Tennis To Return Soon With Unique Tournament Conditions Featuring Rafael Nadal’s Old Rival

It has been months since the last time a professional tennis match was held due to the safety precautions for the coronavirus. Recent reports show that tennis will make a return soon with a series of exhibition matches in Germany.

The games will be hosted by Base Tennis Academy near Koblenz and will feature several top stars in the mix. One of these players includes Dustin Brown who is notably one of the few people who have defeated Rafael Nadal. It was in the second round of the 2015 Wimbledon Championships when Brown pulled off a major upset against the 19-time Grand Slam Champion.

While it won’t be as competitive as the typically sanctioned Grand Slam match, it is still a monumental step in this global pandemic. The setup of the games will feature a much more different procedure than the usual standards but it’s a necessary step in this difficult time.

The director of Base Tennis Academy Ruben Herrera shares that the safety procedures are prioritized in the tournament.

"We have been pretty much redesigning the set-up of the tennis club," said Herrera by way of BBC.

"You really have to be very cautious, and very detail orientated on how you provide this kind of exhibition for players," Herrera added.

Precautions such as setting a safe distance between participants and officials have been considered. In addition to this, the organizers have ensured that players won’t have to touch any door handles or any other external objects across the stadium.

"We actually thought about playing with two sets of balls, but after reading the guidelines and seeing that professional players can play already [in Germany], and the [small] likelihood of people getting sick by touching the balls, we are changing them as normal," Herrera concluded.

The tournament will last for four days and will compete for a prize worth €3,000 in a series of round-robin matches. There will be unique stipulations to the games, as the tournament will not include fans, line judges, ball kids, or handshakes.

These games are a step into checking how sports can bounce back in this difficult time. For now, the modified tournament will be the main source of tennis action as the world recovers from the effects of the virus.