Las Vegas Sun

March 28, 2024

Tennis:

Local tennis legend Andre Agassi will headline tour stop in Las Vegas this fall

The PowerShares Series Tour comes to Mandalay Bay on Nov. 17, with matches featuring Agassi, John McEnroe, Jim Courier and Michael Chang

Agassi to headline tennis tour

Sam Morris

Andre Agassi waves to the crowd after defeating Jim Courier during the Las Vegas stop of the 2011 Champions Series Tennis tournament Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011. Agassi won last year’s event and will headline this year’s tour stop at Mandalay Bay on Nov. 17.

Tennis Champions Series With Agassi, Sampras, Courier and McEnroe

The Tennis Champions Series with Jim Courier, John McEnroe, Andre Agassi and Pete Sampras at the Thomas & Mack Center at UNLV on Saturday, Oct. 15, 2011. Launch slideshow »

Andre Agassi will headline another Vegas show this fall.

After entertaining his hometown crowd last year with a victory against Pete Sampras, Agassi will be back Nov. 17 at Mandalay Bay in the PowerShares Series Tour (formerly the Champions Series). This year’s event will officially be called the Cancer Treatment Centers of America Championships.

“The turnout in Vegas was more than I could have ever hoped for,” Agassi said of last year’s event at the Thomas & Mack Center.

The tour will stop in 12 cities for one-night tournaments — including the marquee match in New York’s Madison Square Garden — with four competitors at each event. In order to be eligible to compete, a player must be more than 30 years old and have been ranked No. 1 in the world, won a Grand Slam event or been a finalist in a Grand Slam.

In Las Vegas, Agassi will face John McEnroe, with the winner moving on to face the winner of Jim Courier vs. Michael Chang. The semifinals are one set (first to six games) and the final is one pro-set (first to eight games). Last year Agassi defeated Sampras 8-5 after dispatching Courier in the semifinals.

“I really got excited to be a part of it because it’s a format that I thought was achievable for us at this stage of our careers and this stage of our lives,” Agassi said. "But when I really saw it play out, this was better than I could even imagine. To see my peers and friends and to get out there and create some nostalgia, it really lit a fire under me.”

Agassi added that the event has served as good motivation to stay in shape.

Points are earned at each event, and a player’s top five point totals are collected for the tour standings. The top three finishers will share a $1 million purse, with $500,000 to first, $350,000 to second and $150,000 to third. Last year Sampras won, Courier finished second and Agassi was third.

The other members of the tour who won’t be in Vegas are Sampras, Jimmy Connors, Patrick Rafter, Mats Wilander and Todd Martin.

A variety of ticket packages are available at ticketmaster.com, starting at $57.

Taylor Bern can be reached at 948-7844 or [email protected]. Follow Taylor on Twitter at twitter.com/taylorbern.

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