Sorry, Coach, but Brady Blain's going to be a little late to tennis practice this fall.

Something unexpected popped up at the last minute.

The University of Illinois senior teamed up with his twin brother, Brook, to win the U.S. National Amateur Championships doubles title Saturday night in Bloomington, Ind.

Their prize: a wild-card spot in the U.S. Open. The Grand Slam tournament starts Aug. 25 in New York.

"I always thought Brady was one of the top doubles players in the country – and this proves it," UI coach Craig Tiley said. "Now, he's going to compete with the big boys."

The Blains, seeded sixth, won all five of their matches.

In singles action, UI junior Jakub Teply made it to the semifinals before falling 6-4, 6-3 to Penn's Marc Silva.

Show of support.

Turned down by every business he approached, Tiley was ready to bag the USTA Men's Challenger of Urbana-Champaign.

No major sponsor, no go.

But when Tiley broke the bad news to the USTA folks, he got a surprising response.

"They were so happy with the job we did with it last year, the USTA agreed to underwrite it," Tiley said.

The second-year pro tennis event will run Sept. 13-21. Tiley passed out invitations last week at the RCA Championships and will try to line up more guests at the U.S. Open.

Tiley has commitments from Neville Gordon, who lasted three rounds in last year's Open; Eyal Ran, the No. 1 Israeli; and Mark Merklein, who won the NCAA singles title at Florida in 1993.

Last year's Challenger champ, Justin Gimelstob, is a maybe. But Tiley plans to drop the rising American star's name around when he's trying to lure players to town.

"Whenever he does interviews, he always says this is where he made his breakthrough," Tiley said.