Word: circuit
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Dates: during 1990-1999
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Though launched in the U.S. only six years ago by Jimmy Connors and sports entrepreneur Ray Benton, the senior-tennis circuit now conducts tournaments around the world. This year 20 events are scheduled at which $3.6 million in prizes will be handed out to players 35 and older. Now called the Worldwide Senior Tennis Circuit, it includes in its impressive galaxy such former stars as Connors, 47; John McEnroe, 40; Bjorn Borg, 43; Guillermo Vilas, 47; John Lloyd, 45; Yannick Noah, 39; Andres Gomez, 39; Henri Leconte, 36; and Mats Wilander...
...least 50, who give emphasis to the word senior in the Senior PGA Tour. Seven players over 60 have won a total of eight tournaments, among them Mike Fetchick, who on his 63rd birthday won the Hilton Head Seniors International, making him the oldest winner ever on the pro circuit...
...noteworthy that corporate America sees so much bounty in backing these events. "Senior tennis and golf are important building tools for the relationships we have with our clients," says Tim Schwertfeger, head of the John Nuveen Co., a financial-management company based in Chicago that helped get the tennis circuit going and invests heavily in both sports. Companies are not only sponsoring the senior tournaments, they are also using several of the grizzled icons to hawk their products. Palmer has appeared in Pennzoil and Cooper Tire commercials, Lee Trevino, 59, and Connors for Cadillac. With intimate knowledge of the aches...
That tie breaker doesn't sit too well with McEnroe, who jokingly calls the senior-tennis circuit the "dinosaur tour." "I think we should be playing two out of three sets," he says. "This way it's too quick, and most of the fans seem shocked that it's over." Also, he says, it doesn't test the players enough. "There should be at least some kind of fitness test involved...
...although in my innocent youth I loved the film "Short Circuit," I became disillusioned when I realized that the white actor portraying the Indian immigrant inventor was acting like a caricature, not a person...