A glittering line-up of tennis stars are set to compete in this year’s Statoil Masters at the famous Royal Albert Hall and ITV4 will screen live coverage over the weekend of December 6-8.
Legendary names such Pat Rafter, Tim Henman, Greg Rusedski, Goran Ivanisevic, Mark Philippoussis, Mats Wilander, Fabrice Santoro and John McEnroe will all be rolling back the years once again throughout the five-day event.
Set amongst the striking setting of London’s grand Royal Albert Hall, the Statoil Masters Tennis forms part of the ATP Champions Tour, a year-round circuit featuring former world number one tennis players, Grand Slam singles finalists and Davis Cup winners.
The 12 competitors are split into two separate tournaments of six players – the ATP Champions Tour and the Legends – from which they are again split into to two groups of three and play each other in a round-robin format.
2009 champion Rafter returns to the Royal Albert Hall this year, as will the 1997 US Open runner-up Greg Rusedski, along with 2001 Wimbledon champion Goran Ivanisevic and defending champion Fabrice Santoro, who has been drawn in the same group as Tim Henman, the man he beat in last year’s Champions Tour final.
In the Legends tournament, seven-time Grand Slam champion Mats Wilander, former world number one John McEnroe and tennis legends Henri Leconte and Sergi Bruguera, plus former British number one Jeremy Bates.
Australian Open semi-finalist Wayne Ferreira will replace Stefan Edberg in the Legends line-up after the Swede was forced to withdraw from the event after undergoing knee surgery.
Competing in a series of exhibition doubles matches will be the ever-popular Mansour Bahrami, the 2007 Wimbledon Mixed Doubles champion Jamie Murray, former British number one and TV personality Andrew Castle, plus three-time Grand Slam Doubles champion Peter McNamara.
Now a firm fixture on the pre-Christmas sporting schedule, tennis fans can enjoy a host of legendary names in action at the iconic Royal Albert Hall.
ITV4 will screen live coverage of the 2013 Statoil Masters Tennis over the weekend of December 6-8.
It is the sixth time that the channel has covered this end-of-season tennis bash at the Royal Albert Hall and coverage will again be shown in high-definition on ITV4 HD and online via ITV.com.
John Inverdale returns to present ITV4’s live coverage alongside former British number one Annabel Croft, with Simon Reed and Chris Wilkinson leading the commentary team.
The final five sessions of the tournament from Friday night to Sunday evening will be broadcast live on ITV4.
This includes John McEnroe’s clash against Sergi Bruguera, a repeat of last year’s final between Tim Henman and Fabrice Santoro, plus the clash between the two finalists from the 2001 Wimbledon final in Goran Ivanisevic and Pat Rafter.
There is also plenty of highly entertaining doubles action to enjoy, featuring the incomparable Mansour Bahrami and Henri Leconte.
Rounding off the weekend’s action will be the Legends Final and Champions Tour Final on Sunday, which are both split across two sessions.
Visit the official Statoil Masters Tennis 2013 website for more information about the tournament, including schedules, news updates and video content.
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I am appalled by ITV4’s decision to not show the end of the hugely entertaining doubles match featuring Henry Leconte, because it was running a bit late. Who cares if ‘storage wars’ started late – or not at all! It was a shocking decision and showed absolutely no regard for all the people who were enjoying watching these talented and funny tennis legends. Storage wars could have been repeated another time, this match was a one-off. Apalled.