December 10, 2006
Sampras-Ginepri draws 4,000 at Kennesaw State
By Steve Hummer
Professional tennis --- a diluted, non-threatening form of it, anyway --- returned to the Atlanta area Saturday night. Pete Sampras and Robbie Ginepri shadowboxed for three sets on a jigsaw SportCourt inside Kennesaw State University's convocation center, more a inter-generational scrimmage than high tournament drama.
This was Walkman vs. iPod. Pager vs. Blackberry. Madonna vs. Aguilera. Mostly for fun.
The old ways, for once, prevailed, 35-year-old Sampras beating 24-year-old Ginepri 6-3, 2-6, 6-3. He now has beaten the kid in two out of three exhibitions.
It was not exactly the Sampras of old, some of that for the better. Carrying on a running conversation with the crowd, he showed a lighter side of himself that he kept well buried while winning 14 Grand Slam titles --- half of them at Wimbledon.
"I still have a few tools in the shed," he told the crowd afterwards.
"Growing up and watching a lot of matches on TV, and now playing him, it's a completely different story," said Kennesaw's Ginepri, currently the world's No. 51-ranked player. "It's fun to see how he carries himself on and off the court. Just being around someone with the achievements he has is phenomenal."
Billed as a celebration of tennis in one of America's great tennis towns, Saturday night's FedEx Shootout drew a capacity crowd of 4,000 to the convocation center. Before the two pros took center stage, a procession of players representing the spectrum of tennis in the area sparred in a series of tie-breakers.
And by its numbers, the crowd spoke of an abiding interest in the sport. That brings up the question that has nagged Atlanta for years:
All these players, and no pro tournament anywhere in sight?
You can't throw a marshmallow in Publix most days without hitting an ALTA player buying her tennis-cut sub for that day's match. A metro area that boasts the largest group of recreational tennis players known to civilized man (ALTA has more than 80,000 members, USTA more than 45,000) enjoys basically the same professional exposure as Boise.
Here's the long-standing rap, voiced by Ginepri: "The people here want to play tennis, not go watch it."
After a 17-year run, the ATP's AT&T Challenge went away in 2001, its spot on the calendar sold off to Argentina like a used tractor.
Who could forget the Atlanta Thunder, World Team Tennis champion in 1991 and '92, headlined by Martina Navratilova? Or Davis Cup play and a U.S. Women's Hardcourt Championship doomed by poor attendance? All relics of Atlanta's past, gone with the wind. As relegated to tennis history as catgut.
But on a night when fans packed a make-do tennis arena in the suburbs, maybe the locals have been a little bad-rapped.
"That's a terrible rap," said Bill Oakes, former director of the AT&T Challenge, now working this region for the USTA and talking tennis on television and radio. "Our worst year ever --- 1998 --- we drew 67,000 fans over the nine days. When you look at the current tournaments in the United States, Houston, Newport, Las Vegas, San Jose have never drawn more than 67,000."
The AT&T total was more than 100,000 in 1994 when all went according to plan and Sampras, Andre Agassi, Todd Martin and Michael Chang all advanced to the semifinals. That was as good as it ever got.
Oakes said there has been a constant probing of the market to see if there is a spot for Atlanta on the pro calendar. The process is not unlike trying to buy and move an NFL franchise. Oakes said the next opportunity might not come until 2008, when the Houston tournament is expected to relocate.
"I think it's a horrible deal, but, look, until we get a tournament back and we can show we can do it, it's something that's going to stick on us a little bit," he said.
"We get thrown into the same thing with baseball and basketball --- the Braves don't draw during the playoffs, nobody goes to see the Hawks, nobody used to go see the Falcons until Michael Vick came along."
"And 'Nobody supports tennis, either' is just kind of added on."
For one night, Ginepri got to show off his stuff --- granted not his best, for this is normally his down time --- to his neighbors. He only got to play once in the AT&T, as a teenager in qualifying. From the wisps of an exhibition against a towering figure from the previous millennium, might he be able to construct a clear vision of playing more meaningful matches at home?
"We do more events like these, and hopefully good things will come," he said.