from Philly.com:
South Philadelphia may have been deprived of professional tennis in recent years, but the city will be exploding with talent this fall when four of the sport's greatest legends come to town.
As part of the 2011 Champions Series tour, retired world champions Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, John McEnroe and Jim Courier will stop in Philadelphia on Sept. 24 for one of 12 single-night tournaments taking place across the country this fall.
"We're going to be moving around like a rock 'n' roll tour," Courier told reporters yesterday. "Philadelphia is going to be an amazing show. It's another great American city that lacks high-level professional tennis. This is a real opportunity to bring something special back to a place where we've all played over the years."
Playing at the Wells Fargo Center, the foursome will compete in one-set semifinals with the winners moving onto an eight-game pro-set championship match. Each individual tournament is expected to last about 3 hours and be loaded with excitement.
"In terms of the bells and whistles, it's going to be a lot like a basketball game," Courier said. "There will be a lot of energy and a lot of use of the JumboTron to keep people entertained between games."
Fellow tennis legends Bjorn Borg, Michael Chang and Mats Wilander also will participate in the circuit but not the tournament to Philadelphia. With an impressive 52 Grand Slam victories between them, the seven retired players will compete for ranking points and a $1 million bonus to be shared by the top three finishers at the end of the tour.
"Giving back to the sport that has given so much to me has been at the top of my priority list for years," Agassi said. "I see no better way to do it than to support this effort. I think everybody wins. The fans win with great entertainment, the players win because we get to be at our best, and then the sport wins."
i'm so happy right now
