SMU midfielder Jeff Harwell slides to keep the ball away from University of Central Arkansas defender Andrew O’Brien in a 5-1 win Oct. 12 at Westcott Field. (Casey Lee)
SMU’s brand new Turpin Tennis Stadium will host eight legendary tennis champions this week, including a guest appearance by Anna Kournikova, as part of the Stanford Championships.
The roster for the four-day tournament includes three-time Wimbledon champion Boris Becker, who will play in his first tournament in the United States since 1999. Accompanying Becker will be the former No.1 singles player in the world, Jim Courier, as well as 1999 U.S. Open finalist Todd Martin.
Karel Novacek, formerly the No. 8 player in the world, also will be in attendance, along with Aaron Krickstein, Thomas Enqvist, Jimmy Arias and Wayne Ferreira. Enqvist and Novacek were added as last-minute replacements following the injuries of Mikael Pernfors and Mark Philoppoussis.
Tickets are available for SMU students at a discount rate of $10 and are available by calling 877-332-8499 or online at http://www.championsseriestennis.com/dallas2008/tickets/php.
As part of the 2008 Outback Champions Series, the Stanford Championships showcase the top names in tennis over the age of 30. Eight events take place throughout the country, with each tournament offering $150,000 in prize money to the winner. Players also will be competing for points at each event, with the chance of a $100,000 bonus being awarded to the season’s top point earner.
So far, Martin, Courier, John McEnroe, Pat Cash and Krickstein each have one win beneath them going into the fifth event in the series at SMU. Previous locations for the event included Naples, Fla., Boston, Charlotte, Newport, R.I., and the Cayman Islands.
The first match of the eight-man, round-robin format begins at 6:30 this evening, featuring Martin versus Krickstein in Group A and Courier against Navocek in Group B. Tomorrow night, Enqvist takes on Arias and Becker tries to defeat Ferreira on the next court at 6:30 p.m. Friday, Ferreira takes on Novacek and Martin will play Arias at 1:30 p.m., followed by Enqvist against Krickstein and Courier versus Becker at 6:30.
Kournikova, a former No.1 doubles player in the world and a former Top-10 star of the WTA Tour, will be on site Saturday to participate in mixed doubles exhibition matches at 1:30 p.m. and 6:30 p.m.
The event ends Sunday with the championship match beginning at 1:30 p.m., paralleled by the third-place match on the other court.
In preparation for the event, SMU has added 2,200 seats to the Turpin Tennis Stadium, transforming the Mustangs’ courts into a mini tennis stadium. Organizers also added a 3,200-square-foot VIP tent that overlooks the courts.
Turpin Tennis Stadium was completed last spring and hosts the SMU men’s and women’s tennis teams.
