Christie
Brinkley |
Edgar Bronfman, Jr. |
Ashley and Mary-Kate Olsen |
Jack Nicholson |
Valerie
Simpson and
Nick Ashford |
Anna
Wintour |
US
OPEN 2004
It’s
The Highest Purse
In
The Sports World
Story by Roger Webster and
Diane Dunne
Photos
by Diane Dunne
 LAN G. SCHWARTZ,
president of the US Tennis Association served an impressive award
statistic at the 2004 US Open when he announced, "The purse
would top $17.75 million – representing the highest purse in
sports."
Just before court action fired up, we ran into last year's
runner-up, Kim Clijsters, at a Fila party at
Bloomingdale's. Recuperating from a hand operation, Kim was a
spectator during the Open.
“I'm still
excited about the women's tournament because it is
unpredictable,” she said. “The Russians, Americans and
Belgians all look good!”
Since America's
women's hopes – Lindsay Davenport and Jennifer
Capriati – bowed out at the semifinals, and the Belgians
bombed early in the third round, it was an all-Russian final with Svetlana
Kuznetsova beating Elena Dementieva.
The American men lost during the quarterfinals, leaving the
world's champion Roger Federer of Switzerland to defeat
Australia's Lleyton Hewitt.
This didn't
stop the Americans from coming in droves to see some of the best
tennis in the world. Edgar Bronfman, Jr., chairman and CEO
of Warner Music Group, summarized the sentiments of the finals:
"I'm not supporting just one player, I'm here to see an
exciting match."
Jack
Nicholson
drew as much attention as the center court action. Ashley and
Mary-Kate Olsen also attracted many fans and willingly
signed autographs on oversized tennis balls.
Tennis ace Muffie Potter Aston
witnessed a thrilling match when last year's Open winner, Justine
Hennin-Hardenne, surprisingly lost to Nadia Petrova.
After watching the
semifinals with Alec Baldwin, Chevy Chase and his
wife happily posed with NY's finest. Christy Brinkley
arrived with husband Peter Cook and son Jack who
plays in the USTA junior league. Another former model, Christy
Turlington, watched with her husband Ed Burns. Vogue
editor Anna Wintour, a strong US Open fan and tennis
player, appeared on opening night.
Utah's Governor Olene S.
Walker, with husband Myron,
told us, "In politics, I'm proud of the inroads we females
have made recently in governorship. Before 2002, there never had
been more than five female governors. Today, we have 10."
Farrah Fawcett filmed on the grounds for her new reality show,
Finding
Farrah. Opera star Jessye Norman sang at the women's
finals.
Also on hand were Cliff Robertson,
Penny
Marshall, Christopher Reeve, Judd Hirsch, Joe
Pesci, Gene Wilder, NASCAR star Jeff Gordon, Mick
Fleetwood, nattily attired in a pink cap, R&B music
artists Nick Ashford and Valerie Simpson who said
they might consider writing a song about bad-calls from chair
umpires for Serena Williams. Sister Vanessa
Williams had supermodel Naomi Campbell cheering her on.
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