NORTHEAST TALLAHASSEE, FL \u2014 Two former Florida State University tennis players returned to Tallahassee this week to compete as professionals in their first Challenger tournament.<\/p>\n
WATCH FULL REPORT BELOW: <\/p>\n
Former Florida State tennis players return to Tallahassee to compete in their first Challenger tournament<\/p>\n
At the Tallahassee Challenger, players from around the world compete for ranking points and prize money. But for Alex Bulte and Youcef Rihane, this match meant a little bit more.<\/p>\n
“Yeah, I mean, it means a lot obviously. We were very privileged to have this sort of opportunity to play here. It\u2019s a great tournament. We\u2019ve had some previous teammates in the past play. We\u2019ve come to watch, but [we’ve] never played this event. So yeah, Youcef and I are very excited to play and see what we can do,” Bulte said.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s really special…I dreamed of getting to the Challenger level for a while now\u2026 [I’m] super grateful to play in this tournament, especially in Tallahassee, excited in front of our fans, and yeah, go ‘Noles,” Bulte and Rihane said.<\/p>\n
Their match was back and forth. <\/p>\n
Bulte and Rihane got off to a hot start, winning the first set 7-6. However, they lost the second set 6-3, sending the match to a 10-point match tiebreak. The pair lost 10-5.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s been a while since Youcef and I competed, so yeah, really good to get out there, and the fans were great. We had a lot of people out here from Tallahassee supporting us, and that meant the world to Youcef and me, and hopefully there\u2019s more to come in the future. It was a lot of fun. Obviously it didn\u2019t go our way, but we had so much fun there. We competed really hard, just felt like the old days at Florida State, especially with the crowd \u2014 unreal crowd by the way, thank you everyone,” Bulte and Rihane said after the match.<\/p>\n
Tournament director Karen Vogter says moments like this make the event unique and connect professional tennis with the local community.<\/p>\n
“It\u2019s a community event for Tallahassee, and it has people coming out from all over. There\u2019s only about 50 of these in the country for men and women in the United States, so for Tallahassee \u2014 a relatively small city \u2014 to have a Challenger 75, I think, is incredibly special for us,” Vogter said.<\/p>\n
Despite the loss, Bulte and Rihane’s first Challenger tournament turned a professional milestone into a full-circle moment.<\/p>\n
This story was reported on-air by a journalist and has been converted to this platform with the assistance of AI. Our editorial team verifies all reporting on all platforms for fairness and accuracy.<\/p>\n
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