Andre Agassi hosted his 14th annual Grand Slam for Children charity event on Saturday night at the Wynn Casino in Las Vegas, with proceeds supporting his Andre Agassi College Preparatory Academy. Andre attended with Steffi Graf, and three-time French Open Champ, Gustavo Kuerten, was also there.

Comedian Dane Cook, rock band Daughtry, and musicians Macy Gray, Tim McGraw, Lionel Richie and Brian McKnight headlined the evening, which also included a cocktail reception, dinner and live auction. Tickets started at $3,500 per couple and went up to $85,000 for a “Diamond” level sponsorship package for ten people.

The AP reports that since the event’s inception in 1994, the Grand Slam for Children has raised $75 million dollars for the Andre Agassi Foundation and it’s educational programs.

Steffi looking glam:

Gustavo Kuerten:

Guga with partner Mariana Soncini:

Double date:

Daughtry:

Jackie Joyner-Kersee:

Some of the kids:

Say you, say Richie:

Click here for more info on the Andre Agassi Foundation for Education.

Roger & Mirka and Steffi & Andre may have formed the ultimate tennis love-matches, but there are many more tumultuous examples: Kim Clijsters & Lleyton Hewitt, Jimmy Connors & Chris Evert and Radek Stepanek & Martina Hingis broke off their engagements, for example, while Verdasco & Ivanovic, Pennetta & Moya and Stepanek & Vaidisova experienced well-documented courtships and break-ups (yes, ladies, “The Worm”  is back on the market, per Tennis.com!)

With the increase in co-ed tournaments and prize money (get thee back, gold digging groupies!), The Wall Street Journal claims that love is in the air – and on the courts – more than ever. I’d argue that Marat Safin’s imminent retirement has dashed the hopes of lusty WTA players, making Radek et. al. more appealing, but what do I know?

Here are some excerpts from Hannah Karp’s WSJ article called Tennis Gets Hot and Heavy: Increase in Co-Ed Events Sparks More Love Matches; Federer as “Eye Candy.” (Click here for the full article and thanks to Forty Deuce for posting on this.)

The allure of The Worm, explained:

Defending the title of ATP playboy, though, is Czech Radek Stepanek. He was engaged to Martina Hingis, is (not) dating Nicole Vaidisova (anymore) and is known for charming ladies with his sense of humor and a victory dance he calls “the worm,” which he debuted at a player party in the Austrian Alps several years ago after a big win and a little too much Schnapps.

“Everyone was very impressed,” recalls Mr. Stepanek, adding that he hopes his popularity with beautiful women, a subject of much speculation on tennis forums, is “because of who I am as a person.”

Federer “as eye candy.” (No surprise, Marion Bartoli’s quoted on this one!)

Much to the dismay of many female players, Mr. Federer married one of their own in April, former pro Mirka Vavrinec, and is officially off the market. “He was great eye candy,” says France’s Marion Bartoli, who took his picture off her wall after she heard the news.

Tennis players are just like bloggers:

Thirty years ago, just catching a glimpse of players of the opposite sex at the four Grand Slams each year was a thrill. Leslie Allen, a former WTA player who joined the tour in 1977, recalls an early WTA ritual: ranking the male tennis players based on their looks. “We’d choose a captain and a co-captain—we had a whole ranking system,” says Ms. Allen, now a coach at Riverdale Country School in New York.

Forget “Mars vs. Venus”, it’s “Neanderthal vs. Jonas Brother fans”:

“It’s kind of an incestuous world,” says Dr. Mayer (a sports psychologist). When it comes to romance, he says, even the most accomplished male players tend to behave like “neanderthals” and female players like “giggly Jonas Brothers fans.” This often results in “very adolescent” relationships, he says, that last an average of three to four months and tend to have noticeable effects on a player’s performance at various stages.

In the seduction or “wooing” period, Dr. Mayer says, performance generally peaks. Canada’s top player, Frank Dancevic, for example, says he achieved the best result of his life the first time he brought his girlfriend to a tournament in Indianapolis two years ago. “I think I was just trying to show off—I didn’t want to look like a wuss,” says Mr. Dancevic.

As relationships progress, however, things can get complicated. Dr. Mayer says he watched one tour relationship hit the skids after the male player repackaged a watch given to him by a major tour sponsor and sent it to his girlfriend, another pro player, fibbing that he’d bought the watch in Paris—not knowing that his girlfriend had received the same watch from the same sponsor.

Any guesses on who the re-gifter was? URGH! I’m dying to know! The article does mention one cad by name, when Dominika Cibulkova’s coach describes her ex-beau, Gael Monfils, as charming but not “a relationship guy.” We know what that means!

Here’s an audio-visual guide to famous tennis couples (player-on-player and otherwise) – the Roddick photo at the end is priceless!

This calls for a poll!

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Wimbledon celebrated its new Centre Court roof on Sunday with exhibition matches featuring Andre Agassi, Steffi Graf, Tim Henman and  Kim Clijsters. (Andy Murray also made a surprise appearance.) Besides the God-awful musical entertainment (not helped by Tennis Channel’s equally bad audio quality) the day was a great success – to me, anyway. Not Roger beating Rafa on clay, good, but heck, it was an exo.

Speaking of audio – all of the players loved the way the court sounded with the roof closed. Clijsters summed it up (via Wimbledon.com): “It has always felt on the Centre court as if the old roof brought the sound of the crowd down on to the court, but now with the new roof it feels as if the crowd is right there next to you on the court.”

Very cool!

The final results:

Mixed Doubles: A. Agassi/S. Graf 6 – 7 T. Henman/K. Clijsters
Men’s Singles: A. Agassi 6 – 4 T. Henman
Ladies’ Singles: S. Graf 4 – 6 K. Clijsters

Here are some highlights. The mixed doubles match was really entertaining:

Clijsters taking some heat from Andre Agassi

Here’s what Steffi and Andre have to say about Kim’s comeback:

“Please, Wimbledon, can we have some more?” Photo by Paul Gilham/Getty Images via Daylife