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Jill b
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Outback Champions Series - Rio Champions cup - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil March 12 - 15!!
Outback Champions Series Set To Debut In Brazil Thursday
NEW YORK, March 11, 2009 – John McEnroe, newly-turned 50 years old and fresh off reaching the final of the Champions Cup Boston, leads the field of players set to compete at the $150,000 Rio Champions Cup that starts Thursday at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Joining McEnroe in the field of eight champions are two-time French and Australian Open champion Jim Courier, 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, 1986 French Open finalist Mikael Pernfors, former U.S. Open and Wimbledon finalist Mark Philippoussis, former U.S. Davis Cup standout Jimmy Arias, and Brazilian standouts Fernando Meligeni and Jaime Oncins.
The Rio Champions Cup will be the second of eight events on the 2009 Outback Champions Series, the global tennis circuit for champion tennis players age 30 and over. The event will mark the first Outback Champions Series event held in Brazil.
“We are looking forward to bringing Outback Champions Series tennis to Brazil for the first time and have an excellent field of players that will provide high-level tennis and entertainment in Rio,” said Jon Venison, co-founding partner for the Outback Champions Series.
McEnroe, who turned 50 years old on February 16, reached his sixth career singles final on the Outback Champions Series at the Champions Cup Boston, losing to Pete Sampras in a hard-fought final 7-6 (10), 6-4. Following the match, Sampras said he was “in awe” of McEnroe and his level of play at his age. Thirty years ago in 1979, McEnroe won his major singles title at the U.S. Open – the first of his four titles in Flushing Meadows. McEnroe also won three Wimbledon singles titles and, on the Outback Champions Series, won titles in Boston and Surprise, Ariz., in 2008.
The Rio Champions Cup will feature a round-robin format with McEnroe, Pernfors, Arias and Oncins competing in “Group Maracana” and Courier, Cash, Philippoussis and Meligeni playing in “Group Corcovado.” The schedule of play for the event is as follows:
Thursday - March 12
Starting at 5 pm
Arias vs. Oncins
Courier vs. Cash
McEnroe vs. Pernfors
Meligeni vs. Philippoussis
Friday – March 13
Starting at 5 pm
Pernfors vs. Oncins
Philippoussis vs. Cash
McEnroe vs. Arias
Courier vs. Meligeni
Saturday – March 14
Starting at 3 pm
Arias vs. Pernfors
Meligeni vs. Cash
Courier vs. Philippoussis
McEnroe vs. Oncins
Sunday – March 15
Starting at noon
3rd Place Match
Starting at 2 pm
Championship Match
Following the Rio Champions Cup, Outback Champions Series events will be played in Los Cabos, Mexico (March 18-22), Grand Cayman (April 23-26), Newport, R.I. (August 20-23), Charlotte (Sept. 24-27), Surprise, Ariz. (Oct. 8-11) and Dubai, U.A.E. (Nov. 18-21).
Founded in 2005, the Outback Champions Series features some of the biggest names in tennis over the last 25 years, including Sampras, McEnroe, Courier and others. To be eligible to compete on the Outback Champions Series, players must have reached at least a major singles final, been ranked in the top five in the world or played singles on a championship Davis Cup team. The Outback Champions Series features eight events on its 2009 schedule with each event featuring $150,000 in prize money as well as Champions Series ranking points that will determine the year-end No. 1 and winner of a $100,000 bonus.
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12/Mar/09, 8:31
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flipfanatic
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Re: Outback Champions Series - Rio Champions cup - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil March 12 - 15!!
This is due to start tonight. Good Luck to Mark!
I hope he plays well, stays healthy and wins some matches.
Val
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“It’s in my heart to give it one more go” - Mark
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12/Mar/09, 18:33
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Marcia5
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Re: Outback Champions Series - Rio Champions cup - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil March 12 - 15!!
That's great news, Jill and Val! Good luck, Mark!
Last edited by Marcia5, 14/Mar/09, 2:16
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14/Mar/09, 2:15
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0angel
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Re: Outback Champions Series - Rio Champions cup - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil March 12 - 15!!
it's nice to hear that mark's playing. good luck mark and stay out of injuries ++++++++++++
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14/Mar/09, 10:12
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flipfanatic
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Re: Outback Champions Series - Rio Champions cup - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil March 12 - 15!!
Official Outback Champions website - Schedule and Results
Unfortunately Mark lost but it looks as though he really put in a good fight!
4-6, 6-3, 9-11(TB)
Mark is scheduled to play AGAIN in only an hour or two against Pat Cash. Poor Mark, I hope it's not too much for him with so little match play. Cash lost his last match so will be out to get one up in his match against Mark.
Update: After probably only a 1 to 2 hour break, Mark has now lost his match to Pat Cash -
6-7(3), 1-6. First set was very close.
Bad scheduling but I hope all is good for Mark and he will taste victory tomorrow against Jim Courier 
Val
Last edited by flipfanatic, 14/Mar/09, 12:58
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“It’s in my heart to give it one more go” - Mark
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14/Mar/09, 10:31
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Jill b
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Re: Outback Champions Series - Rio Champions cup - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil March 12 - 15!!
Good tight first match, shame he lost in in the tie-break.
A little baffled by the 2nd set score against Cash. Mark must of had a shocker on serve to get broken twice... Cash would've been pumped!lol
Considering Courier handled Cash quite easy, Mark will have to pick things up if he wants to post a win. Hopefully he can recover enough to do it.
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14/Mar/09, 17:52
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flipfanatic
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Re: Outback Champions Series - Rio Champions cup - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil March 12 - 15!!
Apparently there were two matches scheduled for today due to flights not getting there in time. I assume this may be Mark's flights as he had so far to go with such short notice.
globalvillagetennisnews.com
Poor Mark didn't have any preparation for this so he has done remarkably well, considering. I hope the knee is all good ++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++
Two matches in a day is tough on any good body. I hope Mark is upto playing Jim Courier tomorrow.
Still, it was a good opportunity and I hope Mark will have much better success in the next one as he will arrive in plenty of time 
Val
Last edited by flipfanatic, 14/Mar/09, 20:58
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“It’s in my heart to give it one more go” - Mark
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14/Mar/09, 20:08
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Jill b
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Re: Outback Champions Series - Rio Champions cup - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil March 12 - 15!!
I just threw this article into google translations and it seems Mark had a bit of a nightmare trip to brazil..
From what i decipher Mark left thursday night (Aus time or brazil time?), and it was a 29hr flight, with 5 stops and said it's the main reason for the off performance.
Consolation for his efforts is he's in gorgeous Rio, hopefully he gets some down time to go to the beach and look around the city!!
Last edited by Jill b, 14/Mar/09, 21:46
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14/Mar/09, 21:45
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flipfanatic
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Re: Outback Champions Series - Rio Champions cup - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil March 12 - 15!!
I agree! Mark should see if Guga is about and then go catch some waves together I don't know if Guga is based in Rio or not but it sounds like a fun thing to do.
After all that travel in a rush, it would be ashame for Mark to not take a couple of days and enjoy the sun and surf.
Val
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“It’s in my heart to give it one more go” - Mark
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15/Mar/09, 7:41
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Jill b
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Re: Outback Champions Series - Rio Champions cup - Rio de Janeiro, Brazil March 12 - 15!!
Here's the blog from Pat Cash - I'm hoping Mark does one, it would be funny to hear about his travels to brazil!
From Australia to Kuala Lumpur, to London for a day to pick up some tennis clothes. Then I saw my lovely boys and had a hit of tennis with Jett of course and played some guitar with Shannon, who is getting good so quickly, and will overtake Dad in a year or so at this rate. Visa in hand, I jumped on a plane to Rio for the Rio Champions Cup. I wasn't 100% when I arrived but one look at the sights and beaches makes anyone feel better.
The first morning was spent sight-seeing and kicking a soccer ball at Maracana Stadium, the giant football stadium that holds 100,000 screaming fans. It was an honour to meet Bebeto, the Brazilian captain of many world cup triumphs. Most of the tennis players kicked the ball around and I got the duty of being the goal keeper. It was fun, whilst being careful not to break a finger as some of the guys kicked the hell out of the ball, particularly the local tennis star Fernando Melengeni.
I managed to kick a ripper of a 20 yard goal with my first kick in front of Bebeto who was mighty impressed, luckily he didn’t see the next crappy 20 kicks.
That night Jim Courier gave me a wake up call in my first match by killing me 6-0. Its been a long while since losing a set 6-0, and it was partially due to Jim's good play and partially because I was all over the place trying to pick up the ball from the backdrop. Coming from bright Australian sun to an indoor venue was a real struggle. I did improve dramatically in the 2nd set and almost pulled it out, having a set point but losing 7-6.
Last night I was lucky to get a very tired Mark Philipoussis and after scrapping out the first set 7-6, Mark was near exhaustion, having just arrived from Australia as an emergency fill in for the injured Ivanisevic. Mark had to play another match a couple of hours before hand and in the end I went through 6-1 in the second set.
My form is improving every minute, so we will see what tonight's match against Melengeni brings. We never played on the circuit so it will be an interesting learning process.
-Pat
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15/Mar/09, 7:53
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