When international tennis stars rolled into Cayman
last month, they brought much more than their racquets and best shots;
they took time to mould Cayman’s future tennis players.
A plethora of international stars from the
last two decades headlined the 2011 edition of the KPMG Legends Tennis
tournament at the Residences of the Ritz Carlton in Grand Cayman.
Swiss sensation Martina Hingis and her
American counterpart Jennifer Capriati headlined the three day
tournament which raised thousands for junior tennis and the Cayman
Crisis Centre. Jimmy Arias, the perennial favourite, came again, Chanda
Rubin for the first time and it was nice to see Nick Bollettieri
inspiring the kids as he always does. Credit should go to Ritz-Carlton
developer Michael Ryan for meshing it all together again.
Local juniors like Simon Butler, James
Priaulx, Callum Theaker and Daniel Reid also got a chance to play in a
big tournament atmosphere. It was also nice to see Panav Jha, the
stand-out teenager hoping to pursue a career as a pro, playing in the
singles here.
Hingis teamed up with Australian heavy
hitter Mark Philippoussis and claimed the mixed doubles title, a new
feature to the tournament, while veteran Wayne Ferreira was the singles
winner. The extremely skilful Hingis was a perfect compliment to the
power of Philippoussis, who at times during the competition unleashed
his trademark serve.
When the pros weren’t on court they took time out
to work with several students and for the first time in the tournament’s
ten year history more than 1,350 students got the chance to the watch
tournament action for free; a master stroke by the tournament organisers
to include more of the Cayman community in the sport.
Dan Kneipp, the tournament director, said:
“The interest in this year’s competition was evident in each evening
session with thousands of locals soaking in the top level tennis and the
theatrics of Murphy Jensen and Arias who were guest umpires when not
playing.
“Not lost in the lively atmosphere was the
need for the competition to have a charitable element - and again the
Cayman Crisis Centre benefitted from the proceeds of a silent auction.
“So while the big name tennis stars drew the
crowds and changed the lives of the juniors the KPMG Legends Tennis
tournament left another indelible mark with its community service.”
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