Monica Was The Brightest Star Of All

The wind picked waaayyyy up for the afternoon matches at the Bank of The West Pro-Celebrity Tennis Classic.  Don't be fooled by the bright sun in the photos...it was darn chilly, but everyone was a pro and the show went on! 

Five doubles matches were scheduled, but thankfully for everyone, only four were played.  Two 'teams'  headed by Murphy Jensen and Luke Jensen respectively, played eight games for each match (last match only five games).  Each match was presided over by a celebrity in the chair -- Jon Lovitz by far stole the show.  It really made me miss seeing him on Saturday Night Live. 

Monica and Murphy played Luke and Vania King in the first match.  Vania has an absolutely gorgeous voice -- she sang the national anthem to the accompaniment of the wind-whipped flag and nothing else.  Impressive!  Great to see a current tour player hit with Monica -- in this match, the server elected the receiver and they had some intense volleys.  Although still some problems with the first serve, Monica aced her twice, even with the wind.  Although a relative 'baby in the sport, just turning pro in 2006, Vania is no slouch. She's petite, light on her feet and smacks the ball fast and hard. Monica's net game is fantastic and serves her especially well in doubles.  She moves in quickly and takes advantage of her vast placement skills to use just the right touch and direction to win points -- again, impressive because of the wind. Several times Jon Lovitz was left speechless by her shots, reduced to a stunned 'what a shot' instead of his usual sarcastic quips.  Team Murphy started out with the lead, but eventually fell 5-3.

Next up was Luke Jensen and Eric Braden (The Young And The Restless) against Vince Spadea and Jon Lovitz.  Both of the celebs obviously spend time away from the set working on their games, but Jon Lovitz was the big surprise to me.  He has a nice serve and although he did miss a few, he also responded by snapping back some real zingers.  Murphy Jensen was in the chair and exacted his revenge for Lovitz's 'trash talk' in the first match -- he's also quite the performer, extolling the crowd, 'the more you clap, the warmer you'll be'.  Spadea-Lovitz won 6-2.

The third match saw Vania and Scott Foley (currently in The Unit) take on Monica and Chad Lowe (Rob Lowe's brother and Hilary Swank's ex).  I'd watched Scott play in some of the morning matches and he blew me away. Between matches, he and Murphy were talking to some obviously important producer type and joking about how they could work tennis into an episode of the The Unit...stay tuned!  After one extended volley with Murphy, Murphy practically crawled over to the bench and said, 'I don't need water, I need oxygen'. (-: 

In this match, celebs served to celebs and pros to pros and like in the first match, Vania and Monica had some good volleys.  By this time, the wind and 'sun in eyes' were really a factor, so it's difficult to assess the quality of individual shots, as it was more of a slog fest than a real competition.  I forgot to mention that the players and celebs were miked for the matches  --totally fun to hear them, especially Chad and Scott commenting on each other's play.  Again, despite an early Monica/Chad lead, Vania/Scott 'won' 5-3. It was good to see Taylor Dent, recuperating from back surgery in March, in the chair. He moved to the bench for the last match (because of the wind) and along with Chad Lowe did a great job of keeping increasingly chilly players and fans motivated. 

Vania was a total trooper and played the final match, paired with Luke against former tour player Carling Bassett-Seguso (Canada) and Murphy. Team Luke won and took the overall 'title', a very cute oversize Bank of the West bear, who sat on the net and served as judge during the final match.

Jennifer Capriati was on the bill, but didn't play -- she was in the stands for the first couple of matches looking sporty and hip in a pair of cherry red low-risers. (Sorry guys, but this is primarily a fashion blog...(-:)  She was thanked at the end for coming out from Florida to support the event, but there was no explanation of why she didn't play. 

But back to Monica!  It was fun to watch the stars all make a beeline for her...even though many of them must feel jaded around each other, there's an obvious respect for Monica that she returns with her signature graciousness. Jon Lovitz asked for some pointers and Chad and Scott flanked her on the bench to chat her ear off. She and Vania sat between all of the matches instead of running into the celebrity lounge...total class acts. Most importantly, it's obvious that she still loves to play -- you can see from the smiles in the surprise morning matches.  There were no cameras and less than 20 people in the stands, so it was certainly the real deal and hopefully a taste of much more to come. I hope she 'comes back' in whatever capacity that makes her happy and pain-free -- doubles, singles, Tour, or frequent exhibitions, it's guaranteed to keep her passionately appreciative fans smiling, too.

(Apologies for the late post -- the memory card in my camera malfunctioned and I was unable to retrieve most of my afternoon photos. )-:  Brener Zwikel, the PR company, was kind enough to send me some of the official event photos -- many thanks!!)