The veteran Feliciano López (turns 39 on September 20) is the substitute for the young Felix Auger-Aliassime (he will be 20 on August 8) in the Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS), a league organized by Patrick Mouratoglou and that will start this Saturday at the academy that the French coach has in Sophia Antípolis, a technology park that is between Antibes and Nice.
The Spaniard is integrated into a poster in which he appears as the first seed of the series Dominic Thiem (number 3 in the world), which will arrive from June 20, as he competes this weekend in the Adria Tour de Novak Djokovic, in Belgrade, and that will be replaced during the first two days by the young Frenchman Elliot Benchetrit (208º). Stefanos Tsitsipas (6th) and member of the academy, Matteo Berrettini (8th), David Goffin (10th) are confirmed, as Benoît Paire (22nd), Richard Gasquet (50th) and Lucas Pouille (58th). Alexei Popyrin (103rd) and Dustin Brown (239th) complete the list of players.
“It was Popyrin's father, a very promising player from the Mouratoglou Tennis Academy, who offered me this innovative concept with tournaments throughout the year, a ranking and a prize money. This is a good way to start the activity and good news for frustrated sports and tennis fans who are unable to attend live events. The idea is also to perpetuate this League with an innovative and traditional concept, “explained the Serena Williams coach this Thursday at the UTS presentation.” There will be games with points won depending on the opponent, “Mouratoglou explains about the league, which will have five matches on Saturday and as many on Sunday for five consecutive weekends at the Academy. The ultimate goal is to have a female and male circuit, and compete around the world. The top six players with the most wins will qualify for the playoffs. The first two will go directly to the semifinals and the other four will cross each other in quarters.
The format of the matches will be very original, since there will be no sets but four 10-minute quarters (and a fifth in the event of a two-quarter tie) and each player will serve twice in a row, as in a tiebreaker. “Players will be able to influence the game with bonus and penalty cards (points, service, etc.), as if they were in a video game (…); the player will decide when to use their cards (…). Be dynamic with lots of twists and turns. A UTS match will be more of a sprint than a marathon, “says Mouratoglou. Interviews will also be conducted at each change. “The fans are not renewed enough,” he explained. “The average age is 61 years. Young people no longer watch our sport. We want to rejuvenate it by bringing more show. We will be a laboratory with the desire to show what tennis could be like in the coming years ”. Mouratoglou also unveiled the award. The winner will pocket $ 30,000.
These will be the first matches, this Saturday, broadcast by Eurosport 2 between 17:15 and 19:30. The entire tournament can be viewed on the web https://watch.utslive.tv/, upon payment of a subscription of 10 euros per month.
Dustin Brown (ALE) vs Benoit Paire (FRA).
Feliciano López (ESP) vs Alexei Popyrin (AUS)
Stefanos Tsitsipas (GRE) vs Richard Gasquet (FRA)
David Goffin (BEL) vs Matteo Berrettini (ITA)