The Greenbrier Archives - World Tennis Magazine

Tommy Haas defeated Andy Roddick 6-2 in the one-set championship match Monday to win The Greenbrier Classic in White Sulphur Springs, West Virginia for his 14^th career title on the Champions Series Tennis circuit.

Haas, 43, continued his dominant play on the North American tennis tour for champion tennis players over the age of 30, now winning 24 of his last 26 matches, including all six so far this year. He has won all but five of the Champions Series Tennis he has played in since he joined the Champions Series Tennis circuit in 2018 shortly after retiring from the ATP Tour.

In his post-match interview with commentator Brett Haber after the final, Haas was asked why his game has seemingly not dropped since he retired from the ATP Tour.

“I just like to play tennis overall,” said Haas, the 2000 Olympic silver medalist and former world No. 2. “It’s something I have been doing my whole life. I hope to continue for many, many years to come until the later stages of my life. I like coming out here and competing. That always makes me feel good. Playing against legends of the game, colleagues and friends, it’s as good as it gets.”

The Greenbrier Classic marked the conclusion to resort’s Salute to Heroes Weekend that commemorated the 20th anniversary of the September 11 attacks on the United States and benefited the First Responders Children’s Foundation. The tennis tournament marked the return of pro tennis to The Greenbrier after the intimate Creekside Stadium successfully hosting the entire World TeamTennis season in 2020.

“Hopefully we will be back here next year, also for some more days to really enjoy this place,” said Haas of The Greenbrier. “It’s a special place here.”

The Greenbrier Classic also marked the Champions Series Tennis debut of 2006 Australian Open runner-up Marcos Baghdatis of Cyprus, who was defeated by Roddick 6-2 in the semifinals. Haas beat James Blake 6-3 in the first semifinal of the afternoon. Haas collected the first prize paycheck of $25,000 to increase his 2021 prize money earnings to $75,000. Roddick earned $15,000 for his runner-up showing while Baghdatis and Blake pocketed $10,000 each. The matches will be televised on Fox Sports Net affiliates and Tennis Channel on tape delay in future weeks. All Champions Series events feature two one-set semifinal matches followed by a one-set championship match.

Earlier this year, Haas swept both titles at the Sherwood Country Club in Thousand Oaks, California, losing only five games combined in both events while beating Blake and Bob Bryan both by 6-1 margins in each respective final.

In 2020, Haas won the season-long points title for a second straight season, winning four titles – two at the Sherwood Country Club and two titles in Orlando – and finished with a 10-2 series match record.

In 2019, Haas finished with a perfect 10-0 record to win the year-long points championship for the first time. He won titles in Newport Beach, Calif., Maui, Hawaii, New Haven, Connecticut, Los Angeles and Houston to become the first player in the 15-year history of the Champions Series to be an undefeated year-end points champion.

In 2018, Blake 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 over the last 16 years has featured some of the greatest names in men’s tennis, including Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi, John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, Ivan Lendl, Stefan Edberg, Jim Courier, Michael Chang among others. Courier won the first Champions Series Tennis event held in 2005 in Houston at the Westside Tennis Club.

ABOUT INSIDEOUT SPORTS + ENTERTAINMENT

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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West Virginia has the epicenter of American tennis this summer with the staging of the entire World TeamTennis season at the Greenbrier Resort in White Sulphur Springs. For three weeks, national television audiences on CBS, CBS Sports Network, ESPN2 and Tennis Channel have been able to watch many of the top international stars in tennis. It’s been “Wimbledon in West Virginia.”

In an interview with Nick Gismondi of the World TeamTennis commentary team on CBS Sports Network Saturday, Greenbrier Director of Tennis Steve Sarver hinted that it may not be the last time that World TeamTennis visits “America’s Resort.”

“We would love to form a long-time partnership with World TeamTennis,” said Sarver. “We think that World TeamTennis and the Greenbrier are perfectly suited. We’re a family hotel. We are a historic hotel. We are a grand hotel. But more than anything, we are a family hotel and we are run and owned by a great family, the Justice family. And we feel like that World TeamTennis is a family. Fred (Luddy), Carlos (Silva) and Eric (Davidson) all the teams and all the players are a family. So, it’s a great partnership. I think the players have really enjoyed themselves. We’ve been thrilled to have them here, and we think it’s the perfect setting for many, many years to have a good part of World TeamTennis here at our resort.”

Due to the global pandemic, making travel and safety a challenge, World TeamTennis CEO Carlos Silva sought to hold the entire season in one location. The opportunity was presented to Silva for The Greenbrier to be the site and it turned into being the perfect fit. The Greenbrier was selected due to West Virginia’s low COVID-19 infection rate, its beautiful intimate 2,500-seat “Creekside Stadium” and adjacent indoor tennis center that was set up to host matches when it rained and to not interrupted any of the national television broadcasts, it’s beautiful and historic 700-room hotel and 11,000 square acre resort that allows for perfect “social distancing” and The Greenbrier’s on-site medical clinic that can provide COVID-10 testing. To boot, due to the low COVID-19 infection rate, the event was also able to sell a limited amount of tickets for the daily matches.

The event has been staged with near perfection and the players, staff and commentators have raved about the resorts accomodations and activities, including the famous “Old White” championship golf course that has hosted the PGA Tour and the Ryder Cup in the past.

If the global pandemic is, unfortunately, still not resolved in 2021, it would seem a natural fit for World TeamTennis to again host its season next July at The Greenbrier. Should things resume to “normal” and World TeamTennis franchise’s are able to host home matches, World TeamTennis could stage its semifinals and finals at The Greenbrier.

The full transcript of Sarver’s interview with CBS Sports Network can be read below.

NICK GISMONDI: The vice president of Justice Energy, and he’s also the director of tennis here at the Greenbrier, Steve Sarver joins us. Steve, first of all, you’re a tennis aficionado. How has this competition been here in season 45 for World TeamTennis??

STEVE SARVER: Well, I think it’s been fantastic. Everyone I’ve talked to…it’s amazingly different perspective. All of us, have gone to the US Open a lot, sometimes Wimbledon and this is just really exciting. And the greatest thing about it is, is the team atmosphere. And I’m a team sports guy myself, and the camaraderie and the atmosphere with the different players and their interactions, it’s been great. The quality of tennis has been incredibly high. To be honest, I’ve seen more competitive matches here than I’ve seen sometimes at the U.S. Open.

NICK GISMONDI: Let’s talk about World TeamTennis at the Greenbrier. Obviously you, in conjunction with Carlos Silva and the government of West Virginia, doing a fantastic job of pulling this off. How did it all come together?

STEVE SARVER: Well, I had to get my hat off to the governor of West Virginia, Governor Jim Justice. He and I are good friends. And what he’s done in West Virginia, controlling the virus, handling the virus, is just remarkable. And he has been incredibly proactive, yet incredibly sensible. And then working with Carlos and Fred and Eric have been amazing. So between the World TeamTennis, social conscience, and ability to manage the whole situation, along with what our governor has done and what we’ve done here with the Greenbrier, I really think that they pulled off something quite remarkable.

NICK GISMONDI: All right. Last question for you. This one’s a little bit loaded, but what are the thoughts of yourself as the director of tennis and possibly the governor on maybe hosting World TeamTennis on the regular?

STEVE SARVER: Well, it’s a no-brainer. We would love to form a long-time partnership with World TeamTennis. We think that World TeamTennis and the Greenbrier are perfectly suited. We’re a family hotel. We are a historic hotel. We are a grand hotel. But more than anything, we are a family hotel and we are run and owned by a great family, the Justice family. And we feel like that World TeamTennis is a family. Fred, Carlos, Eric, and all the teams and all the players are a family. So, it’s a great partnership. I think the players have really enjoyed themselves. We’ve been thrilled to have them here, and we think it’s the perfect setting for many, many years to have a good part of World TeamTennis here at our resort.

NICK GISMONDI: I like the sound of that. I’m definitely enjoying my time here as well. Thank you so much for everything you did to help make this happen. It’s a pleasure talking to you, Steve.

STEVE SARVER: You as well. Thank you all for everything, and thanks again for coming.