The Underground Celebrity Pro-Am set for April 6 at the North Carolina Cup
| March 27, 2024
PPA pros will share the court with some sports celebrities when the tour hits North Carolina.
The event, which will be at 2 p.m. on April 6, will feature a number of PPA pros, including local player Jack Sock.
It will also feature celebrities Rod Brind’Amour, Justin Williams, Cam Ward, Genie Bouchard and Tyler Hansbrough.
The ticketed event will be between sessions on Saturday of the North Carolina Cup. It can also be seen live on Amazon Prime.
And these aren’t just celebrities, they are accomplished stars in the sports world.
Brind’Amour, the coach of the NHL’s Carolina Hurricanes, played nearly 1,500 games in the NHL. He came into the league 1989 and played until 2010 for St. Louis, Philadelphia and Carolina. He won the Stanley Cup, hockey’s championship in 2006 with Carolina, and he’s also in the Philadelphia Flyers Hall of Fame.
Brind’Amour has been the Carolina head coach since 2018 and has made the playoffs in each of his five years with the Hurricanes. His No. 17 jersey has been retired by the team.
Three-time Stanley Cup champ Justin Williams will also take part in the event. Williams won a pair of championships with the Los Angeles Kings and another with Carolina. Overall, Williams played from 2000-2020 with the Flyers, the Hurricanes, the Kings and the Washington Capitals. He was named the Most Valuable Player of the playoffs with the Kings in 2014.
Cam Ward is another Carolina Hurricanes great. A goalie, he won the Stanley Cup in his rookie season. He played 13 seasons in Carolina and retired as the franchise’s leader in wins and shutouts.
From hockey to basketball. Tyler Hansbrough, who is also entered in the pro men’s doubles bracket, played for the University of North Carolina and also in the NBA for the Indiana Pacers, Toronto Raptors and Charlotte Hornets.
Hansbrough was named an All-American after his freshman year at UNC. He was the National Player of the Year after his junior season. After his senior season, Hansbrough was selected as the No. 13 pick overall, played more than 400 NBA games and was part of six playoff teams.
And you already know about Bouchard and Sock.
Bouchard, who is signed to play on the PPA Tour in 2024, was the first Canadian to make a Wimbledon final, managing the feat in 2014, her best year as a pro when she also was a semifinalist in the Australian Open and the French Open. She reached a career-high, No. 5 in the world in 2014.
Sock has been a popular player on the PPA Tour. He won a mixed doubles title in 2023 with Anna Leigh Waters at the North Carolina Cup and is a full-time player in 2024, earning a medal in singles in the first tournament of the year.
As a tennis player, Sock was ranked as high as No. 8 in the world in singles and No. 2 in doubles. He has two Wimbledon doubles titles and a U.S. Open doubles title. Overall, Sock played in 63 singles matches at Grand Slams.
PPA pros Ben Johns, Anna Leigh Waters and others are expected to play.
