URBANA — Jenny Thomas was in Decatur earlier this month to watch some current and former Illini men’s tennis players compete in the Ursula Beck Pro Tennis Classic.
It was there Thomas, the wife of Illinois athletic director Mike Thomas, saw the covered stands at Decatur’s Fairview Tennis Complex and commented to Illinois coach Brad Dancer that the Illini’s Khan Outdoor Tennis Complex needed the same.
Dancer’s response?
“You tell your husband that,” he said with a laugh.
With the first USTA Pro Circuit Futures event in Urbana nearing its conclusion this weekend — an event Dancer considers a success — the Illini coach is already thinking about ways to improve the tournament.