Be It Serious or Fun, It Was All Beneficial

Dana Carvey was making sporting jokes. Or, maybe from the players’ point of a view, unsporting jokes.

From his position in the umpire’s chair, Carvey ribbed the amateur and the professional unmercifully, whether their shots flew in or out during the “hit and giggle” tennis matches which were part of “An Evening at the Net” staged Monday night by the Permanent Charities Committee of the Entertainment Industries.

“This is a game in which the most beautiful word in the English language--love--means zero,” noted Carvey, insisting that he knew nothing about tennis, unlike some of his fellow celebrities whose enthusiasm for the game had prompted them to risk exposing to public view their serves and ground strokes to benefit the Los Angeles Free Clinic and kick off the Infiniti Open tennis tournament at the Los Angeles Tennis Center at UCLA.

“It’s a bizarre concept that after only a couple of years of playing I’m going to be out there with the pros. I’ll be interested to see what my body will do,” said Emmy-nominated James McDaniel of “NYPD Blue” as he waited to take the court with pros Luke and Murphy Jensen and “Friends” star Lisa Kudrow.

The other celebs who braved stepping between the lines were Jon Lovitz and British singer Seal, who played with pros Stefan Edberg and Tracy Austin.

“I find it hard to play in a jokey atmosphere because I’m really competitive,” admitted Seal, whose belief that the sport encourages kids to pursue goals of excellence has drawn him into linking up with the Assn. of Tennis Professionals, the official union of the men’s tour, to help promote the game to a wider audience.

Edberg, along with some of the other pros, including Wimbledon champion Richard Krajicek, had further helped the charitable cause by mingling with fans who had paid $100 a ticket for the pre-match cocktail party held in a fenced area behind the stadium. “Some of the players really enjoy doing this sort of thing and some don’t. I fall somewhere in between because I’m a low-key person,” said the soft-spoken Edberg, stressing, however, “It is more important than ever to help people in need in these tough times.”

Todd Ficeto, president of Century City Securities, and Nora McAniff, publisher of People, were among the event chairs for the evening. Permanent Charities Committee President Lisa Paulsen and Vice President Danielle Guttman were among those who helped bring sport and Hollywood together and add to the more than $100 million donated to Southern California nonprofits since Permanent Charities was founded in 1942.

None of the tennis pros proved to be very star-struck. The admiration in fact flowed the other way. “I like Michael Chang very much because his ego doesn’t seem to be in the foreground when he plays,” said Kim Cattrall who, with former “Murder One” star Daniel Benzali, planned to stay on to watch Chang in the opening match of the tournament later that evening. Also spotted in the crowd was Neil Simon who over the years has played celebrity tennis events with many of the top pros, which has made him realize “how good they are and how bad you are.”