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 World TeamTennis

WTT Event a Smash Hit for Charity

by Fran Stuchbury
October 20, 2015 - World TeamTennis (WTT)


Mylan WTT Smash Hits Lineup
Mylan WTT Smash Hits Lineup
(, Credit: CameraworkUSA)

Covering the World TeamTennis Philadelphia Freedoms, the league's Eastern Conference Championship and Championship in Washington D.C. and witnessing the Washington Kastles win a fifth straight WTT Championship proved to be a great experience, and I wanted to cover WTT Smash Hits in Las Vegas on October 12th as well.

This was my third trip to Las Vegas covering an event. In 2005 I covered ArenaBowl XIX at the Thomas & Mack Center where the Colorado Crush defeated the Georgia Force, 51-48, for the Arena Football League title. In 2009 I covered the inaugural United Football League Championship at Sam Boyd Stadium where the Las Vegas Locomotives defeated the Florida Tuskers, 20-17, in overtime.

WTT Smash Hits is an all-star charity tennis event co-hosted by Sir Elton John and Billie Jean King. The one-night event benefits the Elton John AIDS Foundation (EJAF) and Aid for AIDS of Nevada (AFAN). This annual event started in 1993 and has raised more than 13 million for EJAF and various local charity events throughout the U.S.

The all-time series between Team Elton and Team Billie Jean is tied at 11-11. During the pre-match press conference both Billie Jean King and Sir Elton John did some trash talking, wanting their teams to win to earn bragging rights.

Here is a look at the players who competed in this charity event.

Team Billie Jean King

Andre Agassi

WTT Teams played for - Sacramento Capitals 2002, 2003, 2004; Philadelphia Freedoms 2009; Boston Lobsters 2012

13th year playing WTT Smash Hits

Agassi has won 60 singles titles, eight of them grand slam titles. In 1994 he created the Andres Agassi Foundation for Education. He is married to Stefanie Graf and they live in Las Vegas. During the pre-match press conference they both said they were thrilled to be playing in Las Vegas.

Stefanie Graf

WTT Teams played for - Houston Wranglers 2005

3rd year playing WTT Smash Hits

Graf has won 22 Grand Slam titles. She is the only player to win each of the Grand Slam events at least four times. She was ranked number one for a WTA record 277 weeks, the longest for any male or female since the rankings began.

James Blake

WTT Teams played for - Hartford FoxForce 2000, 2002, 2003; Boston Lobsters 2005, 2010, 2011; Philadelphia Freedoms 2012; New York Sportimes 2013; Springfield Lasers 2014

2nd year playing WTT Smash Hits

Blake won 10 singles and seven doubles titles. He created the James Blake Foundation to support early detection cancer research.

Tracy Austin

WTT Teams played for - New Jersey Stars 1989; Raleigh Edge 1993

3rd year playing WTT Smash Hits

Austin competed in the first WTT Smash Hits in Los Angeles, California in 1993. She is a two-time US Open singles champion (1979 and 1981). She won 30 singles titles and four doubles trophies. In 1992 at the age of 29, she became the youngest person inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame.

Team Elton John

Andy Roddick

WTT Teams played for - Idaho Sneakers 2000; St. Louis Aces 2001, 2002, 2003, 2005; Philadelphia Freedoms 2010; Springfield Lasers 2013; Austin Aces 2014

11th season playing WTT Smash Hits

Roddick won the 2003 US Open. He also won 32 singles titles and four doubles titles and finished in the top 10 of the ATP rankings for nine straight years (2002-2010). In May 2013 he joined the WTT ownership group along with Venus Williams.

Martina Navratilova

WTT Teams played for - Cleveland Nets 1976; Boston Lobsters 1977, 1978, 2005, 2006, 2008, 2009; Los Angeles Strings 1981; Atlanta Thunder 1991, 1992, 1993; New Jersey Stars 1994, 1995; Delaware Smash 1996, 1998, 2001; Schenectady County Electrics 1999, 2000; Philadelphia Freedoms 2003; New York Buzz 2004

11th year playing WTT Smash Hits

Navratilova captured 59 Grand Slam titles "" 18 singles, 31 doubles and 10 mixed. She won 20 combined Wimbledon titles, tying Billie Jean King for the most in the event's history.

She also played in a record 20 WTT seasons and led her teams to five championships.

Lindsay Davenport

WTT Teams played for - St. Louis Aces 2001, 2010; New York Buzz 2002; Newport Beach Breakers 2003, 2008; Sacramento Capitals 1993, 1997, 1998, 2007; Orange County Breakers 2012

4th year playing WTT Smash Hits

Davenport won three Grand Slam titles: 1998 US Open, 1999 Wimbledon and 2000 Australian Open. She won 55 singles titles and 38 doubles titles and finished ranked number one at the end of the season four times (1998, 2001, 2004 and 2005). She captured WTT Female MVP honors twice (1997 and 2010) and won three titles when she played with the Sacramento Capitals (1997, 1998 and 2007)

Mardy Fish

WTT Teams played for - Hartford FoxForce 2004; Houston Wranglers 2005, 2006; Sacramento Capitals 2012, 2013

Fish won six singles titles and eight doubles titles. He was a silver medalist at the Summer Olympics in Athens, Greece in 2004.

He has been a longtime member of US Davis Cup team.

After the pre-match press conference there was a live auction. Among the top auction items was a $100,000 bid for a private hitting session with Andre Agassi and Stefanie Graf and two signed Elton John piano benches, which sold for $30,000 each.

For smaller budgets, a merchandise stand was set with items such as T-shirts with all procedds going to the Elton John AIDS Foundation and AIDS of Nevada.

In attendance was public address announcer Joe Cipriano who is a television announcer and works for CBS and FOX. He is also the voice for shows such as Americas Got Talent and Hollywood Game Night and a show that is taped in Las Vegas at Bally's Monopoly Millionaires Club. He also does promos for CBS and FOX.

His friend, John Lloyd, is a tennis pro and was hired to be the WTT San Diego Aviators head coach. Lloyd convinced his team to hire Cipriano, saying, "You have to hire my buddy Joe to be the public address announcer for the Aviators." Cipriano got the job with the team. He was asked and felt honored to be the public address announcer for this event. Also he is a big tennis fan and plays three times a week.

WTT did a good job having a lot of volunteers helping out with the event. Fans were taken care of, and everyone received a Mylan WTT stress tennis ball.

Team Elton John defeated Team Billie Jean King 17-11.

A celebrity set that didn't count in the final score saw Sir Elton John and Martina Navratilova defeat Andre Agassi and Stefanie Graf 3-2. Even at the age of 68, fans saw Sir Elton John make some nice shots.

In Men's Doubles, Team Elton's Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish defeated Team Billie Jean King's Andre Agassi and James Blake 5-3.

In Women's Doubles, Lindsay Davenport and Martina Navratilova defeated Stefanie Graf and Tracy Austin 5-2 to give Team Elton a commanding 10-5 lead.

Team Billie Jean King got back into the match in Mixed Doubles when Andre Agassi and Stefanie Graf defeated Team Elton 5-2 to cut Elton's lead to 12-10. It came as little surprise the husband and wife duo won that set.

In Men's Singles, Team Elton's Andy Roddick defeated Team Billie Jean King 5-1 to gave Team Elton the 17-11 victory.

During the match all the players were playing competitively, but they did give the crowd some fun moments, including giving one child and two ball kids a chance to play a couple of points during the match. Signed tennis balls were hit into the stands for fans. After the match was over, Martina Navratilova signed several autographs for fans.

WTT Smash Hits raised more than $1 million for the Elton John AIDS Foundation with a portion of those proceeds benefitting local charity Aid for AIDS of Nevada. Half of the money earned came in during the silent auction.

Team Elton now has the 12-11 edge in the all-time series. Even though her team was on the losing end of the final score, Billie Jean King was thrilled with the Las Vegas debut of WTT Smash Hits. "We raised a lot of money for EJAF and left money locally for HIV/AIDS organizations," she said. "And the players come for nothing every year, so they are amazing. The crowds were so packed tonight; we had to turn people away. I loved being here at Caesars Palace, but I have to live with being down to Elton now for a full year. He will be reminding me of it."




Images from this story

Mylan WTT Smash Hits Lineup
Mylan WTT Smash Hits Lineup

(CameraworkUSA)
  

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