Axe falls on annual Celebrity Tennis Classic

The credit crunch has claimed another casualty — this year’s Elbow Beach Celebrity Tennis Classic.

Bermuda Lawn Tennis Association president David Lambert confirmed that the event has been put on the back-­burner.

He said: “In some cases it (the recession) has been felt by some of our very loyal, supportive sponsors.

“We always like to have the event because it gives us that continual revenue.

“We have touched base with many of our past celebrities and also with quite a few of our very loyal sponsors and it was decided that next year would be best to reschedule the Elbow Beach Celebrity Tennis Classic.

“This would have been our sixth event but we have already started to put plans together to have the event in 2011.”

The annual event was launched in 2001 to raise funds to aid in the development of the island’s grassroots tennis players.

Since its inception, numerous celebrities — including tennis stars Hana Mandlikova, Lori McNeil and Yannick Noah — have graced the island’s shores for the worthy cause.

Legend

Noah is a former French Open champion, while Mandlikova is a former U.S. Open, French Open and Australian Open ­winner.

Former New York mayor David Dinkins, NBA star Clyde Drexler and female boxer Laila Ali — daughter of legend Muhammad Ali — have also appeared at the annual Celebrity Classic. Lambert said: “Many well known personalities have visited Bermuda and the event allows us to sell packages to corporate Bermuda to help raise funds to keep our players travelling.”

As an alternative fundraiser, the BLTA plan to hold a raffle in October, with tickets to go on sale next month.

Lambert said: “We will keep everyone up to date on how the raffle prizes are coming and the tickets will go on sale in mid-September with the draw to be held mid-October.

“This will be to raise funds to keep our national players overseas competing and representing the country.”