Mallorca is set to host a grass court tour tournament in June next year. The grass-court tournament was announced by the ATP and will be played from 20-27 June 2020. The tennis body is moving the tournament to the Spanish island after it was held in Antalya, Turkey for the last three years. The tournament will take place before the biggest grass-court tournament of the season, Wimbledon. The news will excite fans in Spain, especially, in Mallorca which is home to one of the game’s biggest stars, Rafael Nadal.
Nadal’s uncle to serve as director
The event will be played at Santa Poca, Mallorca. Nadal’s uncle, Toni, will serve as director for the event. He has previously had success in the same role overseeing the WTA grass tournament which was held in Mallorca. The event will now be played in Birmingham after four years in Spain. The island previously hosted a clay court tennis ATP tournament from 1998 to 2002. The new grass-court event called The Mallorca championships will carry a total of €900,000 euros in prize money.
Home tournament
Nadal is one of the best tennis players born in Mallorca. The 33-year-old Spaniard has won 19 Grand Slam championships. Twelve of those have been won at the French Open, played on clay court surface. His success at the event has earned him the nickname “King of Clay.” The Spaniard’s most recent Grand Slam was at the US Open where he defeated Russian Daniil Medvedev. He is one title away from equaling Federer’s record of 20 Grand Slams. With the grass-court tournament being hosted in his backyard, Nadal is highly likely to play at the event. This will be the third tennis open hosted in Spain. The two other tournaments played in the country are the Mutua Madrid Masters Open and the Barcelona Open.
The Mallorca championships will be organized by sports events agency e|motion sports. The company organizes several tennis events around the world such as the Mercedes cup in Stuttgart and the ATP 500 in Vienna. Mallorca has a rich tennis history and has produced two players who have gone on to be ranked as the best in the world on the ATP rankings. Apart from Nadal, former world number one Carlos Moya is also from the Spanish island. Moya won the French Open and was ranked number one in 1999. He also led Spain to the Davis Cup in 2004.
Rafael Nadal’s ranking and performance in 2019
Ranked no.2, Rafael played his last match on the 8th of September when he defeated Daniil Medvedev 7-5 6-3 5-7 4-6 6-4 in the final in U.S. Open to win his 84th career title.
This year the Spaniard has a 47-6 win-loss record. Nadal clinched 4 titles in 2019 in Rome, at the French Open, in Montreal and at the U.S. Open. Rafael was the finalist at the Australian Open.
Rafael Nadal |
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