EUROSPORT CONTINUES TENNIS COMEBACK WITH LIVE GRASS COURT ACTION
• Eurosport will show the bett1ACES tournament in Berlin from 13-19 July including first grass court action of the year
• Dominic Thiem, Tommy Haas, Elina Svitolina, Kiki Bertens and Petra Kvitova among stars taking part
• Tournament kick-starts Eurosport’s unbeatable six-months of live tennis and Grand Slam action
The long-awaited return of grass court tennis is set to arrive as Eurosport announces it will show the bett1ACES tournament, which takes place in Berlin from 13-19 July, exclusively in more than 50 markets across Europe*.
Fans can enjoy coverage of one of the first world-class grass court tournaments of the year through Eurosport with all four daily bett1ACES matches (from 12:00-18:00 CET) broadcast live on an exclusive basis* on Eurosport 1 with streaming live and on-demand via the Eurosport App.
The singles tournament features six ATP and six WTA players, who will share a €200,000 prize pot, including home favourites Jan-Lennard Struff and former world no.2 Tommy Haas as he continues his eagerly anticipated return to professional tennis. The event kicks-off from the new Center Court at the Steffi Graf stadium at the LTTC Rot-Weiss tennis club (13-15 July) before matches move to the hardcourt at a unique purpose-built arena within a hangar at Berlin’s Tempelhof Airport (17-19 July).
Organizers e|motion group will enforce strict social distancing measures in coordination with local health authorities with spectator numbers limited to 800 at the Steffi Graf Center Court (regular capacity 4,000 seats) and 200 at Tempelhof Airport. All players and their staff will be tested for Covid-19 upon arrival, anyone entering either site will require a temperature check and all spectators will be urged to wear facemasks when not in their seats.
Andrew Georgiou, President, Eurosport and Global Sports Rights & Sports Marketing Solutions, said: “We are incredibly excited to be showcasing some of the world’s top tennis talent by bringing fans live grass court action for the first time this year.
“By leveraging the full portfolio of channels and platforms the Eurosport network has to offer, we are able to seamlessly scale world-class coverage and expert analysis to serve more than 50 markets and territories any way our customers choose to watch. We look forward to continuing to reward our fans with exclusive tennis content as we build towards back-to-back Grand Slams as part of unbeatable second half of the year.”
Edwin Weindorfer, organizer of the bett1ACES and CEO of the e|motion group, said:
“We are extremely delighted to team up with such a prestigious partner as Eurosport on a pan-European level and are looking forward to present the bett1ACES tennis event with a state of the art broadcast product with some novelties such as the integration of a drone and the HawkEye Live technology for line calling at both tournaments.
“In these difficult times it makes us very happy to be able to offer world-class tennis to fans around the world. We have a great responsibility in these challenging times and will implement strict hygiene and safety measures for all players, fans and staff.”
The bett1ACES tournament is the latest in a series of live tennis events Eurosport has brought to fans including Patrick Mouratoglou’s Ultimate Tennis Showdown and Schroders Battle of the Brits as it builds up to an autumn of Grand Slam tennis with the US Open (31 August – 13 September) and Roland-Garros (27 September – 11 October) being shown to fans across Europe.
The full line-up includes:
Women’s
• Elina Svitolina (No.5)
• Kiki Bertens (No.7)
• Petra Kvitova (No.12)
• Julia Goerges (No.38)
• Caroline Garcia (No. 46)
• Andrea Petkovic (No.87)
Men's
• Dominic Thiem (No.3)
• Jan-Lennard Struff (No. 34)
• Jannik Sinner (No.73)
• Tommy Haas (Former No.2)
*Eurosport has pan-European exclusivity to show the bett1ACES tournament except in Germany, Austria and Switzerland where fans are still able to watch via Eurosport but coverage is also available via local broadcasters.