E!, Tennis Look to Backhand the Tsunami

By Mike Reynolds -- Multichannel News, 2/9/2005 10:26:00 AM MT

Current and former tennis pros got together in Houston last week to hit balls to help raise money for the Southeast Asia tsunami disaster, and E! Entertainment Television and The Tennis Channel are playing doubles to provide encore presentations of the fund-raiser.

E! will supply a one-hour highlight show from “Serving for Tsunami Relief” Feb. 17 at 10 p.m. Tennis -- which produced the show from the Toyota Center in Houston Jan. 31 -- will air the full, three-hour event, beginning Feb. 23 at 6 a.m. (EST).

E! will also air the proceedings globally on E! International Network, which is available in more than 50 countries. Each service will televise a phone number that audiences can dial to make donations to the relief effort.

Organized by InsideOut Sports and Entertainment, the event featured former world No. 1 and event participant Jim Courier as one of its founding members.

He was joined by leading U.S. men’s player Andy Roddick; current pro Tommy Haas; tennis hall of famers John McEnroe and Chris Evert; and Anna Kournikova, she of the great gams, if not forehand. Also participating: “Dr. Phil” McGraw and Houston basketball great Clyde Drexler.