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Hey Tennis Friends!

Occasionally there are special events that come along, that are way too much fun!

That’s right, actor and comedian Will Ferrell was facing off against former Swedish World Champion Mats Wilander. In addition, TV comic actor and writer Andy Richter (Conan O’Brien’s original sidekick) was to be the chair umpire!

Celebrity exhibition matches are so entertaining, because it’s usually very unconventional. Will Ferrell decided that because Mats was a foreigner, he had better protect himself from the flu virus, and donned a surgical mask:

At one point, Will needed a little bit more of an advantage in hitting the ball:

In order to handicap Mats, at one point he was required to hold hands with two of the ball kids while playing. Will felt that this was a little too unfair, so he opted to even things out, by actually carrying around a ball kid on his back:

The main singles event was followed by a doubles match of Ferrell and Wilander taking on Rainn Wilson (Dwight, from the TV show “The Office”) and former ATP World Tour touring pro and Tennis Channel commentator, Justin Gimelstob.

All of this mayhem resulted in an extended video report.

A couple of notes:

#1. For the record, there were no coaches, coaching, or Hawk-Eye replays.

#2. Sometimes I have to do more than one “take” for each of my bits. Mostly they are pretty uneventful mistakes, but sometimes they are funnier, depending on who you’re standing next to:

Correction: That was Mark who was the host from the TV Guide Network, . . . Aaron was the cameraman’s name.

Thanks to all of the support staff in making this such a successful event, especially these friendly ladies who are, I believe, teachers at The Swedish School of Los Angeles:

If you ever get a chance to make it to a celebrity exhibition match, I strongly encourage you to go. Hopefully this same event will be back next year!

I’ll see you next time, with more tennis, . . . outside the lines!

– Marcus Tennis

Tags: 2009, Andy Richter, BjornBorg.com, Justin Gimelstob, K•Swiss, LA Tennis Center, Mats Wilander, Rainn Wilson, Southern California, Svenska Skolan, Tennis, Tennis Channel, The Swedish School of Los Angeles, TV Guide Network, UCLA, Westwood, Will Ferrell

This entry was posted on Saturday, May 16th, 2009 at 9:00 AM and is filed under LA Tennis Center. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.