ROGERS CUP BIG WIG KARL HALE GIVES BACK TO HIS BELOVED JAMAICA

Donovan Vincent - The Star - Nov 9, 2012

Karl Hale, tournament director for the Rogers Cup is a Jamaican-Canadian. You wouldn't necessarily assume that by looking at him.

It’s a sunny mid-afternoon, and women of leisure dressed in their tennis whites are getting lessons from Karl Hale, the head pro at Toronto’s swanky Donalda Club near Don Mills Rd.

“Let’s get some matches, everybody,” he calls out, clipboard firmly in hand. “Court number 5, let’s have Sarah and Cindy versus Denise and Eli.”

For the past seven years Hale’s other job has been tournament director of the Rogers Cup, the massive annual Canadian event that draws the biggest names in men’s and women’s professional tennis, such as Serena Williams, Rafael Nadal, and Roger Federer.

Jamaican-born Karl Hale is head tennis pro at Toronto's Donalda Club and tournament director for Tennis Canada and the Rogers Cup.  (DONOVAN VINCENT / TORONTO STAR)