Tennis Australia launches new pro series this weekend

Tennis Australia has announced a new domestic series which will start this weekend where players will compete for $450,000 in prize money during tournament stops around the country.

Tennis Australia announces new pro series

The UTR Pro Tennis Series will begin in Sydney on Saturday 27 June, while events in Brisbane and Melbourne will get underway on Monday 29th June. There will also be stops in Adelaide and Perth later.

Aussie player Chris O'Connell, who had a great season in 2019, will headline the action in Sydney while former US Open champion Samantha Stosur and Daria Gavrilova are likely to play in Melbourne.

According to 7news.com, TA chief Craig Tiley commented, "With so much of the tennis season still uncertain, our aim through the UTR Pro Tennis Series is to give as many of our athletes the chance to compete and, importantly, also earn prize money, after months of not being able to make their living playing the sport they have devoted their lives to. Our team has put an enormous amount of time and effort into the planning of these events, and have worked closely with the authorities and tennis staff around the country on the ground to ensure they are run according to strict local biosecurity protocols."

Tennis Australia officials have also said that they will ensure all government guidelines are met and will use the learnings from the Adria Tour where several players including World No. 1 Novak Djokovic contracted the coronavirus. 

Speaking to Reuters, TA's Chief Operating Officer Tom Larner commented, "There were a fair few learnings that have come out of that (Adria Tour). And whilst, certainly the whole event was actually really well-intentioned in terms of raising money for charity, the execution was clearly not great, as were the processes in place. We’ve been working with our chief medical officer Carolyn Broderick in the development of our biosecurity plan ... how we keep players safe and how we ensure there’s minimal cross-over or interaction."

Speaking about the Australian Open, Larner said organizers were not looking to move the tournament to other parts of the country and are also talking to players about coming early for the tournament. "With some doubt around the back end of the season, we’ve had a lot of players talk to us about coming out to Australia early in December or even November to actually go through whatever quarantining is required at that point of time. What we’ll see, hopefully, is actually really strong player fields leading into the Australian Open."

Tennis Australia has said that the series will be held at closed venues and players interaction will be limited at the tournament.

from Tennis World USA https://ift.tt/2Z679TV