LONDON, November 20, 2015
Andy Murray will play his final competitive tennis of the year in the inaugural edition of Tie Break Tens, a new, quick-fire tennis tournament which is to be staged at the Royal Albert Hall on the night of Saturday 5th December as part of Champions Tennis.
Murray, who will try to help Great Britain win a first Davis Cup in 79 years next week, will return to London to take on an all-star field of past and present tennis champions at Tie Break Tens the following weekend. World No.7 David Ferrer, former World No.4 Tim Henman, and rising Briton Kyle Edmund will join Murray in a six-man field. The final places will be taken by a qualifier from the Champions Tennis tournament at the Royal Albert Hall, and one still-to-be-announced player.
Each of the ten matches at Tie Break Tens will be contested over a first-to-ten-point tie-break. The six-man field will be drawn into two groups of three players, using a round-robin format. The top two players in each group will go through to the semifinals, with the winner taking away a cheque for $250,000.
Murray said: “It’s nice for me to be able to play one more time in Britain before the end of the year, and this is a really interesting format which should be a lot of fun for everyone involved. Tie-breaks are always exciting, so to have a whole night of them is going to be great. Plus, the Royal Albert Hall is an iconic venue, and I’m looking forward to playing there for the first time.”
Matthew Pryke, Tournament Director of the new Tie Break Tens tournament said: “Tie Break Tens will be everything that people love about tennis, in a night of ten-point tie-breaks. It will be fast-paced, fun, but also super-competitive, and we believe it is a format that can be enjoyed by players, spectators, tv viewers, media and sponsors. We are thrilled that Andy Murray has agreed to be part of the field in our first event. With Tim Henman still in such great shape, it will be fascinating to see how he and the other champions get on against Andy, David Ferrer and Kyle Edmund in a short sprint to ten points. We are using this event to launch the format, and plan to stage further events around the world in 2016 and beyond.”
Charlie Grave, Managing Director of Sponsorship at IMG Tennis, who own and stage Champions Tennis added: “Tie Break Tens is an exciting new format which we are confident Champions Tennis spectators will enjoy on Saturday evening, 5th December. The tournament is now in its 19th year and we are expecting record crowds throughout the week, so to be able to add an event like this is the icing on the cake.”
Tie Break Tens website – http://www.tiebreaktens.com
