Murray State University Athletics
Purcell to play in legends tourney
8/17/2005 12:00:00 AM | Men's Tennis
Murray State men's tennis head coach Mel Purcell will take part in the LTU Champions Trophy Tournament presented by Volvo at Sportime Amagansett in Amagansett, N.Y., this Thursday through Sunday.
Other former tennis greats taking part in the tournament are John McEnroe, Anders Jarryd, Mansour Bahrami, Peter McNamara, Johan Kriek, Aaron Krickstein and Guillermo Vilas.
"This will be a lot of fun," Purcell said. "I'll also be bringing up my Murray State shirts, so it is also a chance for me to represent Murray State and get the word out about the university, which will help with recruiting not only for me, but for the university in general."
Each singles player taking part in the tournament must have won or been a finalist in a Grand Slam championship, been ranked No. 1 in the world, or played singles on a winning Davis Cup team.
As a player at the University of Tennessee, Purcell won the 1980 NCAA indoor singles title, and was part of the 1980 NCAA outdoor doubles champion team, paired with Rodney Harmon.
After turning pro in July 1980, he was named the ATP Tour Rookie of the Year. He advanced to the quarterfinals of the 1983 Wimbledon and reached the round of 16 at the 1981 and 1982 French Opens. Notable players who took losses to Purcell during his professional career include Ivan Lendl, Boris Becker, Yannick Noah, Ilie Nastase and Stan Smith. He ranked as high as 21st in the world in November 1980, claiming three singles titles and sharing four doubles titles in his career.
The LTU Champions Trophy will help benefit the Michael J. Fox Foundation for Parkinson's Research as well as the East Hampton Women's Retreat.
Purcell will take on Vilas on Thursday at 3:30 p.m. CT and Krickstein on Friday at 1:30 p.m. CT. He will pair with Bahrami to play against the doubles team of McNamara and Vilas on Saturday at 3:30 p.m. On Sunday, the top four singles players and the top two doubles teams will battle for the trophy.
