Leave it to Maria Sharapova to bring some “serious style” to the tennis court. It was just announced that the blond pro player will be hosting an event at the UCLA Tennis Center in Los Angeles coming up in December. This two-day event will focus on serious tennis, with a little bit of fun mixed in as well, as reported by Fox News.
In addition, Sharapova is bringing along some famous faces to help her put on the exhibition this winter. Retired tennis pro Andy Roddick will be on hand, as well as Madison Keys, Laura Robson, Jack Sock, and Kei Nishikori. Nishikori’s coach and retired 1989 French Open Champ Michael Chang will also be there to help her out.
Maria is taking this opportunity to get serious about the upcoming tennis season, and she views this as a way to get some practice in just ahead of the Australian Open. This event, which is scheduled for December 12-13, is expected to do just that.
“I wanted to create a format in which all the players are getting ready for a big tournament — the Australian Open — and they’re ready to go out and compete. And I wanted to make this… (have) a serious style.”
Comedian Chelsea Handler will also be out on the tennis court, and more famous names will be sure to be added along the way. There are many celebrities who love to sit in the stands at some of the Grand Slam tournaments, so this will be a perfect opportunity to see what some of them can do with a racket in their hand.
The Russian is planning on giving fans some awesome tennis playing just as they have come to expect when they show up for any kind of tennis tournament. Sharapova says that just because the term “exhibition” is mostly related to fun and laughs, she wants to combine both laughter and the seriousness of winning.
“Sometimes when we come in to play exhibitions, it’s a lot of ‘hit and giggle,’ which is great to get to know the personality of athletes. But this is also the time of year where we’re getting ready to compete and I think it’s important that we go out and compete at the level the fans expect us to, which is what I wanted to incorporate into the event.”
Apparently, Maria Sharapova has been planning this for a while. She is very creative in everything she does, and this tennis exhibition will be sure to be one huge event. She is also hoping that this brings the sport of tennis back to the Los Angeles area.
The last of the Grand Slam tournaments for this year starts on August 31. Maria is expected to be playing on the courts in Flushing Meadows, New York, at the U.S. Open. Hopefully, her leg injury that forced her out of the Western & Southern Open doesn’t become a problem again. Sports Illustrated reported that both Sharapova and Serena Williams had to pull out because of health reasons.
Porsche is sponsoring the Maria Sharapova & Friends tennis event. This will certainly be something to look forward to for those devoted fans of this sport, or for those who just want to have a fun time.
[Photo by Rob Carr/Getty Images]