Sharapova, Roddick, McEnroe and Navratilova among tennis stars helping
charity event to raise more than $600,000 for Elton John AIDS
Foundation.
Charity is always the biggest winner at the WTT Smash Hits presented by
Citi event, with some of tennis’ big stars turning out to raise more
than $600,000 for the
Elton John AIDS Foundation at Caesars Palace in Las Vegas on Monday
night.
The 2016 edition of Sir Elton John and Billie Jean King’s annual charity
tennis pushed the 24-year total to more than $15 million to support
HIV/AIDS prevention and
awareness programs. On the court, Team Elton got the best of Team Billie
Jean with a 19-14 victory in the four-set showdown.
A capacity crowd watched Maria Sharapova’s highly-anticipated appearance
as she opened the night pairing up with Andy Roddick for a set of
celebrity doubles against
Elton John and Martina Navratilova. Sharapova and Roddick got the best
of John and Navratilova 3-1 in an entertaining quick set that preceded
the World TeamTennis match.
Team Elton took the lead in the first set of the night and never looked
back en route to their second consecutive victory and an overall 13-11
series lead. Sharapova
and 16-year-old junior Taylor Johnson teamed up in Sharapova’s return to
the court but it was the veteran doubles experience of Martina
Navratilova and Liezel Huber
that took the first set for Team Elton, 5-2.
Former U.S. Davis Cup teammates Andy Roddick and Mardy Fish were too
strong for Team Billie Jean’s duo of John McEnroe and Mark Philippoussis
in men’s doubles, winning
the second set for Team Elton 5-3.
Roddick and Philippoussis faced off in a battle of big serves in men’s
singles. Roddick held off Philippoussis 5-3 to build Team Elton’s lead
to 15-8 after three sets.
McEnroe and Sharapova rallied in mixed doubles, winning the first set of
the night for Team Billie Jean with a 5-3 victory over Roddick and
Navratilova and sending the
match into Extended Play. Team Billie Jean won the first game in
Extended Play but Roddick and Navratilova closed out the set and match
by winning the next game for Team Elton.
The evening started with all the players participating in a live auction
that raised more than $150,000 of the evening’s totals. The players
were active bidders in the auction,
with Sharapova winning a ticket package for the Broadway hit “Hamilton”
and John McEnroe buying an autographed Elton John piano bench.
The stars were out in Las Vegas on Monday night to support WTT Smash
Hits as avid tennis fans and Las Vegas residents Gladys Knight and Mike
Tyson took in the action on the
multi-colored tennis court just steps away from where Elton John plays
his hit show, “The Million Dollar Piano” at Caesars Palace.
International recording artists The Tenors
opened the night by performing the national anthem.
Official event sponsors include host sponsor Caesars Palace and
presenting sponsor Citi. Additional sponsors and partners include
AmerisourceBergen, Cashman Photo, Core Academy,
DecoTurf, Donnelley Financial Solutions, Fanatics, GEICO, Kilpatrick
Townsend & Stockton LLP, KXNT News/Talk Radio & CBS Sports Radio
- Las Vegas, Marty Hennessy Inspiring Children
Foundation, NBC & The CW - Las Vegas, WG Communications Group,
Wilson and XS Tennis - Chicago. Ryan Wolfington and USTA Nevada are
promotional partners of WTT Smash Hits.
For more on WTT Smash Hits, visit www.WTTSmashHits.com.
For more information on the Elton John AIDS Foundation, visit www.EJAF.org.
