Washington, DC has many sports enthusiasts.  From organized sports to private and business-sponsored leagues of every kind that allow open participation, we are a sports-centered city. Anyone in doubt need only check out all the ball fields in town on any spring weekend or look at the speed and enthusiasm with which the new stadium is going up for confirmation. This love of sports is true for our children as well.  But team sports do not appeal to all children.

Philippe Lajaunie owner of Les Halles restaurants knows this first hand.  As a youngster he was often smaller than the other boys his age, which left him feeling inadequate and shy.  For this reason he avoided many sports.  Once he had a tennis racket in his hand however, it was a different story. He worked hard and mastered the sport and gained inner strength in the process. He fell in love with the sport and has been working to stimulate the same passion for tennis in youngsters at a critical age. He wants to offer all the benefits he received through his participation in the sport to other children who may not be inclined to play team sports.

Since 2002, when he founded the Les Halles Cup, Mr. Lajaunie has been offering an alternative athletic challenge, separate from team sports, to children up to fourteen years old.  The Les Halles Cup annual invitational youth tennis tournament occurs along side the Legg Mason Tennis Tournament at the William Fitzgerald Tennis Center and offers children, unskilled in tennis,  the opportunity to discover their talent as they participate in an organized program along with players with more tennis experience. Among his goals with the program Lajaunie wishes to foster confidence and improve self-esteem while allowing participants’ competitive spirit to develop and thrive.  He hopes to show children that “self reliance and hard work contribute to achieving success in life, school and sports through practice and commitment.” Many of the children who participate come from community based tennis programs such as the Washington Tennis and Education Foundation and Southeast Tennis and Learning Center.  The event kicks-off on the 1200 block of Pennsylvania Avenue, NW on July 28, 2007 with a tennis clinic and information fair where children will be given basic instruction in game fundamentals and hitting skills.