Isner Living (And Eating) Large At Citi Taste Of Tennis
Isner Living (And Eating) Large At Citi Taste Of Tennis
John Isner was among several players who sampled some of the best food Washington has to offer at the Citi Taste of Tennis on Monday at The Hamilton Live on Monday night, marking the event’s second year in the nation’s capital.
Isner joined fellow Top 10 Russian Daniil Medvedev and more than 25 other Citi Open players, including former doubles World No. 1 Marcelo Melo, who earlier in the day celebrated his 500th career match win.
At the event, guests enjoyed an evening sampling fine food, sipping signature cocktails, mingling with their favourite players, live music and a cooking demonstration. A portion of proceeds raised at the Citi Taste of Tennis benefits the Washington Tennis & Education Foundation.
Citi Taste of Tennis ambassador Isner said, “These events are so much fun. You meet so many cool people and you eat a lot of great food. As a guy who likes to eat, this is a perfect venue for me tonight. There really aren’t any foods I don’t like.”
Medvedev said, “This is my first Citi Taste of Tennis. It’ a lot of fun. Many players told me I should come and try the great food prepared by so many leading chefs. I’m glad I’m here.
“As tennis players we travel to many countries and we try many foods. We burn a lot of calories on the court, so we like to eat.”
Executive chef Jerome Grant of Sweet Home Café said, “We have players from all over the world coming here to play and we’ve got folks from all these restaurants with different backgrounds, so it all goes hand in hand. Importantly, a lot of the proceeds from these nights go into building our tennis centres.”
Pro Tennis Players who attended: John Isner, Sloane Stephens, Chris Eubanks, Marcelo Melo, Jan-Lennard Struff, Matthew Ebden, Medvedev Daniil, Treat Huey, Shelby Rogers, Monica Puig, Kevin Krawietz, Rohan Bopanna, Denis Kudla, Francessca Di Lorenzo, Rosalie Vanderhoek, Alison Bal, Beatrice Gumulya, Jessy Rompies, Elixane Lechamie, Ingrid Neal, Quinn Gleason, Nikola Mektic, Mate Pavic, Franko Skugor, Denis Kudla, Brayden Schnur, and more.
The line-up of chef’s included: Jerome Grant (Sweet Home Café), Erik Bruner-Yang (Spoken English), John Mooney (Bidwell), Jaspratrap “Jassie” Bindra (Punjab Grill), Leo Harvey (Ocean Prime), Neil Cline & Brent Lettsome (British Virgin Islands), Paola Velez (Kith and Kin DC), Chris Kombou (Compass Rose), Gianluigi Dellaccio (Dolce Gelati), Dan Kennedy (Estuary), Michael Rafidi (Albi), Victor Albisu (Taco Bamba), Zach Smith (The Hamilton Live), and Adam Greenberg (Coconut Club).
The Citi Taste of Tennis series is produced by AYS Sports Marketing and was the brainchild of AYS’ founders Judi and Penny Lerner. Back in 2001 Judi and Penny, both longtime tennis fans, dreamed of creating an event that combined the international appeal of fine food and professional tennis. The Citi Taste of Tennis was born, and now 20 years later it has become one of the most anticipated “off the court” event at tennis tournaments nationwide.