On August 17 and 18, The Racquet Lounge of Southampton will be hosting a tennis Pro-Am in Memory of Drew Hassenbein, a Roslyn High School tennis prodigy who senselessly lost his life in 2023 at the hands of a drunk driver.
The Pro-Am event will feature team play involving a number of well-known tennis players, including The Bryan Brothers, Tommy Haas, Jan Michael Gambill, Braadley Klahn, Noah Rubin, David Marrero, and many others. All of these great athletes will engage in intense tournament play, with the winners earning courtside tickets for the upcoming U.S. Open.
The proceeds of the event will go to the Drew Hassenbein Foundation, a 5013c not-for-profit that was started by his family after the youth's tragic passing.
On the evening of May 3, 2023, Drew and Ethan Falkowitz, both 14, were traveling on North Broadway in Jericho when the car they were in was struck by wrong-way drunk driver; both boys tragically lost their lives in the crash, and the driver of the other vehicle has been charged with multiple serious crimes in connection with their deaths.
Drew, an eighth grader at Roslyn High School, was widely considered a tennis prodigy and had played the sport since he was 5 years old after he was introduced to it by his father, Mitch; he had been ranked as high as number one in the National Boys 12 and Under Division, and one of his most noteworthy accomplishments was being selected by the United States Tennis Association to conduct the coin toss at the 2021 Men’s U.S. Open Final between Novak Djokovic and Daniil Medvedev at the Arthur Ashe Stadium in Queens.
Drew Hassenbein Foundation keeps Drew’s legacy alive by helping expose underprivileged youth to tennis – which can be a pricey sport to get into – by offering financial assistance in the form of scholarships and paying for lessons, in addition to sponsorships for elite juniors as they pursue their dream of playing tennis professionally.
While the Pro-Am in Memory of Drew Hassenbein is not open to the public, those who wish to donate to this important cause can do so by visiting https://drewhassenbein.org.
