The Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro has signed up for its first contestants for this year’s competition.
Andy Murray and Lucas Pouille will be a part of the men’s draw while Angelique Kerber and Carla Suarez Navarro will be two of the players representing the women. More participants will soon be signed up.
Touted as the esports of tennis, the Madrid Open Virtual Pro will be played this month end (April 27-30), with 16 players participating in the men’s and women’s draw. More information on everything related to the Madrid Open Virtual Pro including the rest of the player list and live streaming options will be updated here.
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These players will feature in this tournament at the Manolo Santana Stadium, but from the comforts of their home. The stadium has been constructed virtually in the Tennis World Tour video game.
Pouille welcomed the initiative, which will also have a charity associated with it, with some of the prize winning proceeds going to the tennis players financially suffering from the cancellation of tennis.
He revealed he had already started practicing for the event. Pouille said:
“This is going to be a very exciting challenge. I’ve already started training because I want to win this tournament against my tennis peers as I know they play a lot. Thank you to the Mutua Madrid Open for this great initiative.”
Kerber added:
“The Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro is a new challenge for us the players, and something that I have never been done before. It’s exciting and a good opportunity to compete from home in a new format. I’m looking forward to participate!”
The Madrid Open, as a result of the aforementioned competition, has become the first tennis tournament to organise an esports event of a tennis tournament. 16 players in either draw will be divided into four groups of four apiece and feature in a round-robin competition with the top two in each group making the quarterfinal. That will be followed by the semifinal and final.
All tennis competitions have been suspended till at least the middle of July and more cancellations could be on their way.
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