It's Love (and Parties) at U.S. Open

By Stephen M. Silverman

08/28/2001 at 02:56 PM EDT

It was a love fest, on and off the courts at Opening Night of the 2001 U.S. Open championship at Arthur Ashe Stadium at the USTA National Tennis Center in New York's Flushing Meadow, Queens, Monday night, reports PEOPLE. In the stadium's spacious presidential suite, U.S. Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton, 53, kicked off the opening gala to raise money for the USA Tennis Foundation, the charitable arm of the United States Tennis Association, which provides scholarships for young tennis players. John McEnroe introduced the freshman senator, praising Clinton for her work on behalf of families and children. "It's a great honor to be introduced by you," Clinton said when she got to the podium. Eliciting a big laugh, McEnroe, 42, made reference to Alec Baldwin (who was supposed to have introduced Clinton, except he got stuck in traffic) and shouted out from the crowd, "They said Baldwin was late!" "John is one of a kind," said Clinton, who went on to praise the foundation and to unveil its official commemorative artwork, a "mind-boggling" original painting. Elsewhere in the stadium, McEnroe and USA Network celebrated 18 years of the U.S. Open's being on the USA Network. Among the party attendees: Joely Fisher, Matthew Modine, Taye Diggs, "Ed" star Lesley Boone, Rudy Boesch from "Survivor," "Survivor" executive producer Mark Burnett, Parker Posey and Bridget Hall. "I love Agassi," said Modine, 42, who was excited to watch Serena Williams play Anca Barna of Germany and Mike Bryan play Andre Agassi. "He's a survivor . . . somebody who's worked very hard to come back from such depths." Not that everybody talked tennis. Boesch, 73, said he continues to enjoy his still relatively new fame, "but I still have to cut the grass."