It’s tempting to think Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Jim Courier and Michael Chang will walk onto the court like old buddies, hit a few balls and reminisce about when they dominated men’s tennis. That might happen when the 2011 Champions Series hits Verizon Center on Friday night. But it also won’t take much for the competitive juices to start flowing the way they once did.
“You’re looking at four guys who tried to take each other’s lunch money for the better part of 12 to 13 years,” said Courier, who spearheaded the event and said it’s the first time the foursome has played in the same event since he left the tour in 2000.
Aside from the expected banter among themselves and with the crowd, the tennis and personalities will be familiar: Agassi will make sure the crowd is entertained, and Sampras quietly will want to win more than anyone else.
“Pete has a different way of showing his intensity,” Courier said. “He’ll throw a 130 mile-an-hour serve and rip forehands, make himself impossible to beat.”
The District is the second stop of the 12-city Champions tour, an ambitious event meant to ride tennis’ wave of popularity following a bumper U.S. Open. The biggest contrast between then and now: the lack of a dominant American.
Courier, who was named Davis Cup captain last year, said the current generation of Andy Roddick, Mardy Fish, James Blake and Bob and Mike Bryan is much closer than he ever was with Sampras, Agassi or Chang.
“We had our issues, our challenging times,” Courier said. “We had lots of space in between us a lot of the time. We did come together for Davis Cup from time to time, but they’re a much tighter-knit group than we’ve ever been.”
That’ll make it easier to get charged up Friday. The format pits Chang vs. Sampras and Courier vs. Agassi, each in a one-set semifinal. The winners then will face off in an eight-game pro set to claim the evening’s championship and points toward a $1 million prize that will be shared by the top three finishers at the end of the five-week event.
