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Current World No. 3 Dominic Thiem will take part in the Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS), a new event starting from 13 June. The five-week tournament will see 10 male tennis players play against each other in a round-robin format.
The UTS is one of two high-profile tournaments this month that aim to bring tennis back for the fans after a long hiatus. The other, of course, is Novak Djokovic's Adria Tour - which incidentally will also feature Dominic Thiem.
Along with Thiem, the other players who will be a part of the UTS are David Goffin, Matteo Berrettini, Stefanos Tsitsipas, Richard Gasquet, Alexei Popyrin, Benoit Paire, Dustin Brown, Lucas Pouille and Feliciano Lopez. Spain's Lopez comes in as a replacement for Felix Auger-Aliassime, after the Canadian was ruled out due to a right ankle injury.
The event is the brainchild of Serena Williams' coach Patrick Mouratoglou and Alex Popyrin, father of Australian tennis player Alexei Popyrin. The duo feel that the tournament is not just an extension of the traditional format, but will instead showcase 'new tennis'.
Mouratoglou said that his first goal is to get the fans interested in the event. And getting top stars like Dominic Thiem on board will certainly help in that.
"The first goal is to have people like it," he said.
UTS will be streamed live on UTSlive.tv, and Mouratoglou is hoping to get about 50,000 viewers on the website by the end of the first season. He did not dismiss the idea of having a duel gender league if and when the first season turned into a success.
Dominic Thiem to miss the start of the tournament
The fans will, however, miss seeing Dominic Thiem in action during the first weekend of the league as the Austrian will be joining Novak Djokovic for a charity event in the Balkans. Theim will be replaced by World No. 208 Elliot Benchetrit of France for the first two rounds of the UTS.
Dominic Thiem will be back with the other members to play his first match on the 20th of June.
All the matches will be held at an academy in Nice, which is run by Mouratoglou. The tournament will be held behind closed doors, with no spectators allowed.
The opening day will see Matteo Berrettini take on Belgium's David Goffin and Stefanos Tsitsipas squaring up against Richard Gasquest.
Tennis has seen very little action in the last three months due to the coronavirus pandemic, as the ATP and WTA tours stand suspended till the end of July. The 2020 Wimbledon Championships were cancelled, while Roland Garros was postponed and will now take place from 20th September to 4th of October.
Against that backdrop, the UTS should be good practice for Dominic Thiem, who would be looking to fine-tune his game ahead of the resumption of the tour.
