Kansas City, Mo. - Elton John is known to most of the world as one of the top selling artist of the 20th century.
Yet, had he doubted his musical abilities, he might have turned to the game of tennis.
John, along with tennis legend Billie Jean King, created Tuesday night's World Team Tennis All-Star Smash Hits in Kansas City at Municipal Auditorium.
The event, in its seventh year, featued tennis players Andre Agassi, Mary Pierce, Martina Navratilova and John McEnroe, among others. Proceeds from the tennis extravaganza benefitted the Elton John AIDS Foundation and a pair of Kansas City AIDS foundations.
The team captained by John defeated Team King, 21-17.
John, an avid tennis fan that even brought along his own personal tennis partner while touring the world, developed the Smash Hits to bring the world of tennis and music together for a good cause.
"Billie Jean and I have been friends for 26 years and this is always one of the stellar events on our calendars," John said. "This is all in the spirit of fun, but we do get a little competitive."
John's love for the game of tennis was his inspiration in developing the event, he said.
"If I had the opportunity, I would have loved to be a tennis player," John said. "Everyone dreams of winning a major championship and I would have loved to be in that position."
The night consisted of six tennis matches, including current world No. 1 Agassi against newly named Davis Cup captain McEnroe and Pierce against Wimbledon semifinalist Alexandra Stevenson.
Agassi, 10 days removed from winning his fifth career grand slam title at the U.S. Open, was happy to play for John and his charity despite his busy schedule.
"I'm here because of Elton and what he believes in," Agassi said. "One of the down sides to pro tennis is that you don't get the joy of team spirit, because it's mostly a sport of individual play. That's what makes this type of event so enjoyable."
Prior to the night's matches, silent and live auctions were held to help raise money from the event. Among the merchandise available for bid, were an Agassi racquet used during this year's U.S. Open, tickets to John's post-Oscars party which went for $25,000, and a pair of tickets to sit in King's personal seats at Wimbledon that sold for $23,000. The auctions raised $128,875.
King said the main reason organizers selected Kansas City as this year's venue for the exhibition was King's ties with the Kansas City Explorers - a member of World Team Tennis league.
King, a winner of 71 career singles titles, 12 grand slam singles crowns and the co-founder of World Team Tennis, said she expected the event to be fun, but didn't think the younger players would take it easy on the tennis legends.
"Elton and I are both competitors and we don't like the players taking it easy against us," King said. "They want to win as much as we do. That's why these type of matches are fun because it's both an opportunity to be competitive and have good interaction with the fans."
McEnroe, who was a last second fill-in for an injured Pete Sampras, said he wanted to prove he could still hang in there with some of today's younger talent.
"This thing is about 80-90 percent fun, but you still want to get out there and show you can hit balls with the best of them." McEnroe said.
The youngest of the group, 19-year old Stevenson, said she was honored to get the call from King wanting her to play.
"This is a great opportunity for me and an honor to be out there with so many wonderful players," Stevenson said. "I sort of feel like an underachiever."
SMASH HIT MATCHES
The All-Star Smash Hits consisted of six matches with two men and two women on each team captained by Elton John and Billie Jean King.
Matches were played under World TeamTennis rules - a team match of five sets, with one match under each of the different formats. The matches consisted of women's doubles, women's singles, men's doubles, men's singles and mixed doubles. Each set was played to five games and the team with the most set victories, won the match.
Team John was made up of John McEnroe, Mike Bryan, Mary Pierce and Martina Navratilova. Team King was Andre Agassi, Bob Bryan, Alexander Stevenson and Mariaan de Swardt.
In women's doubles, Mary Pierce and Martina Navratilova defeated Alexandra Stevenson and Mariaan de Swardt 5-4. In women's singles, Pierce topped Stevenson 5-1, and in mixed doubles, the team of McEnroe and Navratilova defeated Agassi and de Swardt.
On the men's side, Agassi defeated McEnroe 5-1 in singles, and the team of McEnroe and Mike Bryan beat Agassi and Bob Bryan 5-2.
In addition to these matches, John teammed with McEnroe to beat Agassi and Mike Bryan in a Pro/Celebrity doubles match 5-4.
The night's attendance was 5,793.
BUSY SUMMER FOR MCENROE
It has been one busy summer for McEnroe. After being elected to the International Tennis Hall of Fame in June of 1999, he was named Davis Cup captain during this year's U.S. Open.
McEnroe, who played for the Kansas City Explorers during the 1996 World Team Tennis session, said he's ready to bring changes to the game of tennis by bringing the United States back to Davis Cup dominance.
"I want this to be a resurgence in men's tennis and a better way to bring more fans to the game of tennis." McEnroe said.
PIERCE ENGAGED TO ALOMAR
Mary Pierce, currently ranked No. 6 on the WTA Tour and winner of the 1995 Australian Open, recently got engaged to Cleveland Indians second baseman Roberto Alomar.
No comments
Commenting is turned off for this story.