All it took was an encounter with one of the most popular figures in the sport and Adam Davidson ’05 began dreaming.
Mired in an emotional tug-of-war between choosing a serve-and-volley dream or dealing with “real life,” Davidson had just been drafted by the Sacramento Capitals of the World Team Tennis professional league for the 2006 season. While playing with the Capitals, he rubbed shoulders with the sport’s greats, like Pete Sampras. It was also while playing with the Capitals that he met the sport’s most popular face in new teammate Anna Kournikova.
During the month-long season (the WTT plays during July and features former and current professionals), Davidson developed a friendship with Kournikova, and that is when he caught a vision for his future. He eventually sacked his real estate internship in Sacramento and finished the season, destined to hit the ATP Tour.
Yet for Davidson, joining the tour was about so much more than money, status, or for that matter, just maintaining the ability to play. Instead, he opted to use his professional status as a tool to spread the Gospel to fellow players.
“The experience with the Capitals sparked my desire to use tennis as a ministry,” said Davidson, who helped lead Azusa Pacific to its first-ever NAIA Men’s Tennis Championship as a 2005 senior. “Meeting Anna helped me see that ‘celebrities’ need salvation as well. Someone has to reach out to them, and that’s what this is about.”
As a student-athlete, Davidson shined in doubles with a 102-27 career, including a three-year run where he and partner Sam Fletcher fashioned an 80-12 record as the No. 1-ranked doubles team in the NAIA. A self-made player who did not pick up a racquet until high school, Davidson knew that his only ticket to the tour was in doubles. He just needed a partner.
Enter Patrick Briaud, a 2005 graduate and tennis standout at University of California, Berkeley. Both Davidson and Briaud played in a tournament in Sacramento when Davidson noticed Briaud wearing a Young Life T-shirt. Davidson approached Briaud, struck up a conversation, and a few months later, Cross Court Ministries was born.
