Belle Terre promoted event raised money for charities at New Orleans Arena

By RYAN ARENA

Sports Editor

Everyone says at some time in his life that he wishes he could turn back the clock, for one reason or another.

Last Friday night, at least in a way, tennis fans in the New Orleans Arena got to do just that for a few hours.

That’s because there was a charity exhibition match played between Martina Navratilova and Monica Seles, two of tennis’s biggest and brightest stars of all time – legends of yesterday.

Seles won the best-of-three match 2-0, before an estimated 3,000 people in attendance.

The exhibition was part of a week-long event promoted by Belle Terre Tennis Pro Leif Olsson, along with partner Abrie du Plooy. Proceeds went to raising funds for the New Orleans Recovery School District, the New Orleans Recreation Department, the American Cancer Society, and the Children’s Hospital of New Orleans.

&#8220It was a great atmosphere,” Olsson said. &#8220The girls played a very good match. Although she lost, Martina played really well. It was high quality from the get-go.”

For Seles, the event was a chance to help a city that she’s long been a fan of.

&#8220I love New Orleans,” Seles said. &#8220I always enjoy coming down for Jazzfest. I won my third tennis tournament in New Orleans. There have been a lot of great memories for me in the city.”

Olsson has said that while the PGA, NBA and NFL have all stepped up to help the city, this event, he hoped, would be tennis’s way to lend a hand.

&#8220We wanted to draw attention to the fact that we still have work to do here in the state. We also wanted to give underprivileged kids a chance to be exposed to the sport.”

That was a big selling point for Seles, who said before the event that she hoped seeing her face Navratilova live would inspire children to take up the sport.

Navratilova surged out to an early lead in the first set, 3-1, but Seles quickly tied the game at 3. Navratilova took a 4-3 lead until Seles matched her effort. Seles would take the next two points on her way to the victory in the set.

In the second and final set, it was Seles who charged out to an early 3-0 lead. Navratilova refused to quit, and scored to make it 3-1. Seles’s ace made it 4-1, before Navratilova answered. But Seles captured the final two points and the win in the event.

Olsson did not rule out promoting a similar event in the future.

&#8220Next time, perhaps it will be in a bit of a different format,” he said. &#8220I’m not sure how so yet. We’d hoped for a bit more spectator support, but I think it’s something we can go for and improve upon in the future.”