OutPlay

by Bradley David Williams

FEATS OF CLAY

America’s hottest tennis stars rocked Houston at the U.S. Men’s Clay Courts

Some of the hottest players in the men’s pro tennis tour descended on Houston in April and put on an impressive display of talent and personality. The occasion was the U.S. Men’s Clay Court Tennis Championships, hosted for the third year by Westside Tennis Club. The April 20–27 tournament was an unqualified success, with sell-out crowds, excellent tennis, and enough subplots to make the week interesting on and off the court.

Tournament winner Andre Agassi, who defeated two-time defending champion Andy Roddick in an exciting three-set final, made history after winning the night before against surprise semifinalist Jurgen Melzer of Austria. Just shy of his 33rd birthday, Agassi broke Jimmy Connors’ record as the oldest player to achieve the world’s number-one ranking.

The tournament provided something for everyone, including a “Lady’s Day” fashion show and luncheon featuring models strutting down the runway in the creations of Vanessa Riley, the English-born Houston designer. Jan-Michael Gambill, who People once named to its 50 most beautiful people list, made a special appearance on the runway in street clothes. Gambill is always a crowd favorite here. Two years ago, giant billboards featuring a topless Gambill and his famous six-pack could be seen all over town advertising the tournament.

Unfortunately, clay is Gambill’s least favorite surface, and he lost in the first round for the third straight year, this time to Luis Horna of Peru. Gambill did get to the doubles finals with partner Graydon Oliver, before losing to the top-seeded team of Mark Knowles and Daniel Nestor.

Another major star of the week was James Blake, who has been making big waves in the tennis world and beyond. With his dreadlocks and ultra-cool fashion sense, Blake has become tennis’s Lenny Kravitz. Born to a white mother and a black father, Blake finds himself a symbol of diversity in a traditionally white sport as well as a sex symbol who earned People’s award as sexiest athlete in its 2002 Sexiest Man Alive issue. Still perfecting his classic and beautiful-to-watch strokes (including a rare one-handed backhand), Blake has steadily climbed the rankings into the world’s top 30. Seeded third in Houston, he made it to the quarterfinals before being upset by Frenchman Olivier Mutis.

The Houston tournament was unusual in that it featured so many American players at the same event. The fraternity—which included Agassi, Roddick, Blake, Gambill, Kendrick, Vincent Spadea, Justin Gimelstob, Taylor Dent, Robby Ginepri (a very stylish up-and-comer who had to withdraw with an injury), Todd Martin, Brian Vahaly, and Mardy Fish—were invited early in the week for hamburgers and hot dogs at the home of George and Barbara Bush.

Furniture king and tournament owner Jim “Mattress Mac” McIngvale—voted “local hero” by OutSmart readers last year [“Gayest & Greatest,” October 2002]—hopes the community will get involved in the November 8–16 Tennis Master’s Cup tournament. McIngvale successfully lobbied to bring the men’s season-ending championships to Houston and will host the event, which will spotlight the top eight players in the world competing in a round-robin format. The tournament will be played on a hard court in a new stadium under construction at Westside.

Bradley David Williams is a freelance writer based in the Dallas area.

NIGHT OF THE COMETS

Fans of basketball and history, listen up. On July 29, the Gulf Coast Archive & Museum of GLBT History is taking a gang to the Houston Comets v. Minnesota Lynx game at Compaq Center. The Comets will host a pre-game reception. Tickets are $12, and GCAM gets a piece of the action. Check out www.gcam.org or call 713/227-5973, ext. 1, for details and reservations. —Victor ZornLOCKER-ROOM PANIC

We interrupt the July 15 baseball All-Star Game with this homophobia/sexism update: When he was still playing for the San Francisco Giants, current Astros star Jeff Kent dropped a hate bomb in the locker room, according to a New York Times sports scribe. “Kent, about to take off his towel, asked a pack of reporters if there were any ‘queers’ or ‘women’ among them,” David Grann reported.

Obviously, if you are gay or female and find yourself in the Houston Astros locker room, you might want to steer clear of Kent. Or you may want to sneak up and goose his towel-wrapped rump just for spite. —VZ

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