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| Marcus Samuelsson and Andy Roddick at last year's BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis.© |
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| Andy Roddick at last year's BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis.© |
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| Food Network Star Ingrid Hoffmann© 2008 Andrew Meade |
The world’s top tennis players and chefs are set to serve-up the US Open’s hottest pre-tournament action at the 9th Annual BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis. This year’s lineup includes tennis superstars Andy Roddick, Jelena Jankovic, Robby Ginepri, Svetlana Kuznetsova, Lleyton Hewitt and David Ferrer, who will cook-up culinary aces alongside such acclaimed chefs as the Food Network’s Ingrid Hoffmann, John DeLucie of The Waverly Inn and Gotham Bar and Grill’s Alfred Portale.
The charity event, produced by AYS Sports Marketing and benefiting Food Bank For New York City, is set for Thursday, August 21st, 7-10pm at the W New York hotel, located on Lexington Avenue at 49th Street in Manhattan. A.J. Callaway, host of entertainment show EXTRA will serve as emcee for the evening, with music from DJ Bernie & DJ Mel DeBarge. For more information and tickets call 877-282-7100 or visit www.bnpparibastasteoftennis.com.
One of summer’s most anticipated New York nighttime events, BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis gives guests the chance to mingle with their favorite tennis stars and chefs while sampling an eclectic mix of specially-designed dishes that earn rave reviews each year. Midway through the evening, the “doubles team” of Roddick and Hoffmann will take center stage for an action-packed cooking demonstration. The former US Open Champion, a self-professed novice in the kitchen, will take pointers from the star of the popular Food Network show “Simply Delicioso.”
This year’s BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis lineup of scheduled players includes:
*Andy Roddick (USA)
*Jelena Jankovic (Serbia)
*Robby Ginepri (USA)
*Svetlana Kuznetsova (Russia)
*Lleyton Hewitt (Australia)
*David Ferrer (Spain)
*Max Mirnyi (Belarus)
*Tommy Haas (Germany)
*Nicolas Kiefer (Germany)
*Nadia Petrova (Russia)
*Tomas Berdych (Czech Republic)
*Mario Ancic (Croatia)
*Amer Delic (USA)
*Jonas Bjorkman (Sweden)
*Mardy Fish (USA)
*Shuai Peng (China)
The menu of notable chefs/restaurants scheduled to appear:
*Alfred Portale/Gotham Bar and Grill
*George McKirdy/Blue Fin
*Chris Santos/The Stanton Social
*John DeLucie/Waverly Inn
*Brian Young/Tavern on the Green
*Todd Mark Miller/STK
*Michael Wurster/Icon
*Wendy Israel/Baking by Design
*Kevin Harry/Heartbeat
*Brad Farmerie/Public
*Dan Pino/XIX Nineteen Cafe
*Kerry Heffernan/South Gate
*Sue Torres/Los Dados
*Wilo Benet/Pikayo
*Francois Kwaku-Dongo/L’Escale
*Cedric Tovar/Peacock Alley
*Peter Howard/Australian Media Chef
*Gene Kato/Japonais
This year’s BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis features a number of marquee sponsors including BNP Paribas as title sponsor, Rums of Puerto Rico as presenting sponsor, as well as W New York, JetBlue Airlines, Samsonite Black Label, McWilliams Wines and Hansen Living as official sponsors.
This year’s BNP Paribas Taste of Tennis benefits Food Bank for New York City, which provides 68 million pounds of food annually to more than 1,000 emergency and community food programs — including soup kitchens, food pantries, shelters, low-income daycare centers, kids cafes and senior, youth, rehabilitation and outreach centers — throughout the five boroughs of New York City. The Food Bank helps provide 250,000 free meals a day for New Yorkers who otherwise would go hungry or not eat enough, who are largely comprised of women and children, the elderly, people with disabilities and the working poor.
AYS SPORTS MARKETING is an event management company specializing in creating, managing and marketing unique sports and entertainment related events.
BNP PARIBAS (www.bnpparibas.com) is a European leader in global banking and financial services and is one of the 4 strongest banks in the world according to Standard & Poor’s. The group is present in over 85 countries, with almost 163,000 employees. The group holds key positions in three major segments: Corporate and Investment Banking, Asset Management & Services and Retail Banking. Present throughout Europe in all of its business lines, the bank’s two domestic markets in retail banking are France and Italy. In the United States, BNP Paribas employs 15,000 people including 2,500 employees in its Corporate and Investment Banking as well as Asset Management and Services businesses which are headquartered in New York. It is also present in other financial hubs throughout the United States including Chicago, San Francisco, Dallas, Houston, Miami and Boston. BNP Paribas also operates a retail banking business through its subsidiary Bank of the West with over 700 branches in the Western US.