INDIANAPOLIS -- Tennis enthusiasts in central Indiana gathered at the Indianapolis Tennis Center Saturday to bid farewell to facilities that will soon be destroyed.

The center will close next month to make way for a new academic building, expanded parking and some green space on the Indiana University Purdue University-Indianapolis campus.

The rights to the Indianapolis Tennis Championship were sold to Atlanta last year, effectively sealing the tennis center's fate.

An organization called "Save Downtown Tennis" is working to find another spot for tennis in downtown Indianapolis, though.

"The way we hope to save downtown tennis is to find an alternate site and then to raise funds, hopefully in cooperation with some creative planners with the city to help us relocate downtown," said Meredith Easley, of Save Downtown Tennis. "A structure that would be just like this would be ideal."

In its glory days, the Indianapolis Tennis Center boasted crowds of 100,000 people during the tournament that drew big-time players such as Andy Roddick, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras.

The center's director, Kathy Risacher, said that along with the professionals, people from all age groups and skill levels competed at the facility.

"It's a gathering place. It's a family," she said. "The tennis community in Indianapolis is large, but we're close."