The Georgia

Tennis Association has named the Peachtree City Tennis

Center its 1999 Facility of the Year, it was announced

recently.

The award

will be presented at a dinner in downtown Atlanta Oct.

22, with additional recognition to come in the 2000 GTA

Players' Handbook.

Several

hundred facilities, both public and private, of varying

sizes are eligible for this award each year. Nominations

are received from across the state which are then

considered by the GTA, which is the Georgia district of

the United States Tennis Association, before a winner is

chosen.

About

45,000 USTA members live and play in Georgia, but more

than 12,000 juniors and about 32,000 adults also

participate in USTA-sponsored events and programs.

This is the

fifth major state or national award the Tennis Center has

received in three years.

After being

named Junior Program of the Year in 1997, the center was

honored as USTA Public Facility of the Year in 1998 for

its size category (large - 12 courts or more).

Virgil

Christian, the center's director, was named GTA Pro of

the Year for 1998, and the center picked up the Junior

Tournament of the Year award for its annual Peach State

event held Memorial Day weekend.

Christian

was understandably pleased at this most recent

announcement, saying that he considered the Facility of

the Year honor the biggest GTA award the center could

win.

"It's

a tribute to our staff, their organization, the programs

we offer for kids and adults, our team play, and our

long-term performance," he said.

Christian

added that one factor GTA officials consider strongly

when selecting the Facility of the Year is the commitment

to helping tennis grow in a community, which he says is a

top priority for his staff in Peachtree City.

In addition

to his staff, Christian said that the Development

Authority of Peachtree City will be represented at the

awards dinner, which he considers most appropriate since

the authority directly governs and supports the center.

"This

is our finest achievement," said Christian, "to

be recognized [by the GTA]."

But it's

not Christian's biggest moment personally, even in the

past month. His wife, Amy, gave birth Aug. 24, the day

after the award announcement, to the couple's first

child, a girl named Isabella.