Tournament Volunteer Gears Up to Help Tennis Stars Volley With Media

Madeline Sharples looked disoriented standing inside the white tent located to the left of center court at the Manhattan Country Club.

Wearing a black skirt, fancy shirt, nylons and heels, she glanced at the empty wooden tables, large plastic garbage cans and stacks of chairs.

It seemed strange to her that the loud music and sporadic screaming of a nearby aerobic class were the only commotion on the premises. Also, the only tennis action came from two middle-aged men rallying on a distant court.

It won’t be that way Monday when the $300,000 Virginia Slims tennis tournament starts at the exclusive Manhattan Beach club.

Sharples, the coordinator of pressroom volunteers for the last four years, will be more comfortable with the chaotic atmosphere and in the middle of the action.

She’ll be taking time off as the development director at the Wellness Community to volunteer for the South Bay’s premier tennis event.

Her attire will be more comfortable so she can sprint to answer phones, post match results, answer questions, run errands and equip the tent with food and drinks for the media.

She also has to see that her staff of about 25 volunteers is present for the various shifts, three during the day and two at night.

“It’s great to work in there,” said the 49-year old, who plays tennis and works out regularly at the club. “The stars come in there for their interviews and there’s always a lot of commotion. We’re really in the center of things.

“I remember a couple of years ago when Steffi Graf’s father walked in and raised hell because she had to play a second night match. He really made a big deal about it and he was very threatening. Then, I think it was the following year that Martina’s dog was missing and we got a lot of calls about that. There’s never a dull moment.”

During the weeklong tournament, the wooden tables inside the stuffy tent will be topped with media guides and phones, the green carpet will be covered with anxious reporters dashing to get the scoop and the air will be polluted with the constant ringing of phones.

Oh, and there will be lots of action on the nearby courts, thanks to the 56-player draw, which includes four of the world’s top 10 women: Martina Navratilova (2), Gabriela Sabatini (3), Pam Shriver (9) and Zina Garrison (6). Chris Evert, ranked fourth in the world, dropped out of the tournament last week.

“(The players) don’t really notice we’re even around,” said Sharples, whose 81-year-old mother, Hilda Tasky, and 15-year-old son, Ben, also volunteer. “We’re strictly behind the scenes.”

Sharples also offers her Manhattan Beach home to players, which is how she initially became involved with the tournament five years ago.

This week she’ll host Pascale Paradis of France, who stayed with her two years ago. Sharples has also housed American Vicki Nelson and Czechoslovakian Andrea Holikova.

“It’s a lot better than a hotel,” Paradis said last week from a tournament in San Diego, “because you have a family. You eat dinner with them and when you play they support you. Also, if you lose, you go home to a family and not to an empty hotel room. They really are great.”

Tournament Director Jan Diamond feels the same way about the 200 people, a lot of them Manhattan Country Club members, who donate their services to her event.

She says that without them it would be virtually impossible to have the tournament since she has a paid staff of only 60, and 40 of them are umpires.

“It really wouldn’t run without them,” she said. “With the economics of big sporting events there’s no way you could pay for the detail work that has to be done.”

So hairdressers, airline attendants, engineers, office clerks and even college students take over the tedious jobs. They gladly become ushers, pressroom attendants, ball kids, players’ lounge attendants and housing committee members in Los Angeles’ largest professional women’s tennis tournament.

Diamond says they love to do it. She has never had problems getting volunteers; in fact, she normally has extra personnel.

“I’m always amazed,” she said. “The calls come in all the time from people who see our ticket ads in the paper and ask if we need any help. We’ve had about 30 calls like that already.

“It tends to be a happy marriage. We need them and they like tennis. They get a T-shirt, hat and free tickets for the matches.”

They also get to mingle with players away from the court, in a casual and relaxed atmosphere. That’s what Marjorie Foster has been doing for the last six years. She’s in charge of the players’ lounge.

Foster does everything from stock the refrigerator with cold drinks to provide athletes with towels, soap, hair dryers and water.

“In a lot of ways,” said Foster, who is also on the player housing committee, “we’re just waiting on them. We make sure they have everything they need. Sometimes we even take them to the airport.”

Elise Burgin, who has stayed at Foster’s house during the last five Virginia Slims, says the Manhattan Beach event is one of the best on the women’s circuit.

“And the (players’) lounge is very nice,” she said, laughing. “Anything that makes it easier for players is always great. I think most people don’t realize how many things go into a tournament, things that you never even think about.”

Besides Burgin, Helena Sukova, Carling Bassett and Kathy Rinaldi have stayed at Foster’s Manhattan Beach home during the tournament. Last year was hectic, Foster said, because of the controversy involving Burgin, a two-time National Collegiate Athletic Assn. doubles champion at Stanford University and a member of the U.S. Federation and Wightman Cup teams.

Burgin, ranked No. 78 in the world, was cut from the U.S. Olympic team shortly before the Slims tournament to make room for Evert, who decided to represent the country in Seoul at the last minute.

“The phone just rang and rang and rang,” Foster said. “Somehow the press got a hold of my number and they just wouldn’t leave Elise alone. We had to do some heavy duty call screening.”

Burgin says she was fortunate to have the Fosters’ support during that extremely disappointing phase of her career.

“It was a whole difficult period of time for me,” she said, “and they were wonderful during that time. It was great to have friends in L.A. It really helped.”

The Burgin story remains popular among volunteers, but there are a lot of other behind-the-scenes anecdotes that are just as interesting.

Jill Tatum, for instance, has experienced several of them as the head of player housing. She acts as an agent, matching players with the available homes. She has also housed Australian Ann Minter for the last five years.

“Sometimes we get strange requests,” she said. “We’ve had players who want to know if we can house their live-in psychologist, their dog, their boyfriend, their coach, etc.

“One year a player demanded a villa on the ocean with a private entrance and a car. I couldn’t believe it, but it turned out that we were able to accommodate her. She got an oceanfront home and a Jaguar!”

Fortunately for Diamond, volunteers aren’t as demanding as some players. They simply want to be involved with the tournament and perhaps rub elbows with some famous athletes.

“It’s just real fun,” said Sandy Kopp, a United Airlines worker who took a week’s vacation to work at the Slims. “It’s like a big carnival.”