Swiss Tennis also plans tournament series - Bencic, Hingis and Schnyder in action
The central board of Swiss Tennis has approved a new national tournament series to offer top players in Switzerland after the corona lockdown match practice and a source of income.
by PM
last edit:
Jun 11, 2020, 12:53 pm
The first of around two dozen tournaments will take place next week in Swiss Tennis's National Performance Center. At the end of July, the best Swiss players will compete in the Swiss Tennis Pro Cup powered by Securitas, a team competition à la Fed Cup and Davis Cup. Spectators will also be admitted to the event in the Swiss Tennis Arena in Biel on July 25, broadcast from SRG to SRF, RTS and RSI.
After the international circuits of the ITF, WTA and ATP have been stopped until at least the end of July, Swiss Tennis will offer N players (the best 150 in Switzerland for men, the top 75 for women) over the next few months in close cooperation with various tournament organizers a whole range of game options, and thus sources of income.
For the two events described below, Swiss Tennis is investing a six-figure amount, which largely consists of the delegation budget not used due to the corona pandemic and the "International Tournaments" budget to support top-class and competitive sports. "It is important to us to support the athletes as best as possible in this situation without international competitions." explains René Stammbach, President of Swiss Tennis. «With the tournament series, which hosts a variety of events in three categories, the players receive match practice and prize money. On the other hand, we also offer the tournament organizers the opportunity to hold their partially canceled international tournaments in a different form and thus to be able to fulfill their sponsorship services.
It starts in mid-June
The N-tournament series for the best Swiss tennis players begins on June 15th. Around two dozen tournaments, divided into the following three categories, will be held over the next three months.
- N-Series powered by Swiss Tennis: these tournaments supplement the previous tournament calendar and are reserved exclusively for Swiss players. Each of the tournaments offer prize money of at least CHF 15,000.00.
- Highly-funded N-prize money tournaments supported by Swiss Tennis: These are existing tournaments that are carried out on a club initiative and will be supported financially and materially by Swiss Tennis this year. The participation criteria are determined by the tournament organizers in accordance with the national tournament regulations.
- Standard N tournaments with N1 competitions: These tournaments focus on offering play opportunities to as many athletes as possible.
To the tournament schedule: swisstennis.ch/n-turniere
Swiss Team Cup powered by Securitas - The team competition in Fast4 format
Swiss Tennis, the Securitas Swiss Fed Cup Team, the Securitas Swiss Davis Cup Team and Securitas as Leading Partners will be together on 25/26. July 2020 to hold one of the first major national tennis events in Switzerland since the outbreak of Covid-19. In addition to entertainment for a TV audience and a limited number of viewers (as of June 11, 2020: 300, of course in compliance with the protection and hygiene measures), the two-day event at the National Performance Center in Biel (Swiss Tennis Arena) is intended to return the professionals to the tours help prepare with real match practice. Heinz Günthardt and Severin Lüthi act as team captains.
The best Swiss tennis players duel in a Mini Davis and Fed Cup team format in Biel in Fast4 format. There are two teams for women, made up of the current Fed Cup players Belinda Bencic, Jil Teichmann, Viktorija Golubic and Stefanie Vögele as well as the legends Martina Hingis and Patty Schnyder. Timea Bacsinszky is also used as a joker.
Henri Laaksonen, Sandro Ehrat, Marc-Andrea Hüsler, Johan Nikles, Jakub Paul and Antoine Bellier compete for the men. Four U18 juniors, who are first in the world ranking of juniors, make up the two free places among themselves in a "Everyone against everyone" qualification.
Belinda Bencic, current number eight in the world for women, is looking forward to the first serious fight: "It is nice to have another goal and to prepare for a competition. The fact that all members of the two national teams are at the start shows how much we do we look forward to the resumption of the tour. "René Stammbach, President of Swiss Tennis, explains:" Our leading partner and SRG were immediately enthusiastic about the idea of such a team cup between our top players. We offer the athletes a top-filled event, match practice, prize money and the best sporting entertainment thanks to the top Swiss players - a win-win situation for everyone. "
The Securitas Group has been supporting the two national teams of women and men for 12 years: "With our new commitment, we want to offer both the teams and the young players the chance to directly participate in the first Swiss top tournament since the outbreak of the corona crisis Measuring competition and helping them to earn prize money again, "said Reto Casutt, Secretary General of the Securitas Group. Swiss Tennis President René Stammbach is" very pleased that our long-time leading partner Securitas is gratefully participating in this extraordinary event . "
The SRG channels (SRF, RTS, RSI) will be broadcast on Saturday, July 25, 2020, directly from the Swiss Tennis Arena in Biel.