The Area Qualifier has boys' and girls' 12, 14, 16, and 18 age divisions. There are ten Area Qualifiers in the Ohio Valley. These tournaments qualify players to the District Qualifier. The Columbus Area Qualifier is directly supported and underwritten by the GCTA. The number of players that move to the next level is determined by the percentage of USTA junior memberships for the area. Over 300 players participate in the Columbus Area Qualifier. The tournament begins in mid-May and runs for several weeks. It plays at several sites in the Columbus area. There is a consolation round to the tournament, and the tournament does have an entry fee. This fee has been kept to a minimum because of GCTA support.

The GCTA thanks the people who make this qualifier run so well:
Ron Linville
Jim Hendrix
Joel Gordon
Janet Craycraft
Doug Snapp

Whereas the Area Qualifier has boys' and girls' 12, 14, 16, and 18  age categories, the GCTA only runs the girls' 16 District Qualifier. Other categories are run at different locations. The Columbus District Qualifier Tournament qualifies girls' 16 players to the Midwest Closed Tournament. That tournament then feeds into the Summer Nationals. The girls that participate in the District Qualifier come to Columbus from the ten areas of the Ohio Valley  after qualifying in their Area Qualifier. The number of qualifiers from each area is determined by the percentage of junior USTA memberships for the specific area based on a set of formulas. When these players come to Columbus, there is a 64 draw. Player rankings are considered. This is much easier now because the rankings are computerized. The tournament has been held at the Ohio State University under the chairmanship of Carol Alexander since 1978. For the last three years it has been held at Upper Arlington High School. This year the dates were from June 8th to the 12th. Applications to this tournament are given out by the areas to the juniors who have qualified by playing in their respective Area Qualifier.

The GCTA thanks the people who made this 2003 qualifier run so well:
Carol Alexander, Chair
Danna Monsul, Tournament Desk
Janet Craycraft, Tournament Desk
Deena Snapp, Tournament Desk
Andy Alexander, Tournament Assistant
Robert Schafer, Referee
Vince Solomon, Umpire
John Campbell, Court Monitor
Chiko Coury, Court Monitor
Doug Snapp, Draw Chair/Technical Support

  Complete Draws

Christine Johnston, Runner-up. Kirsten Flower, Champion.

Kelly Douple, Consolation Winner. Libby Harrison, Consolation Runner-up.

Doubles Runners-up: Stephanie Jenkins and Madora Mak. Doubles Champions: Kirsten Flower and Christine Johnston.

The following girls have qualified to attend the Western Closed, a qualifier for the Nationals.

Click for previous
Area and District Qualifiers.
 1999 Area and District Qualifiers
 2000 Area and District Qualifiers
 2001 Area and District Qualifiers
 2002 Area and District Qualifiers