The Boodles Classique 2013
Peter McNamara, the ‘Crocodile Dundee’ of tennis, is best remembered for his Grand Slam winning doubles partnership with fellow Aussie Paul McNamee, but he reached a singles career high of seventh in a very competitive era.
T e Gallic charm of Henri Leconte will be
among the numerous high profi le names to grace T e Boodles Classique. Perhaps Henri’s greatest moment in the game came as part of France’s successful Davis Cup team of 1991, which defeated the mighty US outfi t, including Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.
a £15m investment, which has resulted in the opening of a four star deluxe 81 bedroom hotel, Browns Restaurant and T e Club Lounge & Bar, to compliment the award winning spa and championship golf course. And lest we forget, aside from all the refi ned
entertainment, some fi rst rate tennis will be played. It will take fi ve days to build and dress the marque and Grandstand, and just one day to dismantle when festivities draw to a close on the Saturday. Slazenger, the tournament’s offi cial ball
sponsor, will be sending 100 tins of brand new tennis balls for use during matches and player practice. Over 60 offi cials and tournament staff will help oversee the event, including 18 ball boys and girls, 18 linesmen, one umpire, three drivers, six stewards, one physio and four glamorous Etihad air hostesses.
The players
The organisers have attracted an array of international names that will be familiar to even the most casual observers of the game.
Having broken the hearts of millions of
British tennis fans in 2001 when he saw off the challenge of Tim Henman in an epic Wimbledon Semi Final, Goran Ivanisevic still managed to capture the hearts of the public, when going on to win the tournament he entered as a wild card. After being greeted by nearly 200,000 fans upon return to his hometown of Split, this unprecedented feat led to him being crowned the BBC’s Overseas Sports Personality of the Year, a fi tting tribute considering the evidence that Goran’s sporting prowess goes beyond the tennis court. Having joined up with Croatian football club Hajduk Split for pre-season training in 1997, he had
to decline the off er of a place in the squad. Just months after his triumph on Centre Court, Goran began a compulsory fortnight of Croatian military service at an army camp!
During the height of his career, Mark
Philippoussis was known as having one of the most powerful serves in the game. His fastest recorded serve was 142mph, earning him the nickname ‘T e Scud’. In 1995, the Aussie became the youngest player in the world’s top 50 and four years later he helped his country defeat France in the Davis Cup.
Having beaten Pete Sampras in the Semi
Final, in 1996 Richard Krajicek featured in the only Wimbledon fi nal to be interrupted by a streaker. He now says the incident helped break the tension of the occasion. As if travelling the world as a tennis star wasn’t good enough, Richard is also married to stunning former Bond girl Daphne Deckers.
Before there was Tim, Greg and Andy, British tennis hopes tended to rest on the shoulders of Jeremy Bates, who won both the Australian Open and Wimbledon Mixed Doubles titles with Jo Durie, as well as carrying British Davis Cup hopes almost singlehandedly for many years.
As well as completing a career set of all four
grand slam men’s double titles, Anders Jarryd also has an Olympic medal to his name, having won a men’s doubles bronze at the 1988 Olympic Games.
Swede Mikael Pernfors, who reached the
French Open Final in 1986, has a golf handicap of three, making T e Mere Golf Resort & Spa perhaps his favourite venue on the Senior Tennis Tour!
For more information, visit,
www.theclassique.co.uk
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