WATCH ON DEMAND: Tennis Point Exhibition Series—Germany; Friday, May 1
Dustin Brown, Yannick Hanfmann and six other players reopen the sport with the first live pro tennis played since mid-March.
At long last, live tennis is back. For the first time since the middle of March, when the coronavirus stopped a slew of subsequent tournaments in their tracks, players will compete, "game, set, match" will be called and, just as important, you can watch it all happen.
Benjamin Hassan d. Jean-Marc Werner, 4-2, 4-2:
Jan Choinski d. Florian Broska, 4-3 (5), 4-1:
Yannick Hanfmann d. Johannes Haerteis, 4-0, 4-1:
Dustin Brown d. Constantin Schmitz, 4-2, 4-2:
Johannes Haerteis d. Jan Choinski, 4-2, 4-2:
Dustin Brown d. Jean-Marc Werner, 4-3 (5), 4-3 (4):
Constantin Schmitz d. Florian Broska, 4-3 (7), 4-3 (3):
The Tennis Point Exhibition Series is a 12-day event divided into three sessions, the first running May 1-4. (The second runs May 7-10; the third runs May 14-17.) Is it the first time professional tennis players are competing in an organized event since COVID-19 decimated the tennis calendar beginning with the BNP Paribas Open at Indian Wells.
It is being held at the Base Tennis club in Höhr-Grenzhausen, Germany. The town is part of the Rhineland-Palatinate state, which borders France, Belgium and Luxembourg.
Eight German players. The most notable name is Dustin Brown, who may be as famous for his dreadlocks as his win over Rafael Nadal at Wimbledon in 2015 (he also owns a second win over Rafa). Joining him is Yannick Hanfmann—currently the highest-ranked ATP player, at No. 143—Johannes Haerteis, Jan Choinski, Benjamin Hassan, Constantin Schmitz, Jean-Marc Werner and Florian Broska.
In the first three days of each session, each player will play two matches before a playoffs are determined by the results. Each match is a best-of-three set contest, with sets lasting to four games, with a tiebreak at 3-3 in all sets. There will also be no-advantage scoring to speed up play.
There will be no fans in attendance, just two players and and umpire. The broadcast, which will air live on Tennis Channel, Tennis Channel International (in Germany), and on-demand on TennisChannel.com, TENNIS.com and the Tennis Channel App, will be transmitted via PlaySight, the court-capturing technology.
We'll have more to report after speaking with Dustin Brown following his first match on Friday.
