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Alec Baldwin auctioned off the highest-selling lot ever at the USTA Foundation’s annual charity gala on Monday night to kick off the US Open.
A source told us of the gala event — where guests included Mike Tyson, Anna Wintour, Vera Wang, Gayle King, Lindsey Vonn and Billie Jean King — “The highlight was when [the night’s co-host] Baldwin adopted an Inspector Clouseau-like French accent and started auctioning off the Roland Garros package.”
The package included six tickets each day of the 2022 French Open, plus roundtrip travel on a private Gulfstream G550 jet, suites at the Ritz Paris, and more.
Said the source, “Alec started the bidding at $100K, and his comedic chops got the room rocking, and ultimately sold the package for $250K… the highest price in the gala’s history.”
We hear that a second French Open package was later added that also went for another $250,000. The event raised a record $2 million-plus for the charitable arm of the USTA.
Spies said that the “most visited” table of the gala was one that included the power trio of Vogue vet Wintour, designer Wang, and ski champ Vonn.
The night honored a group known as “The Original 9” with the Trailblazer Award. Last year marked the 50th anniversary since the group of nine women tennis players — including King — signed one dollar contracts to launch women’s pro tennis as it’s known today. The nine players were protesting the inequality in prize money that was being awarded in the men’s and women’s games.
USTA board president Tom Chen was awarded with the Serving Up Dreams Award. Current board members including Kathleen Wu, Molly John and Y. David Scharf also attended the event.
Later, Giants legend Tiki Barber was among the stars spotted in the President’s Box at the match.
At the night’s opening ceremony, cast members of the reopening “Moulin Rouge, The Musical,” performed, featuring the New York debut of Natalie Mendoza who has joined the cast and sang a duet with Aaron Tveit.
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