Wednesday, December 30, 2009
Home
National
Sports
Business
Lifestyles
Religion
Arts & Culture
Pulse
Spice
Editorial
letters
Opinion
Foodie
Sportscope
Real Talks
Weekend Report
PDF's
Classifieds
Contact
About Us
Archive
Weather
| |
||
|
||
|
||
Letters | Opinion | Editorial | Weekend Report |
|
 |
|
Pro players begin to arrive By THE BAHAMAS WEEKLY ~ For the Guardian: The first of the participants in the Mark Knowles Celebrity Tennis Invitational are due to arrive in New Providence this week. Anna-Lena Groenefeld was set to arrive in town yesterday. She partnered with Knowles to win the Wimbledon Mixed Doubles Championship this year and it will be a great opportunity for The Bahamas to show their gratitude to her and welcome her to Knowles' home country on her first visit to The Bahamas. Knowles and Groenefeld will take on the doubles team of Martin Damm and Olga Savchuk as a part of the exhibition slated to start at 3:00 p.m. on Saturday, December 5 at the National Tennis Centre, Queen Elizabeth Sports Centre. German-born Groenefeld has an impressive career profile with a current singles ranking of number 63 in the world and a world doubles ranking of number 14. She also had an outstanding junior career. In 2002 she was the singles champion of both the Belgium and Frankfurt International Championships and a finalist at the Orange Bowl. In July 2003, she won the Apple and Eve Newsday Long Island Classic, held in Woodbury, New York, defeating Bethanie Mattek in the final. She is an accomplished doubles player, winning the French Open title and reaching the final at Wimbledon. As a result of her tennis success in 2003, Groenefeld had achieved the junior world ranking of number one in singles and doubles. Also, Groenefeld has singles wins over Daniela Hantuchova, Alize Cornet and with doubles partner Patty Snyder, has won numerous ladies doubles titles. Also set to arrive yesterday was former world number one doubles player and Wimbledon Doubles Champion Jared Palmer of the United States. Palmer has some very impressive credentials and results. He was the winner of the 1995 Australian Open Men's Doubles Championship, the winner of the 2001 Wimbledon Men's Doubles Championship, the winner of over 28 ATP and World doubles titles and a finalist in 23. He was ranked number one in doubles on ATP Tour in 1994, was an Australian Doubles Champion in 1995, was a Wimbledon Doubles Champion in 2001 and a finalist in 1999, a U.S. Open Doubles Champion in 2001 and a finalist in 1999, had his highest singles ranking on the ATP Tour of number 35 in 1994, and won an ATP singles title in 1994. Palmer also played on Stanford University Tennis Team from 1989-91, captured a NCAA singles title as a sophomore and earned All-American honors and finished number 13 in collegiate rankings in 1989, has a 3-4 Davis Cup career record (2-4 in doubles), and is a member of the 2000-01 Player Council. The admission for the event is $10 for adults and children are free. Tickets are now on sale at the National Tennis Centre, the Atlantis Tennis Centre, the Village Squash Club, Lyford Cay School and H.G. Christie Real Estate. Once again, the proceeds from the event will go to aid local children's charities such as The Cancer Society, the Sassoon (Bahamas) Foundation for Pediatric Heart Care, Special Olympics Bahamas, The Association for the Physically Disabled, The Chance Foundation and the Mark Knowles Tennis Scholarship Fund. To date, over $400,000 has been distributed to various charities. The aim this year is to increase total donations to $500,000. The major sponsors to date include Atlantis Resort & Casino, Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch Private Bank & Trust; Pictet Bank & Trust Ltd.; Serenity Point, Abaco; The Balmoral; The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism; American Airlines; The Bank of the Bahamas; Everkey Global Fund; Templeton Global Advisors; Odyssey Aviation; H3O; TheBahamasWeekly.com; and The Ministry of Youth, Sports and Culture.
Tuesday, December 1, 2009 |
|
 |
|