David Farnor | On 12, Jun 2020

Update: Day 1 was postponed due to rain, so Saturday’s matches will now take place on Monday

This weekend will see live tennis arrive back on our screens, after tournaments have been postponed or cancelled altogether due to the coronavirus pandemic. For fans missing Wimbledon this summer, Serena Williams’ coach Patrick Mouratoglou believes he has the answer: Ultimate Tennis Showdown, a new tournament streaming live online.

The innovative new league will span five weeks with 10 players competing in a unique round-robin format. Each match will span four 10-minute quarters, with a two-minute break in between each. Each player will have two serves in a row, with the player with the most points winning each quarter. Coaches can call one 30-second timeout per quarter, with the phone call between them and the player able to be heard by viewers, and fans will be able to question them during changeovers. Even swearing and smashing rackets won’t be banned, as the tournament tries to liven the sport up for a modern audience.

Dominic Thiem, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Matteo Berrettini, David Goffin, Feliciano Lopez, Alexei Popyrin, Benoit Paire, Lucas Pouille, Richard Gasquet and Dustin Brown will compete in the opening five-week challenge – with Elliot Benchetrit stepping in for Thiem in the first two rounds as Thiem is playing at a charity event hosted by Novak Djokovic in the Balkans.

The tournament’s first weekend will run from Saturday 13th to Sunday 14th June, with four more weekends running until the final on Sunday 12th July. Taking place behind closed doors at Mouratoglou Academy, in the South of France, it will all be streamed live on the UTS website, with subscriptions costing €10 a month (no contract).

Here’s the line-up for the first weekend:

14th June

3pm

E.BENCHETRIT (FRA)
A.POPYRIN (AUS)

4.15pm

D.BROWN (GER)
M.BERRETTINI (ITA)

5.30pm

F.LOPEZ (ESP)
L.POUILLE (FRA)

8pm

R.GASQUET (FRA)
D.GOFFIN (BEL)

9.15pm

S.TSITSIPAS (GRE)
B.PAIRE (FRA)

15th June

3pm

L.POUILLE (FRA)
E.BENCHETRIT (FRA)

4.15pm

D.BROWN (GER)
B.PAIRE (FRA)

5.30pm

D.GOFFIN (BEL)
M.BERRETTINI (ITA)

8pm

F.LOPEZ (ESP)
A.POPYRIN (AUS)

9.15p

S.TSITSIPAS (GRE)
R.GASQUET (FRA)

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