thelma Sepulveda. She received a full tennis scholarship to Point Roma for her senior year at Nazarene University. Another coach, SDSU senior Naomi Castillo, comes from a Tijuana tennis family. Naomi and his sister Midori were hand-picked to be coached by Tijuana's Angelica Gabaldon, one of Mexico's greatest tennis players of all time, at her academy in Coronado.
“We'd love to produce the first Chicanx Wimbledon champion, but that's not what we're doing. But we can teach some kids how to play, and then maybe… Then maybe those kids will remember it in the future and be able to play with it themselves,” says Ray. “When I watch professional tennis and college tennis, [Mexican-Americans] not exist. Club Ráquetas wants to help change that. ”
