Tennis stars shine with support for St. Jude

Photography by Ann-Margaret Hedges



Many of the world’s top tennis players assembled in Memphis, Tenn., Feb. 14-21 at the Regions Morgan Keegan Championships and the Cellular South Cup benefiting St. Jude. World-class tennis players Maria Sharapova and James Blake both visited the St. Jude campus on Feb. 12 for the tournament’s draw ceremony, when the matchups of the top seeds were determined. Other players in the tournament visited on Monday, Feb. 15, touring the hospital, meeting with patients and their families and signing autographs.

St. Jude has been the beneficiary of this event since 1993, when it was known as the Kroger St. Jude, and to date the event has generated more than $3 million for the hospital. The money raised by the tournament has funded the Arthur Ashe Chair of Pediatric AIDS Research at St. Jude and an endowment named for tennis great Tim Gullikson, who died of a brain tumor in 1996.