Two years of preparation and renovating the Palma Sport and Tennis Club all paid off today (Thursday) when the ATP Champions Tour Legends Cup got underway at the brand new sports club in the very heart of the capital. The event, which continues until Sunday evening, is going to be the social and sporting event of the season and, as the organisers made clear earlier this week, is just the beginning, with many more tournaments planned including the Legends Cup for the next two years.
Over 1,000 people are going to pack the club every day. The event has more or less sold out, and a tournament village has also been set up for the general public with food outlets and shops. Yesterday in the Bulletin’s VIP box, the guests included the winner of our VIP ticket competition, Hans Evert Renerius with his guest; Rebecca Olasz, manager of Hola Bank in the Balearic Islands and guest, and Holly Veneman and Simon King from Blevins Franks.
For more than 15 years the ATP Champions Tour has been a global tour for lovers of tennis which offers spectators the chance to watch their favourite players in an entertaining and exciting atmosphere. Obviously, all of the players want to win, but they love having some fun in the process. It also gives the legends an opportunity to show that they still have what it takes on court and the players the chance to interact with the media and the audience in a way they could not have in their Grand Slam days. Today, Henri Leconte opened the tournament against Alex Corretja, this match being followed by Thomas Enqvist against former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash.
Tomorrow at 6pm, Thomas Muster, the monster of clay courts, will face Thomas Enqvist and this will be followed by the highly anticipated clash between Tim Henman and Henri Leconte. The day will end with a doubles clash between the highly entertaining Mansour Bahrami and Alex Corretja against Pat Cash and Mikael Perfors. Saturday’s line up, again starting at 6pm, features Pat Cash v. Thomas Muster, followed by Alex Corretja v. Tim Henman and then Mansour Bahrami and Thomas Enqvist v. Henri Leconte and Mikael Pernfors.
The final day on Sunday will feature the third and fourth play-off between the runners-up of the two groups, the final between the winners of each group and then the doubles final.
Gates open at noon.