Four of the world’s top eight players line up for the 2013 AEGON Championships with a star-studded supporting cast competing for the famous title at Queen’s Club.
Marking the start of the grass-court season, this prestigious tournament acts as the premier warm-up event ahead of Wimbledon, which is just two weeks away.
Some of the biggest names in men’s tennis, including Britain’s Andy Murray, will be out in force during the week-long event and you can watch the tournament unfold live on BBC TV and British Eurosport.
The Queen’s Club tournament was first held at the club back in 1890 and its roll call of winners contains some of the biggest names in tennis.
John McEnroe won the tournament four times, while the likes of Boris Becker, Rod Laver, Ivan Lendl, Pete Sampras and Jimmy Connors are all also multiple winners of the event.
Andy Murray won his second Queen’s title back in 2011 and will be hunting for a third as he fine-tunes his grass-court preparation ahead of another tilt at trying to win Wimbledon.
Murray enjoyed the best season of his career in 2012, beating Novak Djokovic to win the US Open as well as winning the gold medal in the men’s singles at the London 2012 Olympic Games.
The Scot returns to action at Queen’s after a frustrating month away from the courts and is primed to reclaim the Queen’s title he has already won twice.
Last year’s US Open champion had to withdraw from the recent French Open because of a troublesome back injury, the first time he has missed a Grand Slam since Wimbledon 2007.
The world number two will be determined to be fit and firing in the later stages of this year’s AEGON Championships, with the aim of improving on his disappointing early exit last year.
Despite going on to reach his first Wimbledon final a few weeks later, Murray, who entered last year’s tournament as the defending champion, was knocked out in the second round by grass-court specialist Nicolas Mahut.
He will be hoping for a kinder draw as he tries to win what would be his third title in five years.
Murray will be up against another stellar field this year which includes defending champion Marin Cilic, who returns to the scene where he claimed his seventh ATP tour title.
Cilic was crowned champion in controversial circumstances twelve months ago following an unsavoury incident involving his opponent David Nalbandian.
The Argentinean veteran was disqualified in some disgrace after injuring a line judge by accidently kicking an advertising board into his shin.
At the time, Nalbandian was leading Marin Cilic 7-6 3-4 when he smashed a panel in front of Andrew McDougall’s seat, causing his leg to bleed heavily.
Chair umpire Fergus Murphy subsequently awarded the match to Cilic, with the tournament director left in the unfortunate position of explaining the situation to thousands of disgruntled fans watching on centre court.
Organisers will be hoping this year’s tournament will be memorable for all the right reasons and the all-star line-up should ensure that.
Regular Grand Slam contenders Tomas Berdych, Juan Martin Del Potro, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga and rising star Grigor Dimitrov, plus four-time winner Lleyton Hewitt and 2010 champion Sam Querrey will all contest for the title.
Alongside Murray, five other British players will compete at this year’s AEGON Championships, including qualifier Jamie Baker, plus four wildcards – James Ward, Dan Evans, Edward Corrie and French Open men’s junior doubles champion Kyle Edmund.
This year’s AEGON Championships final will be followed by Rally Against Cancer, a charity event organised by British doubles player Ross Hutchins.
The 27-year-old, who will be working at Queen’s for British Eurosport, was diagnosed with Hodgkin’s lymphoma in December, but he has turned his battle against cancer into a positive by enlisting a little help from some his friends in the sport.
Hutchins hopes to raise more than £100,000 for the Royal Marsden Cancer Charity, which supports the world-leading cancer centre currently treating him.
Rally Against Cancer features a doubles match where Andy Murray will join forces with former British number one Tim Henman to take on his own coach Ivan Lendl, who will be partnered by Tomas Berdych.
A number of famous faces will also take part as rotating double partners, including Mayor of London Boris Johnson, TV stars Michael McIntyre and Jonathan Ross, Sir Richard Branson and actor Eddie Redmayne of Les Miserables fame.
The Rally Against Cancer event is scheduled to be screened on BBC One and British Eurosport following the singles final on Sunday, June 16.
With crowds expecting to flood in and with the sun starting to shine on one of the longest-running tournaments on the ATP World Tour, the players cannot wait to set foot on the hallowed Queen’s Club turf.
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TOURNAMENT DRAW LIVE SCORES OFFICIAL WEBSITE
DAY 6: SATURDAY 15th JUNE
Centre Court | 13:15 BST start | Semi Finals| Lleyton Hewitt (AUS) | v | Marin Cilic (CRO) [5] |
| Andy Murray (GBR) [1] | v | Jo-Wilfried Tsonga (FRA) [4] |
CLICK HERE for full order of play
BBC Schedule LIVE: 1.20pm-5.25pm – BBC One Online coverage: via bbc.co.uk/sport Eurosport Schedule LIVE: 1.00pm-5.45pm – British Eurosport Online coverage: via Eurosport Player (subscription required)
BBC TV will broadcast extensive coverage of the 2013 AEGON Championships, the premier Wimbledon warm-up event.
Sue Barker presents all the action from Queen’s Club with more than 30 hours of live coverage on BBC network TV plus further live tennis via the Red Button.
BBC Two’s weekday coverage of the tournament has been extended to five hours this year, with coverage starting at 1.00pm and concluding at 6.00pm from Monday to Friday, all of which will also be available in high-definition on BBC Two HD.
Extended coverage can be found via the BBC Red Button during the week (Mon-Fri) with live coverage starting when play begins at 12.30pm.
In addition, there will be at least a further two hours of live action via the Red Button following the end of BBC Two’s transmission.
Both the semi-finals and the final will be broadcast on BBC One and BBC One HD over the weekend of June 15-16, with coverage of the final also featuring the Rally Against Cancer charity event.
Commentary duties throughout the week will be shared between Andrew Castle, Andrew Cotter, John Lloyd and Peter Fleming, while John Inverdale returns from Roland Garros, where he covered the tournament for ITV, to conduct interviews with the players and reports from around the grounds.
All of the BBC’s network TV coverage will available to watch in high-definition on either BBC One HD or BBC Two HD.
Live streaming, text commentaries and match reports will be provided via the BBC Sport website and app.
BBC Radio 5 Live will carry reports throughout the week as well as live commentary of the semi-finals and final.
Last year the BBC extended its partnership with Queen’s Club to broadcast the AEGON Championships, ensuring that the prestigious event will stay on terrestrial television until at least 2017.
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British Eurosport will bring live on-site coverage from the prestigious Queen’s tournament as players prepare for Wimbledon.
Live all week long, viewers will be able to watch extensive coverage from one of the top tennis events in the world.
Eurosport’s on-site team includes presenter Rob Curling.
He will be alongside former world number four Greg Rusedski, two-time Grand Slam doubles quarter-finalist Ross Hutchins and ex-British number one Annabel Croft.
Commentary will be led by Simon Reed, Chris Bradnam and Frew McMillan.
British Eurosport will also have coverage of the AEGON Classic at Edgbaston, Birmingham, from June 14-16.
LIVE: 12.30pm-2.00pm / 5.45pm-8.00pm – BBC Red Button LIVE: 12.15pm-8.45pm – British Eurosport Tuesday 11th June Day 2 – Second Round LIVE: 1.00pm-6.00pm – BBC Two
LIVE: 12.30pm-2.00pm / 5.45pm-8.00pm – BBC Red Button LIVE: 12.15pm-8.45pm – British Eurosport Wednesday 12th June Day 3 – Second Round LIVE: 1.00pm-6.00pm – BBC Two
LIVE: 12.30pm-3.15pm / 5.45pm-8.00pm – BBC Red Button LIVE: 12.15pm-8.30pm – British Eurosport Thursday 13th June Day 4 – Third Round LIVE: 1.00pm-6.00pm – BBC Two
LIVE: 12.30pm-2.00pm / 5.45pm-8.00pm – BBC Red Button LIVE: 12.15pm-8.45pm – British Eurosport Friday 14th June Day 5 – Quarter Finals LIVE: 1.00pm-6.00pm – BBC Two
LIVE: 12.30pm-2.00pm / 5.45pm-8.00pm – BBC Red Button LIVE: 12.15pm-8.45pm – British Eurosport Saturday 15th June Day 6 – Semi Finals LIVE: 1.20pm-5.25pm – BBC One
LIVE: 12.30pm-5.15pm – British Eurosport Sunday 16th June AEGON Championships Final 2013 Also feat. Rally Against Cancer charity event LIVE: 2.00pm-5.00pm – BBC One
LIVE: 1.45pm-4.45pm – British Eurosport
