Tennis Anyone?

Well, let’s see, I am going to go from writing a blog about Tolstoy, the author of Anna K[arenina] to.... hmmm... the tennis world, and another interesting Anna K.
Anna Kournikova.
This evening (Saturday) I went to the 2005 Legendary Nights Tennis Classic. It was very entertaining. (I am writing this blog quite late, early Sunday morning which is really still Saturday night, since I have not slept yet). I love tennis, and so I knew I would enjoy this show, but really, it was much better than I even thought it would be.
The four stars of the evening were John McEnroe, Jim Courier, Jana Novotna, and (meooooow).... Anna Kournikova.
The night began (at 7 p.m.) with Jana and Anna playing a set. It was very close, but in the end Jana won this duel of the females. It was a no-nonsense contest fought by four of the best legs I have ever seen assembled in one building.
Then the big guns came out. It was so awesome to see John and Jim go for broke. In one absolutely crazy rally both of them made those absolutely impossible between-the-legs-and-backwards-Hail-Mary shots! My voice was hoarse by the end of this match. Which McEnroe.... yes, the old-timer, won.
He is such a nut. His expressions are just priceless. There is an intimidating presence about him and a finesse to his style of play that is just mind-boggling.
Courier’s serve dazzled me. If I was on the receiving end of any one of them, I would have merely stood there in the traditional half-crouch, peeing myself as the ball whizzed past my left or right ear.
During this match, McEnroe (in fine fashion) slapped at the net with his racket rather violently, breaking it, and drawing a fictional and disregarded infraction warning from the net judge. McEnroe went over and got a new racket.
At the end of the match, in what seemed an entirely impromptu gesture, McEnroe took control of the microphone while being interviewed, and strutted around the court, soliciting the crowd in auctioneer fashion for bids on his busted racket. He would auction it off, sell it to the highest bidder, and he declared that he would match any final bid, and that the combined proceeds would then go to the victims of this newest hurricane that is raging through Texas.
Well, the bidding began at one hundred dollars and quickly, within minutes, soared to the surprising height of $2,400.00.
“SOLD” to this guy in the front row, courtside.
So there you go.... “$4,800.00. Before you could say “Bob’s your uncle.”
Then the girls returned to the court. I got the binoculars back out of the case.
A doubles match, John and Anna vs. Jim and Jana.
Each had microphones now, and the audience could hear all the on-court comments from the players. It was hilarious (especially McEnroe, although Courier is also extremely witty and nutty).
Then a really neat thing happened, and I think this was sort of the highlight of the evening, The announcer introduced two up-and-coming Canadian Juniors champions, (one male, one female) and I regret that I do not recall either of their names. The guy was about 16 years old, and the girl....13! I will find out their names and revise this blog later, because really, they deserve recognition. They were AWESOME. They substituted on the doubles teams, and by the end of the set they had played pretty much alongside and against all four of these stars. They really held their own, against these great players. And of course, the microphone banter became ever more hilarious as the night went on. At one point, Jim Courier quipped “Oh this will be a good story for John’s six kids later. He’ll have to tell them he was beaten tonight by a thirteen-year old girl!”
All in all, this was a superb 4 hour-long show. I highly recommend that you go and see it if it comes your way.

Anna once said "You don't think people would go on about my looks if I was No. 500 in the world instead of No.12, do you? Anyway, as I keep telling everyone, you can't blame me for looking like this on purpose."
Admittedly, that is quite an old quote. But Anna K., let the bookpuddle record show that I, for one, shall never blame you for looking as you do.
Anna K.
The reason binoculars were invented!
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