(Courtesy of Our Place) The seventh
Annual Cross River Open, the Jewish community’s premier tennis experience, returned to the iconic US Open in Flushing, NY on Memorial Day, May 26. 156 passionate tennis players from across New York, New Jersey, and beyond gathered for a competitive tournament and community connection. Open to players of all levels, the sold-out event featured separate men’s and women’s singles and doubles tournaments, as well as, an inaugural high school boys single tournament.

The morning started off with an all-brothers Men’s Doubles Championship, with Michael & Ken Carter (Monsey), defeating Jacob & Ezra Dubin (Five Towns). On the women’s side, Matti Goldstein (Flatbush) defeated Lonnie Burger (Five Towns) in the Women’s Singles championship, with Shaindy Perlow & Reva Stark (Monsey) defeating Miriam Solomon and Dara Cooper (Five Towns) in a closely-contested Women’s Doubles finale. In the afternoon, Marc Spivak (Five Towns) defeated Jacob Pfeifer (Five Towns) in the Men’s Singles Championship, and the first-ever high school trophy was won by Adir Sacknovitz (Five Towns) in a thrilling match against
JJ Hirt (Five Towns).

Players and guests enjoyed top-tier amenities throughout the day, including the five-star Grand Slam BBQ Banquet, sponsored by MYDA Advisors, amazing swag, on-site massage and family-friendly entertainment. Cousin Nachum the Clown and magician Yoel Spielman kept the youngest fans engaged, while fans of all ages enjoyed cotton candy, Rita’s ices, popcorn and snow cones. Matches were played on the official US Open courts, with championship games taking place in the world-renowned Louis Armstrong Stadium. Corporate sponsors also had the unique opportunity to warm up in Louis Armstrong with former US Open Legend, Noah Rubin.

All proceeds from the event benefited Our Place, a community lifeline for at-risk teens and young adults struggling with addiction and related challenges. Our Place is a unique organization that operates 13 brick-and-mortar locations across New York, New Jersey and Florida, offering life-saving support to at-risk youth. Led by a team of dedicated clinicians and professionals, Our Place provides stabilizing support systems and life-saving services for teens and young adults in our community who are struggling to escape addiction and other at-risk behaviors. Our Place’s separate teen drop-in centers for boys and girls are located in the heart of Flatbush and host over 200 individual teens each week for nightly dinner, engaging trips, activities and on-site therapy. The young adult, 12-step recovery clubhouses, known as The Living Room, are located in Brooklyn, Five Towns, Lakewood, Monsey and Hollywood, FL. Each center hosts twice-weekly 12-step meetings and is staffed by both a programmatic and a clinical team member that integrate the local recovery community into the nationwide Living Room family, totaling almost 500 active members, who participate in sober Shabbaton retreats, sober Yamim Tovim and other sober activities together. Complementing these efforts, Our Village, a vibrant community of six sober living homes with 47 total beds, plays a critical role in fostering long-term sobriety. The most recent addition, a home for young women, opened in February 2025. Together, Our Village and The Living Room represent a robust continuum of care that has helped hundreds of young people rebuild their lives.

The Cross River Open is made possible by the generous support of Cross River Bank, a NJ-based technology infrastructure provider that offers embedded financial solutions. As one of Our Place’s most vital funding partners, Cross River has played a transformative role in expanding and enhancing the organization’s services over the past five years. This support has enabled Our Place to complete long-overdue renovations to both the teen boys and girls drop-in centers. This year’s grant was used to hire and expand the therapy and support staff. Today, Foundation@ Cross River is proud to support hundreds of non-profits worldwide and takes great pride in its impact on the greater global community.

Other event sponsors included MYDA Advisors, Centurion Anesthesia, PVEDi, HUB Insurance, BASE Realty Group, Jerrick Associates, APEX Global, Carter Wealth Management, SRA Screening, Swimply, Handy Famm, Morrison Cohen, Joey & Alyssa Kolatch, On-Trac Construction Associates, Palm Gardens Center for Nursing & Rehabilitation, Deb El Food Products, Rand, JMA BLDG, Crosscheck, KM Associates, Rose Valley Management, Eden Wok of New Rochelle and Skyline Restoration.