What a Racket

In their younger days, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, and Jimmy Connors were the best players in the world. Now the old tennis gods are competing against each other in a national tournament, the HSBC Tennis Cup, which is moving from city to city with a Thursday stop at...

By Penn Bullock

September 15, 2011

Audio By Carbonatix

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In their younger days, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Jim Courier, and Jimmy Connors were the best players in the world. Now the old tennis gods are competing against each other in a national tournament, the HSBC Tennis Cup, which is moving from city to city with a Thursday stop at the BankAtlantic Center. Here in South Florida, if you buy VIP tickets, you can participate in a tennis clinic with Connors, the world’s number one player for more than 200 weeks, and Sampras, a 14-time Grand Slam winner and perhaps the greatest tennis player who ever lived. The clinic begins at 3 p.m., and another one starts an hour later with Courier and the notoriously angry McEnroe (so don’t cross him). At 6 p.m., there’s a cocktail party with all four. At 7:30 p.m., they square off in one-set, semifinal matches and then a final (no VIP tickets needed to attend the matches). The stakes are real: At the end of the national tournament, the top three players split a $1 million pool.
Thu., Sept. 22, 3 p.m., 2011

Penn Bullock

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