Ten days ago, the world was treated to what is already considered to be one of the greatest tennis matches in the history of Wimbledon Championship play (see "Tar Heel Voices," at right), as Spaniard Rafael Nadal outlasted five-time tournament champion Roger Federer to claim the title in five sets. Epic, said many. One for the ages: an instant classic.

And as the longest finals match in Wimbledon history, between rain delays and darkness, it sometimes seemed as if the spectacle would never be finished -- as if the two tennis titans might play on forever.

At one local clinic this past weekend, however, organizers were more concerned with getting tennis started than classic finishes.

Dozens of tennis beginners braved the heat and graced the courts at East Chapel Hill High School this past Saturday morning for Durham-Orange County Tennis Association (DOCTA) and Chapel Hill Park and Recreation's QuickStart Tennis Tournament.

Based on the notion that simplified scoring, smaller courts and smaller racquets might fuel greater interest, inspire bigger dreams and build bigger talent, QuickStart format tournaments are tailored to two different age levels: 8-and-under and 10-and-under.

DOCTA community coordinator Patti Fox said the concept is essentially akin to that of tee-ball for youth baseball enthusiasts.

"There's also soccer where they play on smaller fields," Fox said, "so why not do it with tennis? So we're trying to get the kids feeling like they're having more success at an earlier age. They can easily get frustrated, and it's hard to keep them wanting to play. It's a difficult thing to take a big racquet and hit the ball over a big net.

"This year, the whole U.S. Tennis Association (USTA) has rolled this out," Fox added, "both to get kids interested in tennis and to keep them playing tennis."

Fox noted that seed programs among American youth might go a long way toward inspiring the next Nadal, Federer, Williams (pick one) or Sharapova.

"In Europe they do this type of (training) format," she said, "and look at all the Europeans on the professional circuit. Americans just need to plant the seed early."

"For an adult player to succeed at tennis, racquet control is essential, and the same goes for kids," states the USTA's official QuickStart Web site (http://consumers.quickstarttennis.com/). "But ... kids have trouble controlling full-sized racquets. They need racquets that are proportionate in length and weight and have a grip that fits their smaller hands."

With QuickStart, the racquet is more appropriately sized for kids, the court is smaller with the help of portable nets and a ball better suited to the smaller racquets.

"For the 8-and-under bracket, a foam ball or a very low-compression ball moves slower, bounces lower and travels less distance," the QuickStart site says. "For 10-and-under, a low-compression ball moves a little faster and travels farther than the ball used with the younger group, but it still has a lower bounce than (regular tennis balls)."

Scoring is also simplified in QuickStart, with only seven points in a game for the younger bracket, so that match play is short. Kids play the best of three games; the first to score seven points wins the game. The longest the match will last is approximately 20 minutes. Older players play best-of-three sets; the first to win four games wins a set.

"The program is being very, very well-received and accepted in North Carolina," said Daniel Abrahau, the community program developer for USTA North Carolina, overseeing USTA Junior Team tennis programs throughout the state. "There are programs popping up all over the state."

Abrahau said the frenzy isn't limited to North Carolina, however.

"This is nationwide," he explained. "A lot of the pieces and parts of QuickStart have been around for a long time, but now the USTA has finally put it all together and launched this format."

Just as the two Williams sisters (Venus and Serena) put their Wimbledon finals competition behind them to pair up for a Wimbledon women's doubles championship, this tournament reflected the collaboration between two winning local recreational agencies: Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation and DOCTA.

Established in 1998, DOCTA is a non-profit organization that strives to promote and encourage the development of tennis in the area of Durham and Orange Counties through clinics, workshops, lessons, tournaments, and other events. One of DOCTA's goals is to help children develop and learn the skill of tennis and to provide opportunities for them to move from junior to college or professional participation.

"This is DOCTA, partnering through Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation," Fox explained. "(Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation athletics supervisor) Bernard Leach and I started talking in the spring about them wanting to do more tennis. I told him, 'Great, because a new program's come out.'"

Both Leach and Fox were pleased with a turnout of nearly 40 kids on Saturday morning.

"We had it in our brochure -- we were advertising it," Leach said. "We got word out to the faculty clubs and (tennis) clubs too, though. Registration was lower before that."

"I'm super-pleased with the turnout," Fox said Saturday. 'It took a while to get the momentum going, but then word-of-mouth spread ... and we did allow people to sign up today, so there was a little fear of the unknown. We didn't want kids standing around and not playing a lot."

Helping out with the event were participants' parents and several of the players on the Carrboro High School women's varsity tennis team, which is coached by Fox.

"We've just been helping them keep score," Carrboro sophomore Kaylee Yoder said.

"That, and ... keeping the games going," junior Lindsay Kornegay added.

Parents seemed particularly pleased with the tournament.

"They played four games in a set, and then there's a seven-point tiebreaker," said Jackie Fritsch, whose son Max won a match 4-0, 3-4 (7-1). "This format offers more control I think."

"We read about this in the paper and thought this would be perfect for Will," Paul Jansen said of his eight-year old son. "In his first match, I didn't think he was going to be able to convert (from regular tennis), but I think he's having fun."

"We heard about it in an e-mail from the Duke Faculty Club," said Lindsey Lobaugh, mother of 10-year-old Ian Lobaugh, "and it sounded great."

Just as importantly, the participants themselves rated the tournament highly.

"Ian's loving it," Lindsey Lobaugh said. "He's played tennis maybe four times in the past year. We're trying to get him excited about it, and this seemed like the way to go. Our other sons play ice hockey, so we've finally got a son playing a sport that you should be playing in North Carolina."

"The courts are kind of small, and you can't hit it as hard," Will Jansen said, "but I liked beating people."

Kierra McDougall might have voted for even smaller courts.

"I don't like when you're playing singles and the other person hits their shot up close (to the net)," McDougall said, "and you're playing all the way back, so you have to come running up really fast."

Ian Lobaugh tried his hand at mixed doubles with nine-year old Gabi Brenman.

"We did good," he said. "We won the first game, and then we lost, but we had a good game -- we had good volleys."

"I like doubles," Brenman said. "You can rely on the other player to get some shots, and I'm not the best at tennis. This is one of my first times playing."

DOCTA is following up on the success of the tournament with three days of lessons this week through Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation. For more information on QuickStart or other tennis clinics for beginning players, call the Chapel Hill Parks and Recreation offices at 968-2784, visit them online at http://townhall.townofchapelhill.org/parks_&_rec/, visit the DOCTA website at www.docta.org, or visit the QuickStart link on the USTA North Carolina website at www.nctennis.com.

In the meantime, look for QuickStart to be coming soon to a set of courts or tennis club near you.

"Charlotte's doing it, and the Chapel Hill Tennis Club uses QuickStart," Fox said. "A lot of places have started using this, and it's revitalizing clubs. One club in Atlanta is actually building courts in the QuickStart format because so many kids are wanting to play this way."

And if the buzz surrounding Wimbledon is any indication, organizers are certainly striking while the iron is hot.

"Some friends of mine were at (local) courts right after the Nadal-Federer Wimbledon men's finals match ended, and there was this onslaught of people hitting the courts," Fox said. "They were just excited about playing tennis. I had friends over at the courts at Cedar Falls Park, and after the men's match, there were suddenly all of these people."

As it happens, seasoning that current fever-pitch interest generated by Wimbledon with entry-level programs may be just what the DOCTA ordered.