Tommy Haas repeated as the season-long points champion on the Champions Series Tennis circuit by winning two of three events at the Bea For Kids Champions Challenge presented by Raymond James at the Heathrow Country Club in Orlando, Florida. Haas, the former world No. 2 and silver medalist at the 2000 Olympic Games, beat 2005 U.S. Open semifinalist Robby Ginepri in the first two editions of the event before losing to Ginepri in the series finale.
In 2019, Haas finished play on the North American tennis circuit for champion tennis players over the age of 30 with a perfect 10-0 record to win the year-long points championship. He won titles in Newport Beach, Calif., Maui, Hawaii, New Haven, Conn., Los Angeles, Calif., and Houston, Texas to become the first player in the 15-year history of the Champions Series to be an undefeated year-end points champion. In 2020, Haas won four titles – two at the Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California in August and his two titles in Orlando – and finished with a 10-2 record and 1800 ranking points, 200 better than Ginepri, the season-long rankings runner-up. The 42-year-old Haas joined Champions Series Tennis in 2018, shortly after retiring from the ATP Tour.
“It’s a great atmosphere,” said Haas of why fans should pay attention to the Champions Series Tennis circuit. “You are close up and personal with the players. You get to play with us a little bit, get to know us at a different level and then you get to watch us play. We obviously appreciate that we are still doing this after we had such long careers on the real tour. This is more fun.”
Haas won the first edition of the Bea For Kids Champions Challenge defeating 2003 U.S. Open champion Andy Roddick 6-2 in the semifinals and Ginepri 6-2 in the final. He won the second edition losing only two games, defeating former U.S. Davis Cupper and Olympian Vince Spadea 6-1 in the semifinals and Ginepri 6-1 in the final. Ginepri gained revenge in the third and final event, defeating Haas 6-4 in the final after beating Spadea 6-3 in the semifinal.
In February prior to the start of the global pandemic, Ginepri won his first career Champions Series title by defeating Roddick and James Blake in succession to win the Oracle Champions Cup Presented by RBC Wealth Management in front of a standing room only crowd at the Newport Beach Tennis Club. Ginepri also won the SoCal Honda Dealers Helpful Cup in Thousand Oaks, California in August, defeating Wayne Ferreira in the final.
In 2018, Blake, the former world No. 4, won his first Champions Series year-long points championship by winning titles in Winston-Salem, New Haven and Houston, while also finishing as runner-up in Los Angeles and Orlando.
In 2017, the year-long points championship was decided in the final match of the season when Andy Roddick defeated James Blake in the Los Angeles final at the Sherwood Country Club. Roddick, the 2003 U.S. Open champion and world No. 1, won four Champions Series titles in all in 2017, winning in Birmingham, Ala., Chicago, Lincoln, Neb., and Los Angeles. Blake, the former world No. 4 and former U.S. Davis Cup star, won series titles in Charleston, S.C., Winston-Salem, N.C. and in Lynchburg, Va.
In 2016, Mark Philippoussis won the Series points title with 1,600 points and tournament titles in Memphis, Tulsa, Newport, Winston-Salem and New Haven. Roddick finished in second place, also earning 1600 points but losing the head-to-head tiebreaker with Philippoussis 5-2, while winning titles in Charleston, St. Louis, Los Angeles and Orlando.
Champions Series tennis began in 2005 and has featured 16 former world No. 1 players including many of the greatest legends in the sport such as Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors, Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg and Jim Courier.
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InsideOut Sports + Entertainment is a Los Angeles based producer of proprietary events and promotions founded in 2004 by former world No. 1 and Hall of Fame tennis player Jim Courier and former SFX and Clear Channel executive Jon Venison. In 2005, InsideOut launched its signature property, the Champions Series, a collection of tournaments featuring the greatest names in tennis over the age of 30. In addition, InsideOut produces many other successful events including “Legendary Night” exhibitions, The World Series of Beach Volleyball and numerous corporate outings. Since inception, InsideOut Sports + Entertainment has raised over $5 million for charity. In 2014, InsideOut Sports + Entertainment merged with Horizon Media, the largest privately held media services agency in the world. For more information, please log on to www.InsideOutSE.com or InvescoSeries.com or follow on Facebook, Twitter and YouTube.
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