The 2008 Pilot Pen Tennis was a tennis tournament played on outdoor hard courts. It was the 40th edition of the Pilot Pen Tennis, and was part of the International Series of the 2008 ATP Tour, and of the Tier II Series of the 2008 WTA Tour. It took place at the Cullman-Heyman Tennis Center in New Haven, United States, from August 15 through August 23, 2008.
The men's field was headlined by ATP No. 13, Nottingham runner-up and Umag champion Fernando Verdasco, Cincinnati Masters semifinalist and Nottingham titlist Ivo Karlović, and winner of back-to-back titles in Stuttgart, Kitzbühel, Los Angeles and Washington Juan Martín del Potro. Other top seeds are Gstaad and Umag finalist Igor Andreev, Viña del Mar and Pörtschach runner-up Juan Mónaco, Marin Čilić, Andreas Seppi and Mardy Fish.
The women's draw was led by WTA No. 10, Rome Tier I semifinalist and Paris champion Anna Chakvetadze, Australian Open semifinalist and Indian Wells Tier I quarterfinalist Daniela Hantuchová, and Paris, Eastbourne and Montreal semifinalist, Standford finalist Marion Bartoli. Also competing are Paris finalist Ágnes Szávay, Bangalore runner-up Patty Schnyder, Flavia Pennetta, Alizé Cornet and Dominika Cibulková.
Famous quotes containing the words pilot, pen and/or tennis:
“With two sons born eighteen months apart, I operated mainly on automatic pilot through the ceaseless activity of their early childhood. I remember opening the refrigerator late one night and finding a roll of aluminum foil next to a pair of small red tennies. Certain that I was responsible for the refrigerated shoes, I quickly closed the door and ran upstairs to make sure I had put the babies in their cribs instead of the linen closet.”
—Mary Kay Blakely (20th century)
“With a pen in my hand I have successfully stormed bulwarks from which others armed with sword and excommunication have been repulsed.”
—G.C. (Georg Christoph)
“The boneless quality of English conversation, which, so far as I have heard it, is all form and no content. Listening to Britons dining out is like watching people play first-class tennis with imaginary balls.”
—Margaret Halsey (b. 1910)