STARNBERG, November 5, 2020
The traditional final event of the ATP Masters 1000 Tour every year, the Rolex Paris Masters, is underway currently. Rafael Nadal is returning to the scene of his triumph in the French Open just three weeks ago, which he won for an unprecedented 13th time this year. Only four players in history have won both the Paris Masters and the French Open, and Nadal is not one of them. But with Novak Djokovic and Roger Federer both sitting out of this year’s tournament, it represents the best chance for the Spaniard to correct that record.
This year’s tennis calendar has been heavily disrupted due to the ongoing pandemic. The Australian Open was held as normal, before the pandemic hit, but the subsequent Grand Slams were all disrupted to one extent or the other. Wimbledon was not held at all, for the first time since the Second World War, while the French Open was postponed by nearly four months, taking place after the US Open, which is usually the last Grand Slam of the year. All of this disruption meant that tennis fans did not have a lot of action to watch for a large part of the year, which led to many of them looking for alternative forms of entertainment. Online casinos and gambling grew in popularity as a result, and also because land-based casinos were largely shut as well. Absence of real casino action, along with a lack of sporting events, drew people to online live casino and betting platforms, and this popularity has been maintained even after land-based casinos have begun opening.
Federer is not expected to return to action until 2021, having missed virtually the entirety of this year through injury and recuperation from surgery. In the case of Djokovic, he has chosen to play at the Erste Bank Open in Vienna instead, to try and garner the points needed to safeguard his World No. 1 ranking till the end of the year. However, even without Federer and Djokovic, there is still a pretty heavy lineup playing. Dominic Thiem, winner of the US Open, is playing, as is the beaten finalist Alexander Zverev, while other notable competitors include Daniil Medvedev, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Stan Wawrinka, Milos Raonic, Roberto Bautista Agut and Felix Schwartzman, among others. Given that the tournament is being held at the AccorArena, which is an indoor arena, conditions are likely to be a lot more comfortable than they were during the French Open. For fans of tennis, here are some of the ways to watch the Paris Masters online, no matter where you are in the world.
Fans in the US can look at ESPN and the Tennis Channel to get all the action from Paris. For those who want to stream it instead, the best option is Sling TV, with the Sling Orange package also having the ESPN channels for $30/month. A Sports Extra add-in, which is an extra $10/month which adds the Tennis Channel and others, so all of the action can be seen for $40/month. In the UK, broadcast rights for this tournament are with Amazon Prime, so all Amazon Prime members can watch all action for no additional fees. For Canadian fans, there are a number of options, with TSN, the Tennis Channel and Rogers Sportsnet among the TV channels. Cable subscribers for these channels can also choose to log in and watch on online streams if they want instead. Finally, for fans in Australia, ESPN has the broadcast rights for the Paris Masters, with the action beginning at 9 pm AEDT every day. For those who want to cut the cord, Kayo Sports includes ESPN in its package, with the cost ranging from A$25 to A$35 per month, making it extremely affordable as well.
