October 28th, 2007 UCLA Club Tennis Officers Invited to Sampras vs Courier Match
After belaboring over the running of seven Club practices the officers of UCLA Club Tennis were treated to a spectacular event by former Competitive Squad coach Grant Chen. On October 28th, 2007, legendary tennis superstars Pete Sampras played against Jim Courier in a best-of-three-sets charity event benefiting the Miracle Match Foundation at the Arena in Anaheim Convention Center.
The Miracle Match Foundation, established in 1997 by former pro Bill Przybysz, aims to find and unite miracle matches "for all individuals and their families challenged with stem cell related disorders through medical based facilities around the world" (from the Miracle Match Foundation website).
Club Communications Director Adeline Yang chauffeured President Emily Watt along with officers Evan Liu and Nicole Aponte to the event, which was situated directly across the street from renowned Disneyland themeparks.
Courier won the toss and started off the match on his service, but throughout the two sets had difficulty holding onto his service games and quickly fell to a 2-6 deficit within an hour of the match's commencement. He held true to form, however, with a startlingly compact two-handed backhand sans backswing and remarkably tight finish. He moved spectacularly on the court, even twice lobbing back Sampras' overheads before smacking a smoking winner down the line. Once or twice in the match Courier busted out his infamous inside-out forehand, painting the lines and rousing the crowd to euphoric applause.
Sampras, however, clearly demonstrated an unquestionable superiority on the court. Countless times Courier cornered Sampras into seemingly hopeless situations and almost every time Sampras calmly, precisely, and brutally burned him down. In one point, Courier had taken dominance at net and tactfully put Sampras out of position, running him around from side to side. Courier then placed a particularly gorgeous backhand volley, surely a winner, crosscourt on the farside of Sampras. Sprinting as if he were a young buck of twenty, Sampras seamlessly bent low and effortlessly exploded a down-the-line bomb at the hapless Courier.
Courier, for his part, succeeded in winning over an originally quiet crowd through his on-court antics. He frequently teased audience members. When an enthusiastic group sitting courtside by Courier called one of Sampras' shots out, Courier gleefully directed his racket towards the gathering and nodded his head in approval. Another time Sampras dropped a service-box flipper and Courier raced forward, returned it, but kept on going and ended up on Sampras's side of the court; Sampras thereby jubilantly floated a winner onto Courier's empty side of the court. Courier, walking back, squatted down near the ballgirl at the net post and began directing her on how to retrieve Sampras's shots for him. "Next time, you get it," admonished Courier, to the befuddled youth.
Although Courier seemingly picked up his game during the second set by cutting down on unenforced errors and adding greater spin to his secondary kickserve, he fought an uphill battle against an increasingly accelerating Sampras who soon became unstoppable. Following an initially close run, Courier could not maintain the pace and fell to Sampras 4-6 in the second set. Sampras launched ace after terrific ace at Courier, and after Courier expressed his discontent at Sampras' miraculous service game, Sampras offered some advice: "This one is going down the line."
Unfortunately he missed the first serve, but Sampras did nail the second one and scored a service winner on the struggling Courier. On top of his astounding service, though, Sampras absolutely murdered Courier's serves; with returns reminiscent of long-time rival Andre Agassi Sampras easily quelled the best serves Courier had to offer. Thus, when asked about his odds against current World ATP number one Roger Federer, Sampras replied, "Pretty good. At least I'd put up a good fight at the start. He's the world number one now, I was number one like, ten years ago."
Sampras is currently the number one ranked player on the Outback Champions Series, and Courier is ranked second.
Immediately following the match Adeline and Nicole approached a red-haired man sitting in the row before them who bore a striking resemblance to a castmember from Grounded for Life. The two, flustered about approaching a possible celebrity, pandered about the walkway for a few anxious moments before Adeline brazenly walked up to him and asked, "Are you from that show Grounded for Life?" At his friendly nod of confirmation, she continued, "My friend here, Nicole, is a huge fan and would really like an autograph. Would you mind...?" and thus, both girls obtained autographs and a photo op with Donal Logue.
They then attempted to chase down Sampras and Courier. Luckily Sampras walked right by row 116 where the UCLA squad was sitting, and so both Nicole and Adeline were able to snag a quick squiggle from the Tennis Great. On their way out of the stadium the two girls spotted Courier standing courtside contentedly signing autographs and posing for pictures. Quick to take advantage as all tennis players should, the girls squirmed their way through the seething masses and soon both attained an additional autograph from another of tennis' finest.
After a satisfying and thoroughly filling dinner at the 24/7 diner Norms the four weary troopers returned to UCLA around 12 AM that night. As each headed for their respective residences, all agreed it was a day well spent and they were refreshed and ready for UCLA Club Tennis Practice... number EIGHT!
