Posted on: November 03rd, 2007
Tennis greats, celebs take to court for Christus Pro/Celebrity Classic
- petepageBy EMILY GUEVARA, The Beaumont Enterprise
Nov 03, 2007 -
It was as much a comedy show as a tennis match.
The Christus Pro/Celebrity Classic featuring tennis greats Pete Sampras and Anna Kournikova brought out the funny side in not only the professional players, but other celebrities.
The match up of the night was former professional player Justin Gimelstob and hall-of-famer Pete Sampras. Sampras entered the court to bows from the audience and quickly proved the match was no joke to him.
Sampras questioned several calls early in the match, once saying "fault what?" and asking the chair umpire for an explanation.
At 6-foot-5-inches tall, Gimelstob is only four inches taller than Sampras, but he appeared to struggle much more as he chased down balls.
Gimelstob took the game in stride joking with front row audience members calling them "my five fans here in Beaumont."
The first all-celebrity match at Ford Arena on Friday paired Kournikova and television journalist Stone Phillips against professional tennis player Chanda Rubin and former NBA star John Lucas.
Phillip's got the crowd laughing right off the bat when he missed the first serve.
Emcee Wayne Bryan, whose twin sons Bob and Mike are currently ranked number one in the world in doubles, offered Phillips a second chance saying "somebody's cell phone went off."
Lucas impressed the crowd with not only his animated behavior, which included grunts, squeals and cries of "help," but also his skill. The 14-year NBA player hit several backwards shots and seemed to be unstoppable barely chasing down a baseline shot and then coming back for a successful winner on the next play.
At one point after a particularly long rally, Lucas sat on the sidelines.
"Does anybody have oxygen?" Bryan asked the crowd.
Lucas' partner Rubin won the final point of that game alone signaling that she didn't need him to come back.
The crowd was far from filling Ford arena, but audience members yelled encouragement at the players and laughed with their antics. Proceeds from ticket sales and from a silent auction of player memorabilia goes to the Children's Miracle Network, which provides support to the Christus Hospitals in Beaumont and Port Arthur.
Source: The Beaumont Enterprise
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