The original version of this article contained an error and has been changed. See the bottom of the article for additional information.
Two nights after ESPN College GameDay rolled into UCLA, Pauley Pavilion rolled out its own red carpet – this time, to welcome the stars of the tennis world.
Monday night, the historic venue played host to the Los Angeles Tennis Challenge, an event featuring some of the world’s top players that benefitted several charities. It was the first non-UCLA event at Pauley since reopening.
Starting at 6 a.m. Sunday morning, crews began the laborious process of converting Pauley Pavilion from a basketball court into a tennis court by securing a giant carpet over the hardwood floor.
When the setup was complete, the transformation marked the end of a process that was a year in the making.
One year ago today, former Bruin tennis star Justin Gimelstob and 2004 Olympic silver medalist Mardy Fish were practicing at the Los Angeles Tennis Center courts, along with fellow professional players Nicolas Almagro and No. 1 world ranked player Novak Djokovic.
As they practiced, the players began to notice an unexpected amount of student attention.
“They noticed that they had a couple hundred UCLA students sitting in the stands out at the LA Tennis Center watching them practice, and it kind of seemed like a natural progression to put together an exhibition event,” said William Ellison, the event’s manager.
With that, Gimelstob and Fish’s idea for the Los Angeles Tennis Challenge was born.
The co-hosts of the event were able to recruit Djokovic, former No. 1 tennis player Pete Sampras, the No. 1 doubles team Bob and Mike Bryan, James Blake, and No. 19 Tommy Haas to participate in the exhibition.
“These people have a connection to LA tennis. There’s a commitment … there’s a theme here and it’s that we all need to chip in,” Gimelstob said. “This is the second biggest market in America. It’s very important to the sport of tennis in America … so it’s all hands on deck and we’re going to prove it.”
Djokovic made his Los Angeles debut at Pauley Pavilion Monday night, as he had never played professional tennis here before.
“I never played in LA, but I’ve been coming to LA for the last couple of years to spend some time with friends and I love spending time in the city,” he said. “This was a great cause, it was a fantastic event.”
Djokovic won in a 7-2 tiebreaker in his singles match against Fish before teaming up with Sampras for the night’s main event against the Bryan brothers. After the lights went partially out, Fish and Sampras lost to the most successful doubles team in history, 10-7, in a 10-point tiebreaker.
The event’s opening singles match, which saw Haas defeat Blake 7-5 in a tiebreaker, also featured technical delays after a Haas serve broke the net that then needed to be replaced.
Organizers said the lively crowd, estimated to be around 8,500 people, showed that professional tennis is still relevant in Los Angeles – a city whose history with the sport has been jeopardized recently.
The LA Open had been held in this city every year since 1927, including being held at the LA Tennis Center since 1984. However, that tournament now takes place in Bogota, Columbia.
“There’s no live tennis here in LA anymore with the tournament being gone and moving, so we’re excited that this is the start of something big,” Fish said.
“We just wanted to do our part to show that tennis can be viable in LA if it was reformatted, if we were creative (and) if we got some star power out (here),” Gimelstob said.
Pauley Pavilion is already booked for next year’s Los Angeles Tennis Challenge, which Gimbelstob hopes will become a viable business model for tennis in Los Angeles.
“Tennis is relevant in LA, there will be 8,500 people in (Pauley) showing that tennis is relevant,” Gimelstob said before the event. “There will be no doubt after tonight that tennis in LA is alive and well.”
Correction: A quote was misattributed. “We just wanted to do our part to show that tennis can be viable in LA if it was reformatted, if we were creative (and) if we got some star power out (here),” Gimelstob said.