Tennis: Thiem, Kyrgios to compete in July event in Berlin

London, May 31

Dominic Thiem, Nick Kyrgios, Kiki Bertens and Elina Svitolina are among the men’s and women’s pros set to compete in grass and hard-court events in Berlin in July.

The competition will be closed to spectators due to the coronavirus pandemic.

Six men and six women will compete on grass from July 13-15 at Steffi Graf Stadium before moving to a hard court in a hangar at Tempelhof Airport from July 17-19, according to Agence France-Presse.

The ATP and WTA tours have been on hiatus since mid-March. Wimbledon, whose finals had been slated for July 11-12, was canceled for the first time since World War II.

“I am curious to see where I stand with my tennis,” said Germany’s Alexander Zverev, who will join Austria’s Thiem and Australia’s Kyrgios in the field.

“I’ve been practicing hard, but it’s going to be my first time playing a competitive event in a long time. It’s going to be exciting to play on two different surfaces in seven days.”

The Netherlands’ Bertens and Ukraine’s Svitolina will be joined by Germany’s Julia Goerges and Andrea Petkovic.

The remaining players will be announced at a later date.

In addition to being closed to the public, the tournament will feature electric line calling instead of live judges.

The tournament has a prize pool of $220,000, split evenly among the men’s and women’s events. — Reuters