The Mallorca Championships will be held from the 19th to the 26th of June with spectators in the stadium. The health authorities have authorized a maximum daily attendance of 1,500 at the event, which will take place at the renovated facilities of the Mallorca Country Club in Santa Ponça.
Mallorca, April 28th, 2021. – Less than two months remain until the grass courts of the Mallorca Country Club host the first edition of the ATP Mallorca Championships. An ATP 250 event that the players will be using to complete their set-up ahead of the third Grand Slam of the season, as it is part of the so-called ‘road to Wimbledon’.
Kyrgios, Verdasco and López, confirmed
Nick Kyrgios, the ‘bad boy’ of the ATP, will be one of the big attractions of the tournament. With Kyrgios on the court, the show is guaranteed. But the Australian also stands out for his quality. Few tennis players are able to boast of never having lost against the current world number one, the Serbian Novak Djokovic (his H2H is 2-0 for the Aussie). He has also achieved victories against the best players in the recent history of the sport, such as Nadal, Federer and Murray, so his quality on court is undeniable.
This is how Toni Nadal, the tournament director, also sees it: “Nick is a star on the ATP circuit. Undoubtedly, after the ‘Big3’, he is one of the greatest tennis stars in the world, being the player most followed by the younger generations. He is a great player who, in addition, gives a lot of show on the court. So Nick’s commitment to play in the Mallorca Championships is very important news for us. I hope that his presence in the tournament will bring a lot of people to come to Santa Ponça to follow him”.
Besides the Australian, two Spanish tennis legends and great specialists on grass, Fernando Verdasco and Feliciano López, will also be in Mallorca in June. With 7 singles titles each, both also boast great recent results on grass. López won the last edition of the ATP500 at Queen’s, while Verdasco reached the quarter-finals at Wimbledon in 2019.
With spectators in the stands and evening sessions
One of the great news for all tennis fans is that there will be spectators in the stadium. The health authorities have authorized a maximum of 1,500 attendees per day. Tickets, as announced by Toni Nadal, the tournament director, will go on sale next week.
The organization, which used the occasion to announce the first group of confirmed sponsors, including Rakuten, Orange, Engel&Völkers, Banca March, Melià Hotels & Resorts, and Quirón Salud, presented another of the biggest surprises that it will offer in June and which has never been seen before in an event on grass: the evening sessions with lighting thanks to a special treatment given to the grass of its courts.
A completely renovated club for an event that combines tennis and lifestyle
The Mallorca Championships will be one of the few tournaments on the ATP circuit to be held in the facilities of a membership club. In the words of Edwin Weindorfer, CEO and founder of e|motion group: “The Mallorca Country Club will be the permanent home of the Mallorca Championships. We have made a big investment to completely renovate all the facilities and turn them into a club that is open all year round and can host different events. After the tournament, we will do a small soft opening and it will be fully ready to open its doors to the public towards the end of the summer.
The mayor of Calvià, Alfonso Rodríguez, has also expressed his satisfaction for what the club can mean for his town: “For us, it is very important the achievement and consolidation of the Mallorca Country Club that, together with the Mallorca Championships, make up a project for the whole year, with different events and, above all, of social consolidation that will serve for the de-seasonalization of tourism in the municipality of Calvià.
Unanimous support from all the institutions of the Balearic Islands
The Govern of the Balearic Islands, the Consell of Mallorca and the Calvià Council have staged the union of all the institutions in today’s act in support of the Mallorca Championships. It will definitely be an event that will serve to send out a message to international tourism that Mallorca is safe and that it will also act as a boost to the local economy.
In the words of the President of the Consell de Mallorca, Catalina Cladera: “We are very grateful to the e|motion group for organising this tournament, as we at the Consell are committed to this type of event as a key element to deseasonalise and reactivate the economy and to put Mallorca on the world map. Our island has all the characteristics such as climate, infrastructure, connections… to be a leading destination in the quality sports tourism sector”.
The Government of the Balearic Islands has also praised the commitment of the Mallorca Championships to sustainability. In the words of Xisco Mateu, director of the Strategic Tourism Agency of the Balearic Islands: “The future of our islands depends on sustainability and I know of the great effort and commitment of this event to the sustainability goals and Agenda 2030. It is undoubtedly a very important commitment that we are making from the Government of the Balearic Islands to reposition our tourism in this direction”.
Wimbledon relationship stronger than ever
Sally Bolton, AELTC Chief Executive, commented: “The All England Club is delighted that preparations for the ATP Mallorca Championships are well advanced, and that with the strong support of the government, the tournament is on track to be staged this year. Tennis fans are eagerly awaiting the opportunity to see the world’s best players back on grass. Creating meaningful opportunities for practice and competition on quality grass courts as part of a strengthened grass court season in the lead-up to The Championships is a priority for us and we have worked closely with our partners e|motion sports for a number of years now to achieve this vision.”
