Hit for Haiti

Friday night is date night for Karen and I.  Kameron is spending the night with his friend Jordon. I had gotten home first from the club and started to string 1 of the 4 racquets for the night.  I turned on the TV and went to the Tennis Channel #411 and there it was – The Hit for Hati in Indian Wells.

Karen got home from the tax office and instead of going out to eat, we ate peanut butter & jelly so we could watch this special event.

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Steffi Graff and Lindsey Davenport vs Martina Navratilova and Justine Henin – a collection of 50 Grand Slam Titles.  They were wired for sound and Martina dominate the running commentary as the match was played out before a sold out crowd of 60,000 fans in an event put on by Larry “E” from Oracle.  It was motivated by Roger Federer’s event at the Australian Open in January.

There goal $1,000,000 for the Red Cross relief fund.

Round 1 – Ladies Doubles

The tennis was awesome.  Justin, who just a couple of hours earlier had fallen to defeat in the 1st round of Indian Wells was out there and loving being on the court with all these special players. Martina who is just 2 years removed from winning a US Open MXD title with Bob Bryan.  Lindsey, who after 2 children is coming back to play World Team Tennis and Steffi Graff who has two children with Andre and plays little.

Great points - huge Steffi forehand, killer Lindsey backhand, angled Martina volleys and Justin’s amazing quickness and backhand.  They laughed, tried not to be the first one to serve, talked about their children and were admittedly concerned about – not looking bad on the court.

Steffi said no tennis for her children – baseball. Martina said, “Why not, tennis is a great sport?”  Steffi said the kids have not shown any particular interest in tennis at this point.  What a waste of a talent pool! Steffi & Andre – got to be some great tennis genes in there.

Round 2 – Men’s Doubles

Rafa Nadal and Andre Agassi vs Pete Sampras and Roger Federer.  Not as many Grand Slam Titles but some pretty awesome players and points.  The tennis was a little more serious.  Andre was a crack up with a running commentary of ‘Trash-Talking’ to Roger and Pete.

Andre would predict how fast he would serve and be within 1 mph of the speed he predicted.  He joked about receiving Pete’s serve at a break point and joked that he had been there before.  He challenged Roger, smacked a few winners pass both Roger and Pete and hit a couple of aces. The tennis was high quality and high energy.

Pete was quiet as usual until he finally told Andre he was going to add some humor – he imitated Andre’s walk and how he tucks his shirt – everyone laughed. Then – OOPS – Andre imitated Pete by pulling his pockets on his warm up pants inside out and saying he had no money to tip.  THINGS GOT QUIET – there was an uneasy tension in the stadium and on the court.

Pete was visibly upset with the humor – everyone in the commentary booth sensed it as well.  There were a few more barbs tossed back and forth.  Pete told Andre he made it “personal”.  At one point Pete served at Andre who was standing on the baseline while Rafa was receiving.  Andre did not take well to that.  Rafa and Andre broke Pete and on the change over, Justin “G” went down to the players on the side line and tried to “lighten up the mood” on the court.

The mood on the court the remainder of the match was – not as much fun. Roger did a great job – as the neutral Swiss – in trying to bridge the gap and bring the fun back.  Finally Andre attempted to lighten things up a little but not with much success.

Roger and Pete won the match to 8 games.  Nadal spoke little as did Pete.  After the match, Pete and Andre gave each other a hug.  Pete said, “I love you Andre,” but you never got the sense that things would be well between the two.  Andre had written in his book about Pete being a bad tipper and Pete had not liked the comment then and had addressed it with the press and supposedly with Andre.

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We were reminded about the true intent of the event and things got back on track as a $1,000,000 check was presented to Haitian Relief.  Tony Bennett sang “Smile”, a song influenced by the great Charlie Chaplin.  They showed scenes from Haiti and the coming of smiles as the Red Cross offered food and aid to the victims.

Karen and I never made it out on our date night – but she loved the tennis and seeing the best players having fun and for a great cause.  I got my 4 racquets strung and hoped for dry courts on Saturday morning.

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