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:
“The river knows the way to the sea;
Without a pilot it runs and falls,
Blessing all lands with its charity.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson (1803–1882)
“He loved to sit silent in a corner of his club and listen to the loud chattering of politicians, and to think how they all were in his power—how he could smite the loudest of them, were it worth his while to raise his pen for such a purpose.”
—Anthony Trollope (1815–1882)
“[My one tennis book] was very, very old. It had a picture of Bill Tilden. I looked at the picture and that was how I learned to hold the racket.”
—Maria Bueno (b. 1939)