Local tennis fans got their annual
fix of former world beaters competing here over the weekend in another
memorable staging of the Residences at the Ritz-Carlton Grand Cayman Legends
Championships.
Three days of wonderful matches
involved some of the greatest names in the game and it was all for a good cause
because the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre benefited by US$63,000 in the process,
thanks to Ritz-Carlton developer Michael Ryan who organised the whole event and
always ensures the centre benefits.
Renee Carroll–Grate, executive
director of the Cayman Islands Crisis Centre, gratefully accepted the cheque.
Ryan said that he will continue giving to the crisis centre for as long as it
takes to eliminate domestic violence in Cayman.
In a pulsating final on Sunday,
Sweden’s Stefan Edberg beat Russia’s Marat Safin 7-6, 2-6 and 10-8 in the
champions’ tie-breaker to win his first title on the Champions Series and earn
$45,000.
“I felt good today,” said Edberg
who at 44 is 14 years older than Safin. “We ended up with a pretty good
tiebreaker, so it was a good end to the match. I was the lucky one today. It’s
always a point or two that makes a difference. I think he could have won
easily.” The Champions Series is for former world ranked players aged over 30.
Safin only retired from the Association of Tennis Professionals in April because
of injuries. He is the youngest on the circuit and it showed against Jim Courier,
40, on Saturday in the semi-finals when he won in two sets.
“I never played Stefan, just
watched him on TV, but I loved all his matches, of course, at Wimbledon, and I
love the way he played,” said Safin, the 2000 US Open champion and like Edberg
a former world No.1. “He’s in great shape. He serves well and moves around
pretty good. He’s good. He’s really good.”
Courier, who won the previous two
events here, was awarded the third-place finish when Jimmy Arias was unable to
compete due to a pulled hamstring, suffered during his semi-final loss to
Edberg on Saturday. Courier defeated Mikael Penfors 6-4, 6-3 in an exhibition
match played before the final.
The main sponsors were Cayman
Financial Review, Kiss 106.1FM, Tortuga, Butterfield Private Banking, Crighton
Properties, Christie’s Great Estates Dragon Bay and Residences at the
Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman. The players were accommodating throughout and even
turned out for some fun street tennis on Saturday for the kids, gave clinics at
the Tennis Club in South Sound and attended the ever popular Saturday Night
Whites Party at the Ritz-Carlton’s Periwinkle restaurant.
Mark Philippoussis, paced on
tournament victories in Boston and Surprise, Arizona, finished 2010 as the No.1
player in the Champions Series standings with 2,100 points. Courier finished
second with 1,700 points and John McEnroe finished third with 900.
All the players had a wonderful
time, as always, including Safin who kept smiling throughout despite getting
whacked in a delicate place during a pro-am game and having his passport
confiscated at immigration. There was little risk of the multi-millionaire
Safin trying to become a dependant of the Cayman government, but presumably,
immigration were not taking any chances.
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