Posted on: July 13th, 2011
Sampras, King draw crowds in Newport
- petepageJuly 11, 2011By LORI BASHEDA
Tennis legends Pete Sampras and Billie Jean King brought out the crowds Saturday night for a World Team Tennis match at the Tennis Club at Newport Beach.
The Newport Beach Breakers lost the match in overtime to the New York Sportimes, but everyone seemed to have a good time anyway. The intimate Breakers stadium, next to Fashion Island, holds 1,200 seats. Only 125 tickets went unsold. The night raised thousands of dollars for Hoag Hospital's diabetes center.
Before the match, Sampras – who is playing WTT this summer for Newport Beach -- was reminded by the press that he won a CIF singles championship at the club back in '87, when he was 15, but he had no recollection. "Did I really?" he asked. "Wow. That's crazy."
King, who didn't play but introduced the teams, then told the press that any child, or adult for that matter, who plays tennis should get themselves a tape of Sampras serving and then play it on a loop until they can copy his service motion. When I asked for her best memories of growing up in Long Beach, she said it would be playing tennis on the public courts there, a different one each day of the week. One of those courts is now named after her, but she still calls it by the old name, Rec Park, saying she can't bring herself to call it her own name. "That's embarrassing," she said.
Source: OC Register
Recent Headlines
April 01, 2012
November 20, 2011
October 29, 2011
October 01, 2011
July 13, 2011
- "Li Na and Friends" to square off with Sampras and others at two-day tennis event in Wuhan - petepage
June 18, 2011
May 04, 2011
Back to News