Visitors to Disneyland Paris today had a big surprise when they saw Mickey Mouse playing a game of doubles with invited children against professional tennis players Gael Monfils and Stansilas Wawrinka.
The court itself was a little short and had quasi-official dimensions, but that didn’t matter when the children had such a great event.
Disneyland Paris invited 200 children from the French “Fête le Mur” association, founded by Yannick Noah, to participate in this more than unusual exchange.
The Fête le Mur association is set up in the heart of 25 under-privileged Urban Zones, allows the children of those neighborhoods to practice tennis, to train and perfect themselves, and some of them to later find a professional opening.
Will Ferrell unveiled his tennis talent versus Swedish tennis world champion Mats Wilander on Saturday May 2nd at the K-Swiss Global Tennis Showdown at The Los Angeles Tennis Center at UCLA in Westwood, California.
During the no-holds-barred singles match, Wilander entertained the crowd with his skills that ranked him number one in the world, while Ferrell entertained the crowd with an oversized Prince racket and hilarious commentary. The match, umpired by comedian Andy Richter, raised more than $50,000 for The Swedish School of Los Angeles. Swedish School students even got involved in the match: at one point Ferrell played with a student on his back while Wilander had to hold hands with another student at all times during play.
Despite Ferrell’s attempts to distract Wilander, i.e. shouting IKEA while serving, Wilander walked away with the win: final score 15 Wilander 14 Ferrell. Directly following the singles match, Ferrell and Wilander joined forces against actor/comedian Rainn Wilson and tennis star and UCLA alumni Justin Gimelstob for a fierce doubles match. Ferrell/Wilander again walked away with the win. Post-match, The Dan Band performed while guests bid on auction items during a barbeque.
Actor Will Ferrell will be armed with a trusted ally – a Prince racquet – when he takes on Mats Wilander in a charity exhibition match on Saturday. Former French Open champ Wilander will come face to face with the new king of clay next month – and will be crowned a Viking after the encounter. The Swedish School of Los Angeles – a non-profit 501 C3 organization offering a cultural program for children – will host The K-Swiss Global Tennis Showdown, a charity tennis event, taking place on Saturday at The Los Angeles Tennis Center.
Maria Sharapova announced on Thursday that she is launching a $210,000 scholarship program for students from Chernobyl-affected areas of Belarus.
OnTheBaseline has reported that the scholarship will enable 12 talented young people affected in Chernobyl to attend full studies at two leading universities in Belarus.
The programme is a joint initiative of the Maria Sharapova Foundation and the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP), where she serves as Goodwill Ambassador.
It is good to see that Sharapova is giving back to a much affected part of the world that is quite close to home for her. Sharapova was born in 1987 in Nyagan, Siberia, after her family fled Gomel in the wake of the Chernobyl accident. However, see then did move to IMG’s Nick Bollettieri Tennis Academy the following year, so I dont think it is really that close. Sharapova doesnt have the best name in the press at the moment, because what I have been hearing, on tour she is really not liked by her fellow players. However, good to see she is making some nice guestures, even though they might just be for the press.
