ESPN has announced its schedule of live ATP 250 and WTA Tour tournaments for 2013 featuring the world’s best players.
Following ESPN’s coverage of the ATP Brisbane International in January, where Wimbledon runner-up and London 2012 Olympic champion Andy Murray retained his title, the line-up of top international tennis continues throughout the year with a further 14 tournaments set be covered from February to November.
From February 8, ESPN will bring fans the Open Sud de France, the indoor ATP 250 tournament which was won last year by Czech Tomas Berdychafter a hard fought final against Gael Monfils.
The next ATP 250 tournament to be shown will be the US Men’s Clay Court Championship in Houston in April.
The tournament is the last remaining ATP World Tour-level tournament in the US to be played on clay courts.
From May, ESPN will have coverage of the ATP 250 Open De Nice Cote d’Azur and the WTA’s Internationaux de Strasbourg, giving fans the opportunity to watch the top women players prepare for the French Open.
The action from the women’s circuit continues with two WTA tournaments during July, starting with the Italiacom Open, which saw Britain’s Laura Robson reach her first WTA tour semi-final last year before Sara Errani became the first Italian to win four WTA titles in a single year.
The Baku Cup is regarded as one of the most exciting new additions to the WTA tour.
In September, the ATP 250 and WTA begin the Asian leg of their tennis calendars.
The Korea Open in Seoul has previously witnessed top players including Maria Sharapova, Venus Williams and reigning champion Caroline Wozniacki.
Returning for its fifth year, the Malaysian Open attracts the world’s top players and has provided some of the WTA’s most exciting tennis, most recently last year’s three-set singles final which lasted for more than three hours.
The WTA season is completed with theTournament of Champions, which sees the top female players compete for the title in an eight-woman round robin format.
The players will be split into two groups of four, with the top two from each group progressing to the Semi Finals. Previous stars include Ana Ivanovic and Caroline Wozniacki.
ESPN made its entry into tennis broadcasting in the UK in 2012 securing the rights to screen 15 tournaments from the men’s and women’s tours.
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