Bhambri, Harrison to play with tennis legends
Ryan Harrison and Yuki Bhambri will get a chance to play with tennis legends Agassi and Sampras
Two Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy students will get the chance of a lifetime as they are going to play in The Venetian Macao Tennis Showdown with Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras. Joining Sampras and Agassi will be American youngster Ryan Harrison and Indian tennis phenom Yuki Bhambri.
Here is the press release:
(Macao, May 21, 2009) The fearsome and intense rivalry between Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras will be renewed at the 15,000 seat CotaiArena™ in their first clash in seven years at The Venetian® Macao Tennis Showdown 2009. On the same bill, will be rising stars Yuki Bhambri from India and Ryan Harrison from the United States.
The Agassi – Sampras encounter is sure to be a compelling replay of many of their historic contests, which were often epic in proportion, and which thrilled and endeared audiences all over the world. In their long and distinguished careers, Sampras ended with a 20-14 record against Agassi, and a 4-1 record in Grand Slam Finals, yet their matches were filled with passion and drama, and all of them fiercely contested. Andre defeated Pete to win the 1995 Australian Open, but lost to him at Wimbledon and the US Open, to include their historic final ever match in the 2002 US Open final. We remember too many of their finals as they were characterized by personal triumph or disaster.
The Venetian® Macao Tennis Showdown 2009 follows as the third in a line of vintage events staged at The Venetian® Macao-Resort-Hotel. It traces the inspiring successes featuring Roger Federer vs Pete Sampras in 2007, and John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg with James Blake and Roger Federer in 2008 – each event unique, each event making history in Macao and each played to capacity crowds. This year’s extravaganza will be one of contrasting styles – Pete a classic serve and volleyer, and Andre, a superfit, peerless baseliner – perfect ingredients for a sell-out contest between two of the most popular players that ever played the game. The contrasting backgrounds of Bhambri, who hails from India, and Harrison, who is from the United States, will only add to the excitement.
“We are very pleased with the overwhelming response of The Venetian® Macao Tennis Showdown events in 2007 and 2008, which have also helped position The Venetian® Macao as the pre-eminent destination for sports and entertainment events,” Mr. Steve Jacobs, President – Macao of Las Vegas Sands Corp added, “the event this year will surely make history again by staging one of the greatest rivalries in tennis history, whilst combining it with two future stars who are already writing their own entries in the annals of sporting greats for a truly unique tennis extravaganza.”
Former World No. 1 Pete Sampras enjoyed a stellar career, winning an unprecedented 14 Grand Slam titles, of which 7 were Wimbledon Titles, and holding the No. 1 position for six consecutive years from 1993 to 1998, an Open Era record, before retiring in 2002. He left the game with the accolade of being, perhaps, the greatest player of all time. Tennis Magazine rated him as the best from 1965 to 2005 and he was inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame in 2007.
Andre Agassi captured the hearts of the people. Innocence and vulnerability may have shone from his eyes, but the ruthless execution of his tennis stunned the fans…. his baseline power, his guile and sharp angles, together with an incomparable return of serve earned him the No. 1 spot in the World, plus 8 Grand Slam titles and an Olympic Gold Medal. It also led him to become the only player in the history of the game to win all four Grand Slam titles on the three different surfaces of grass, clay and hardcourt and hold the record for most ATP Masters Series titles. Andre was awesome with racket control, his speed around the court and his shotmaking, he was one of the few players who had the game which could tame the all conquering Pistol Pete…. qualities that marked him as one of the most entertaining and sought after players of all time. In 2001, Andre married tennis great Steffi Graf to form Tennis’ ultimate power couple.
Returning to Macao for the second time, Pete commented “I enjoyed my visit to The Venetian® Macao tremendously in 2007 so it was an easy decision to accept the invitation to return to The Venetian Macao and to renew the great rivalry with Andre.”
The popular Agassi said “I have followed The Venetian® Macao events featuring Roger, Pete, John, and Bjorn so when the opportunity arose to be part of The Venetian® Macao Tennis Showdown 2009 that would include Pete as well as two of the top juniors in the world, I was excited to join such an illustrious roster of top tennis names.”
The highly anticipated match-up between Sampras & Agassi will be preceded by a 45-minute timed singles match between two of the finest juniors in world tennis. Indian rising star and ITF Junior World No. 1 Yuki Bhambri will face Ryan Harrison, an American prodigy and one of two brothers scaling the junior heights. Bhambri became the first Indian to win the Junior Australian Open and the prestigious Orange Bowl title. And he recently won his first two ATP Futures titles back to back at age 16, knocking out the No. 1 seed in his latest final, thus soaring almost 800 places in the ATP rankings in the process. Harrison became the third youngest player since 1990 to win an ATP main draw match in 2008, winning at Houston, aged just 15 and last week reached his first ATP Challenger quarterfinal, defeating former World No. 21 Taylor Dent en route. Both train at the famous IMG Bolletieri Sports Academy in Florida where Agassi trained as a junior.
The third match of The Venetian® Macao Tennis Showdown will feature Pete and either Bhambri or Harrison against Andre and Harrison or Bhambri, with the pairings decided by draw at the Meet-the-Players Press Conference on October 24th. The one-day extravaganza will kick off at 2:00 p.m. on the long weekend of Sunday, October 25th.
Yuki commented “To play with Andre Agassi or Pete Sampras is of course a dream for any aspiring tennis player. To play with both is simply amazing. To do it in front of 15,000 people is beyond description. To say I am excited, is an understatement.”
His opponent Ryan said “To travel to Macao to participate in an event featuring two of the greatest American players of all time is a huge privilege and an honour, and extremely motivating to me to train and improve, in the hope that I may one day achieve a few of the things that they have achieved.”
Executive Match Director, Nick Freyer, Senior Vice President, IMG, Head of Tennis, Asia, concluded “Continuing the fine tradition of world class tennis, with the confirmation that Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras will be coming to Macao in October is an enormous pleasure, and I would like to thank The Venetian Macao-Resort-Hotel for their continued support in allowing history to be made. History, I hope, that will bring joy and smiles to the 15,000 people we think will attend, but also to the millions who will be able to watch on television.”
The Showdown will once again feature an online charity auction, which will offer prized personal items from both players and experiences such as the on-court coin toss, with proceeds being divided between the Andre Agassi Foundation, dedicated to transforming public education for underserved youth, Sampras’ Aces for Charity Program and Make-A-Wish HK/Macau”, which grants wishes to children suffering from life-threatening illnesses.
Organisers believe that tickets will be red-hot items. Tickets go on sale tomorrow, Friday, May 22nd at 10am and can either be reserved online at www.cotaiticketing.com or by phone at +853 2882 8818 (Macao) and +852 6333 6660 (Hong Kong), or in person at Sands Macao Lobby and CotaiArena™ Box Office. Ticket prices have been set at MOP/HKD $980, $780, $480 and $280. Corporate Boxes are also available. Fans can visit the event’s website at www.venetiantennisshowdown.com for further details of the event.
