Hey everybody, sorry it’s taken me so long to update you on coverage from the Champions Tour! I haven’t been sleeping much the past few days trying to cover all the bases and put myself in the right situations to gather as much as I can from this very unique experience. Right after the Staples Center event ended, Pete going away with the HSBC title, I had booked a one-way ticket to Vegas at 7:30am Saturday morning. I managed to get 3 hours of sleep the night of the HSBC Cup before driving to LAX and parking my car in overnight parking. Hopped on the plane and was in Vegas in no time, couldn’t get any sleep on that flight unfortunately. Landed, and had hours to kill so I just hung around the airport for a bit before heading to the Thomas & Mack Center on UNLV’s campus, the site for the CTCA Championships. Andre was the main attraction this time, flipping the script on the previous night’s event where Sampras was the home town hero, and Agassi was the away player. I managed to catch the clinics that the players put on with vip guests who pay to have the opportunity to play out some points for about an hour with the legends. Agassi was paired with Courier, Sampras with Mac, same as it was at Staples. Andre was in a fine mood as the banter between him, Courier, and the clinic participants was hilarious!

The media and press on hand were all local companies, and their main focus was again, Agassi. He’s able to attract so many people and the fact that this CTCA Championships is the only major professional event in Vegas, it makes it a great opportunity for fans to come out and watch tennis (something that is not that easy to do in a city like Las Vegas). Much of the questions asked were again about Djokovic’s year, hypothetical comebacks, future of American tennis, etc. I realized after reading my previous blog from the Staples event that I don’t want to make you read a novel so I’ll just say that much of the answers were the same. Continuing on, when the matches were in play, maybe it was my energy levels or the fact that I had seen the tennis from the previous night or the excitement was wearing off a bit (Shocking I know), but I found myself gazing into the stands or looking anywhere but the court! I think there are two very BIG reason for this to happen. The crowd in Vegas was electric, people were HAPPY to be watching tennis and enjoying the jokes and antics the players put on. Remember, Las Vegas doesn’t have a professional event anymore, no more Tennis Channel Open held at Darling Center, so they are tennis-starved! The city boasts a very healthy tennis population that represents well in the USTA Intermountain Region, I’m familiar with this because BYU was in the same region in collegiate aspects. The second reason why I may have been distracted is because you never know who will show up to an event in Vegas, and possibly because there were plenty of gorgeous sexy women in attendance as well! Hahaha The Thomas & Mack Center wasn’t completely sold out, the sides of the stands were actually completely full, but the people there really enjoyed the show and I got the feeling it was becoming a very special night!

The level of tennis was good up until the final where it looked like Sampras fatigued first. He dropped his opening service game and couldn’t recover afterwards. Few double faults, some Agassi forehands, and a blown volley was pretty much the difference. The crowd kept shouting out support Agassi and Anti-Pete sentiments right before serves or during quieter moments between points. At one point, Agassi called across the net in a gruff voice: “You used to be so good!”. At which point, Pete hunched his shoulders, looked dejected, and walked off the court slumping! The crowd sympathized after about 10 seconds realizing he wasn’t coming out. Everyone started cheering and Pete came bolting out of the tunnel as a restored warrior! I thought this was an awesome thing to witness because you can tell the players are really having fun with it, aren’t acting too sensitive at all, and the crowd isn’t truly Anti towards any of the players, they are lightly involving themselves in the old rivalries. Trust me, the production builds up the rivalries too, old clips of their battles on court during Slam finals adorned with famous rock n roll licks and beats. It’s such a fun environment, I’m still smiling through it all despite my exhaustion. The post-final inteviews on court were some of the best I’ve ever heard. Pete admitted to him being “Cheap”, but praised Agassi immensely for improving his own game through the years as well as being a great fixture in Vegas tennis. He said it way more eloquently which is why I’m struggling to remember it all because it really was captivating. When Agassi gave his speech, he hit home run after home run with sentiments about his tennis history, fan support, continued tennis success in the city of Las Vegas, and a continuation of the Champions Series Tour next year! I also forgot to mention, during one of the changeovers in the final, Brett Haber announced over the mics that the Las Vegas Mayor had declared the day to be Champions Series Tennis Day, recognizing that Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, Jim Courier, and John McEnroe are doing a great service to the city by providing tennis to the masses. Kinda cool huh? After the event, I decided to hang with a few friends who were also in Vegas at the time and finally have some downtime. It was a relaxing night until I realized I had a flight at 6:30am Sunday morning. Ugh, I gathered up my bags, got on the plane and headed home. Now back in Orange County, I have a few HD videos to upload and share with you guys, until then you’ll just have to be patient… I will give you some photos to enjoy though! So… Enjoy! I need to get some sleep and get back on the court tomorrow, talk to you soon.

Loved every minute of the Champions Series Tennis in Los Angeles and Las Vegas,

Shubert