Nassau, Bahamas -
Friday, December 4th, 2009 The Bahamas Weekly News Team traveled to Nassau to cover the 1st day of The 9th Annual Mark Knowles Celebrity Tennis Invitational as amateur players got the prized opportunity to play with Mark Knowles and his professional associates at The Atlantis Tennis Center.
The Bahamas Weekly News Team is proud to present some of the action on the court along with interviews with pro players; Mark Knowles,Anna-Lena Groenefeld,Olga Savchuk andBenjamin Becker.
It all leads up
to the big public exhibition TODAY December 5th where persons
can come out and watch some great tennis and meet the many pros on
island.
Visiting pros that will be playing along with Bahamian tennis star Mark Knowles are
Benjamin Becker, Robert Kendrick,
Marvin Rolle, Don Johnson, Anna-Lena Groenefeld, Martin Damm, Olga Savchukand Jared Palmer.
The major sponsors of this year's event were Atlantis Resort & Casino, Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch Private Bank & Trust;
Pictet Bank & Trust Ltd; Serenity Point, Abaco; The Balmoral; The Bahamas Ministry of Tourism; American Airlines;
The Bank of the Bahamas; Everkey Global Fund;
Templeton Global Advisors; Odyssey Aviation; H3O; TheBahamasWeekly.com; and The Ministry of Youth Sports & Culture.
On Friday, December 4th the participants of the Invitational were hosted by Ministry of Tourism and Lombard Odier Darier Hentsch Private Bank & Trust to a dinner at Fathom's restaurant at the Atlantis on Paradise Island. An auction took place on a few items including a signed tennis racquet once
owned by
Roger Federer.
Once again, the
proceeds of the event will go
to aid local children’s charities such as The Cancer Society, the Sassoon
(Bahamas) Foundation for Pediatric Heart Care, The Special Olympics, The
Association for the Physically Disabled, The Chance Foundation and the Mark
Knowles Tennis Scholarship Fund.
To date
over $400,000 has been distributed to various charities. The aim this year is to increase total donations to $500,000.
