ATP Champions Tour 2010 Calendar Announced

The ATP Champions Tour is set for its most exciting year to-date in 2010, with eleven events scheduled on four different continents. With three new events already confirmed in Zurich (Switzerland), Bogota (Columbia) and Delray Beach (USA), and with the addition of new players such as Pat Rafter and Mark Philippoussis, the ATP Champions Tour continues to go from strength-to-strength.

Rafter, who was crowned king of the Royal Albert Hall when he defeated Stefan Edberg in the final of the AEGON Masters Tennis in London at the end of 2009, has already signed up to play in the first ATP Champions Tour event of the 2010 season, the Delray Beach International Tennis Championships (February 20-23). The event is a new addition to the Tour calendar and will be played over the first four days of the main ATP Tour event that is also held in Delray Beach. The Australian will be joined in the Delray Beach field by American legend John McEnroe as well as Grand Slam Champions Mats Wilander, Pat Cash and Guillermo Vilas. The opportunity to play against so many tennis greats, and in particular six-time Grand Slam winner McEnroe, is a mouth-watering prospect for the double US Open Champion Rafter.

“I am going to get to catch up with a few of the American boys at that event so that should be a lot of fun,” he said. “I’ve never played an event with McEnroe before so I hope I get to play him because I think that would be great. I’ve never even really met the guy so I can’t wait.”

Another new addition to the ATP Champions Tour calender in 2010 will be the BNP Paribas Zurich Open (March 9-13). It is a unique event whereby the usual field of eight Champions Tour players will be joined by eight of the world’s best junior players in what is set to be an unprecedented celebration of tennis’ past and future champions.

Goran Ivanisevic, who will be hungry for a title in 2010 after failing to capture one the previous year, is already signed up to play at the Zurich Open. It is an experience which the Croat is very much looking forward to.

“Zurich is a great city,” he said. “I like all these new events in these great places on the ATP Champions Tour. The format is very interesting in Zurich and it will be nice to see how the junior players hit the ball and to give them some advice of they need it. I also hope one or two Croatians will be there because we have some good juniors at the moment.”

After Zurich, the Tour will turn its attention to Bogota, Columbia for another brand new event, the Seguros Bolivar Champions Tour (March 18-21). The success of the AOC Grand Champions in Sao Paulo over the last three years has clearly whetted the appetite for tennis in South America, and crowds are expected to flock to the Pueblo Viejo Country Club to see some of the world’s most legendary clay court players battle to win the maiden Bogota Open.

After kicking off the year in style with the three new events in Delray Beach, Zurich and Bogota, the ATP Champions Tour will move onto some of its most well-established tournaments in Sao Paulo, Barcelona and Chengdu over the months of April and May. Then, returning in the Summer and Autumn will be events in Graz, the Algarve, Paris and Belgium, before the Tour reaches a crescendo once again at the Royal Albert Hall in London.