The Ultimate Tennis Showdown - Mouratoglou to start new competition in France next month
Published:Monday | April 20, 2020 | 12:13 AM
(AP):
SERENA WILLIAMS’ coach, Patrick Mouratoglou, says he is starting an independent tennis league to have professionals play matches without spectators, starting in May at his academy in Nice, France.
The Association of Tennis Professionals and Women’s Tennis Association professional tours have been on hold since March because of the coronavirus pandemic and are suspended at least until mid-July.
Mouratoglou announced his venture Saturday, calling it the Ultimate Tennis Showdown, or UTS.
He says the plan is to live-stream 10 matches per weekend for five weekends in May and June.
The competition is set to start on May 16. That is when 10th-ranked David Goffin of Belgium, a three-time Grand Slam quarter-finalist, is scheduled to face 103rd-ranked Alexei Popyrin of Australia, whose father is the co-founder of the UTS.
The next Grand Slam tournament on the calendar is supposed to be the US Open, which is planning to begin main-draw competition on August 31 in New York.
The French Open’s start was postponed from May until September, while Wimbledon was cancelled for the first time since 1945.