Play for Life

Whenever I'm on a tennis court I marvel at the broad range of players taking the stage -- from children barely as tall as the net to seniors hardly able to chase down a ball. It's one of the huge draws that, unlike other sports, amateurs and professionals alike can play well into -- and often past -- their prime, and that once you start, you never want to stop.

Check out, for example, the Champions Tour which kicked off in Delray Beach this week. The eleven-tournament program which culminates in London in December attracted the likes of 1987 Wimbledon champ Pat Cash, seven-time Major winner Mats Wilander and former top-ten player Aaron Krickstein. The participants ranged in age from thirty-seven to fifty-one and boasted more than a few trophies between them. And in some highly contentious -- though still friendly -- matches, we saw some great tennis this week.

Ultimately former bad-boy John McEnroe and two-time U.S. Open champ Patrick Rafter played for the championship. True to form, neither man was broken during the almost two-hour match -- they served a combined fifteen aces and showed that, years out of the pro Tour, they still got it. Eventually it was the handsome Australian who took home the trophy, sailing through the second set tiebreak, 7-1, and taking four hundred points with him to the next round of the Tour.



Next up is the BNP Paribas Zurich Open where long-time favorites like Michael Chang, Stefan Edberg and Goran Ivanisevic will slam a few balls around. But even more important than bringing so many stars back out for the fans, the Tour proves just how much of a lifetime love this sport is. The Old Guard is still as strong and fit as the Young Guns and, in some cases, can even teach the kids a thing or two about how to play -- and how to be a champion.

And what better teachers could you possibly have?!

A Battle of (Former) Champions

Let the smack-talking begin.

This week some of the top names in tennis history are taking the court at Royal Albert Hall for the annual BlackRock Masters tournament -- and it didn't take long for the more vocal participants to lay down the gauntlet.

Onetime bad boy John McEnroe, posted a (presumably) facetious message on the tournament's website, warning opponents Stefan Edberg and the great (and my all-time favorite) Pete Sampras, that he was going to London to bring back a trophy and that he would go easy on no one.

Today McEnroe takes on Sampras, a first-time Masters atendee, in the headline match. Joining them in this week's battles are former stars like Henri Leconte and Tom Gullikson as well as hometown favorites like Greg Rusedski and Jamie Murray.



The BlackRock Masters are played in a similar fashion to the ATP Masters Cup, with two four-person round-robin draws each yielding one winner that will play in the finals on Sunday. Qualifying for the tournament, however, is a little different: players can no longer be active on the circuit and must have had at least one of three other qualifications:

• Held a #1 world ranking
  
• Played in at least one Grand Slam singles final
  
• Been a singles player on a Davis Cup Champion team
  

It's a great way to showcase the sport, bring some fan favorites back into the spotlight, and see some exciting matches that could never have existed on the regular tour. For some, like McEnroe, it's a chance to show-off a bit. For others, like Pete, it's an opportunity for redemption -- he hasn't been back to London since his 2002 second round defeat at Wimbledon, once the court over which King Sampras ruled.



But even though these champions have little to prove -- the field of 18 contestants has over 250 singles titles between them -- you can bet they'll come out with thier guns blazing. It's a shame we can't see McEnroe and Sampras in the finals, but wouldn't it be great to see a rematch between John and Edberg? Heck, I'd be thrilled to even see Pete and Stefan who've actually met a surprising fourteen times in the first half of the last decade.

In any case it'll be quite a show in London -- I'm already cheering for an encore!