Ryan Harrison Invitational Tennis Was a Weekend Smash

"A big success! Thanks to everybody who came out and to everyone who worked so hard to  make it happen!" That's how world ranked tennis star and Shreveport native Ryan Harrison summed up his two day charity tennis event, which kicked off with a Saturday night banquet and concert and wrapped up Sunday with a kids tennis clinic and exhibition with the pros, all to benefit The Wounded Warriors Foundation.

Highlighting Saturday evening's dinner and concert (emceed by KVKI's Robert J Wright) were inspirational speeches by Barksdale Geneeral Everett Thomas and US Army (Ret) General Charles Campbell. But Harrison stole the show with a moving talk in which he thanked his parents for instilling him with his love of the game and the discipline and work ethic to pursue his goals.

Sunday's clinic and exhibition were held at Centenary's Gold Dome and featured Harrison, his younger brother and doubles partner Christian, top 100 pros Ryan Sweeting and Scott Lipsky, and the world's top ranked doubles team, Bob and Mike Bryan. Organizer James Harper of ATLAS Tennis also called the weekend a huge success and said plans are already in the works to make next year's event even bigger and better.