Believe It, Life Isn’t Perfect for Fox

Many have envied Rick Fox’s wonderful life, his championships as a Laker, his celebrity as an actor, his marriage to a beauty queen and Broadway entertainer, but then there is this: He was trounced on a tennis court over the summer by “Friends” star Matthew Perry.

“I thought he was going to be the other celebrity who couldn’t play tennis, that he was coming to provide the laughs,” Fox said with a grin Monday morning,

At a Manhattan Beach charity event that featured Jennifer Capriati and Perry against Serena Williams and Fox, well, let’s just say nobody ever hit the ball to Serena.

“He was like a junior tennis stud or something,” Fox said of Perry. “He was really good. Ticked me off.... The guy could play. So, I swore on that tennis court that day that I would be back and I would be better.”

Fox began taking tennis lessons on the court he built two years ago at home in Chappaqua, N.Y. He became obsessed, dropped his beloved golf and hung out with Pete Sampras and his entourage at the U.S. Open, all in the name of tennis revenge.

Otherwise, his summer was rather dreary, in a big, famous movie star sense.

The NBA Finals ended just in time for him to appear in the final episode of HBO’s “Oz,” reprising his role as Jackson Vahue.

He had a part in “Holes,” the movie based on the children’s book by Louis Sachar.

When that was through, he worked on Showtime’s “Street Time,” where he has a recurring role in the series as a parolee.

He made television commercials for an automobile company and continued to do ads for Skechers.

And, he frolicked in Westchester County with his wife, Vanessa, and five children, one born to the two of them and four from previous relationships. Vanessa recently extended her contract with the Broadway play “Into the Woods” through the holidays, then intends to live in Los Angeles, where she is developing a television show.

In the meantime, and partly because of his passion for tennis, Fox arrived at camp in typically terrific shape and even leaner than he was last season.

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Magic Johnson said Monday he would decide by the weekend whether to divest himself of his Laker interest to become part owner of the Seattle SuperSonics, and so follow Jerry West as the second Laker Hall-of-Famer in six months to align himself with another organization.

Johnson met this weekend with SuperSonic owner Howard Schultz, a man he said he admired very much. But, Johnson is first a businessman, and he said there are very basic issues that could keep him in Los Angeles.

“They’re losing money,” he said. “We’re making it.”

Johnson owns 5% of the Lakers, a piece he said would be very difficult to give up. At this moment, he said, he’s more likely to stay with the Lakers.

“I’m having fun here, so it’s a tough deal,” he said. “I love Howard, though. I would love to do something with him.

“But, the deal just doesn’t stand up.”

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The Lakers have 12 players under guaranteed contracts, and although another player or two -- center Soumaila Samake and guard Jannero Pargo are playing well and are most often mentioned -- would be luxury-tax expensive, it would not be impossible.

“Our standard procedure here is that if a guy’s good enough, we usually find a way to keep him,” General Manager Mitch Kupchak said.