NewsTampa Tennis Classic Benefiting Courier's Kids announced to be held at the St. Pete Times Forum March 22 A celebrity packed tennis lineup, featuring Andy Roddick, James Blake, Jim Courier and Vera Zvonareva come together for fifth time in the Tampa Tennis Classic benefiting Raymond James Courier’s Kids, an inner-city youth tennis program founded by Jim Courier that supports First Serve tennis programs. The Tampa Tennis Classic will feature America’s biggest names in tennis, and will be held at the St. Pete Times Forum, Monday, March 22, 2010 at 7:30 p.m. On the men’s side, with 60 singles career titles between them, these three Davis Cup representatives are sure to wow the crowds in Tampa in a battle of the stars. Representing the women, Zvonareva is currently ranked number nine in the world and holds nine singles titles. Raymond James Courier's Kids and the USTA's First Serve Program are dedicated to providing opportunities and positive life alternatives to at-risk youth. The programs offer a blend of tennis instruction, computer classes, academics and mentoring to promote positive values, healthy habits and education. For the past decade, Andy Roddick has been a fixture both on and off the tennis court. He has been featured in several non-sports publications ranging from Rolling Stone to Vogue and was selected as the Sexiest Athlete by People Magazine’s Sexiest Man Alive issue in 2003. He won the 2004 ESPY for Best Male Tennis Player and was nominated again in 2005. He was honored by the ATP as the 2003 Player of the Year when he became the youngest American to end the year at No. 1 in the Indesit ATP Race. He also received The Arthur Ashe Humanitarian award in 2005 for his charitable efforts and contributions and was nominated in 2009 for Sports Illustrated Sportsman of the Year. James Blake turned pro in 1999 while he was the #1 collegiate player at Harvard University. With a record of 20-9, he has led the Davis Cup team since joining in 2001. James overcame a near-death incident and a case of the shingles, leaving him partially paralyzed with blurred vision. Just one year later, he climbed from #210 to one of the top ten players in the world. In November 2006, he obtained his highest ranking of #4, and continues to be ranked in the top of the professional rankings. Jim Courier dominated the men’s professional tennis circuit in the early 90’s with a game he fashioned out of grit, determination and a punishing inside-out forehand. He was the first in his class of American Champions – which includes Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi – to hold the No. 1 world ranking. In 2005, Jim was honored by being inducted into the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Vera Zvonareva burst onto the scene in 2003 by stunning Venus Williams in the 4th round of the French Open. In 2008 she claimed two titles (Prague and Guangzhou) and reached the finals of six other tournaments – the most by any player in the 2008 season. During the summer, she also won the bronze medal in Women’s Singles for Russia at the Beijing Olympic Games – one of the most important achievements in her career. She recently reached the semifinals of the Australian Open and became only the second player in history to win both the singles and doubles titles at the 2009 BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells, California. The First Serve Program is the USTA’s national initiative to introduce inner city youth to the life-long sport of tennis. The program was launched in Florida and has 4 basic components: tennis instruction, computer classes, academics and mentoring. First Serve offers its programs free to participants. For more information, or to get involved with the program, visit firstserve.org. The title sponsor, Raymond James Financial (NYSE-RJF), is a Florida-based diversified holding company providing financial services to individuals, corporations and municipalities through its subsidiary companies. Its three principal wholly owned broker/dealers, Raymond James & Associates, Raymond James Financial Services and Raymond James Ltd. have more than 5,300 financial advisors serving 1.9 million accounts in 2,300 locations throughout the United States, Canada and overseas. In addition, total client assets are approximately $220 billion, of which approximately $28 billion are managed by the firm’s asset management subsidiaries. For more information about the company, visit raymondjames.com. InsideOut Sports & Entertainment is a New York City-based independent producer of proprietary events and promotions founded in 2004, by former world No. 1 tennis player Jim Courier and former SFX and Bear Stearns executive Jon Venison. In 2005, InsideOut launched its signature property the Outback Champions Series, a collection of tennis events in the United States featuring the greatest names in men’s tennis over the age of 30. The 2009 Outback Champions Series included events in Boston, Rio de Janeiro, Cabo San Lucas, Grand Cayman, Newport, Charlotte and Surprise, AZ. In addition, InsideOut produces many other successful events including one-night “Legendary Night” exhibitions across the United States and Canada featuring some of the most charismatic names in the game of tennis including Anna Kournikova, John McEnroe, Chris Evert, Andy Roddick and Andre Agassi. InsideOut also produces tennis fantasy camps, including the annual Ultimate Fantasy Camp in Orlando, Fla. For more information about InsideOut Sports & Entertainment, please log on to www.InsideOutSE.com or www.ChampionsSeriesTennis.com, or call . Tickets: Tickets for this event go on sale this Saturday, December 12 at 10:00 a.m. at the McDonald’s Box Office at the St. Pete Times Forum and all Ticketmaster Outlets. To order tickets by phone, call Ticketmaster at . Tickets are priced at $20.00, $30.00, $55.00, and $95.00. Prices do not include service charges. For dinner reservations at Medallions Restaurant on the day of the event please call . For more information please call or visit www.sptimesforum.com. Advanced parking passes are available at Ticketmaster.com and the McDonald’s Box Office at the St. Pete Times Forum.
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