TENNIS Magazines Goes Hollywood with May Issue
Tennis Coaches to the Stars Dish on Swank, Schwarzenegger, Duvall & Cosby
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04/11/07 - From old-time studio moguls to current stars looking to stay fit, tennis has a long history in Hollywood. The May issue of TENNIS Magazine, on newsstands today, celebrates tinsel town with inside dish on stars’ tennis court personalities, a visit to the set of the highly-anticipated upcoming tennis movie starring Seann William Scott and a look at tennis pros and their celebrity look-alikes.
Serving Up Celebrity
Former Wimbledon champ (1959) Alex Olmedo, 71, has been making movie stars feel like tennis champions for four decades on the court at the Beverly Hills Hotel. He gives the May issue of TENNIS the lowdown on some of his famous students. George Hamilton, Olmedo says, “wasn’t that good an athlete but he tried hard.” In the interest of preserving her skin, Gilligan’s Island star Tina Louise carried an umbrella on court. True to his acting style, Robert Duvall “could focus well, and if he’d started younger could have been really good.” Bill Cosby’s humor gave way to his ambition, to the point where he would admonish his pro partner if they weren’t winning. The secret of teaching celebs? “These are people with real lives and real problems like everyone else,” Olmedo tells TENNIS. “I’m like a psychiatrist. So they want to believe they’re tennis players and so I make them believe they’re champions. I help them learn how to feel and look the part.”
Steve Bellamy, CEO of the Palisades Tennis Center in California says Hillary Swank is as flexible and athletic as anyone he’s ever coached. He tells TENNIS, “One time she stood on her left leg and put her right leg to her ear. It was pretty amazing. But the best thing about her is her work ethic. She really works on her game.” The same goes for Elisabeth Shue – “she says she acts just to pay for her tennis lessons” – and Jon Lovitz. “I’ve hit with him at 3:30 in the morning after a pro tournament. He’s really into the game, obviously. He’s always out there.” As for his governor, Bellamy says, “Arnold [Schwarzenegger] wasn’t as skilled, but what he did with his strength” – he would stand way behind the baseline and let it rip – “was amazing.”
New Movie Hits the Court for Casting
Actor Seann William Scott, of the American Pie series, and veteran actor Randy Quaid star in the upcoming flick Gary the Tennis Coach. When TENNIS visited the set, director Danny Leiner, of Dude, Where’s My Car? fame, told the magazine, “I’ve never seen a really good [tennis movie] that I can remember, so it seemed like an opportunity to do a sport that hasn’t been done in a great way.”
Wary of his predecessor’s faults, Leiner aims to avoid the same shortcomings. “It looked like people were acting and couldn’t play tennis,” he tells TENNIS. To avoid this pitfall, he held a casting session at John Newcombe’s academy in Texas, where the film is being made, to scout talent that could act and play tennis. If they couldn’t cut it on the court, they were put through a training camp. Brando Eaton, an actor by trade, spent seven hours a day for three weeks preparing for his role as the hero of the film. Joseph Dwyer, who plays his nemesis, was actually a nationally ranked junior who used to train in Georgia under John Roddick.
Scott, who co-produces, tells the magazine that the production is operating without a studio’s support – to avoid financial burdens and creative differences. “They wouldn’t let us do the stuff we’re doing. The movie is so rowdy and crazy, [but] I think it’s smart in a weird way,” he says.
Separated at Birth?
According to the editors of TENNIS magazine, Roger Federer and Quentin Tarantino look so similar, they could have been separated at birth. The May issue takes an amusing look at a dozen tennis pros and their Hollywood look-alikes, including Serena Williams and Pepa as well as Mikhail Youzhny and Justin Timberlake.
About Miller Publishing Group: MPG publishes TENNIS Magazine, SMASH. Magazine and the photo annual The Year in Pictures. TENNIS, published 10 times annually, is the world’s largest tennis title, with a circulation of more than 600,000. MPG also owns TENNIS.com, the world’s leading tennis website, plus SMASHtennis.com and the blog Peter Bodo’s TennisWorld (peterbodostennisworld.com).
