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THE
SCOOP: TUESDAY, NOVEMBER 19
Roddick,
Courier donate time to charities
By
Sandra Harwitt
tennisreporters.net
If
you’re wondering what tennis players do during there brief
six-week holiday period at the end of the year, the answer is
simple. There’s a little bit of relaxation, quite a lot of
training and refining of their games, and often some time spent
for worthy causes.
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Ron
Cioffi
tennisreporters.net
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During
this past weekend, Andy Roddick, the newest star to hit the tennis
circuit in 2000, lent his time to SWINGTIME, a charity event that
benefits the Tim & Tom Gullikson Foundation. The event took
place about 40-minutes north of his Boca Raton home and Roddick
participated in the tennis pro-am, was the main attraction of
the tennis exhibition and appeared at a Saturday night dinner.
One
event of the weekend that Andy said he would take part in if necessary
but preferred to beg off of was the golf pro-am. Word is that
Andy isn’t as nearly confident about his golf swing as his
service motion and skipped hitting the links.
Roddick was scheduled to play an eight game pro-set against tour
veteran Todd Martin for the intimate gathering at the Ibis Country
Club, but Martin pulled his back during the pro-am and couldn’t
go on. In a charitable spirit, Jim Courier, stepped up to the
plate and filled in. Seeing Courier just as he was about to take
the court, he laughingly told me, “I’m about to go out
there and get beat up on by the young guy.”
Not
to worry – Courier still had many of his classic weapons
even though these days he considers himself a working musician
and tennis a hobby.
The
exhibition, which went down to a tiebreaker, was better than most
since both players understood the formula – this is entertainment,
but the people would like to see some real tennis, too. One shot
that Roddick didn’t let up on was his favorite lethal weapon
– the serve. Although Brett Haber, a well-known sports announcer
who served as emcee, reminded Roddick this was an exhibition,
Roddick understood that people wanted to see his famous serve
up close and personal. At one point, Courier laughingly looked
over to the crowd and asked for suggestions on how to handle the
Roddick serve. Some thoughts were that ducking would be the safest
and most advisable course of action, but one spectator who took
the question seriously told Courier he needed to use Andre Agassi’s
return-of-serve. Courier quickly quipped to the gentleman, “If
I had Agassi’s return-of-serve I’d still be on tour.”
Musician – maybe the now very chatty Courier should have
taken up comedy.
The
evening affair included an auction and many of the players dipped
into their wallets to raise money for the Gullikson Foundation.
The Foundation was founded in 1995 after the late Tim Gullikson
was diagnosed with brain cancer. The Foundation has raised over
$2 million to fund care and support programs for brain-tumor patients
and their families.
Courier
and Justin Gimelstob went Hollywood with their donation, splitting
an $8,000 bid to spend the day with “General Hospital”
actress Tava Smiley for lunch, yoga, hiking and sightseeing in
Los Angeles. Todd Martin kicked in $1,500 for a weekend for two
in New York and the opportunity to go to a Mets game with former
Mets star Keith Hernandez. Roddick went for $6,500 to purchase
an original painting by artist Sal Principe called “A Gift
of the Heart” to remember September 11.
Roddick
isn’t done with his charitable contribution quite yet. In
December, the 18-year-old will unveil his own charity event weekend
in the South Florida community.
TENNIS IS GOOD ECONOMICS
Can a tennis tournament contribute to the economic stature of
a community? According to a study conducted by The George Washington
University School of Business and Public Administration the 2001
Tennis Masters Series-Indian Wells played last March offered an
economic impact of $100,067,881 to the local Coachella Valley
region. The Coachella Valley, a resort and retirement community
in the California desert, receives a large portion of its economic
boom from the tournament from fans that travel to the area expressly
to attend the event and spend an average of $1,766 in the community.
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