Today (March 4th) is the inaugural 'World Tennis Day'. A series of special events are due to be held around the world with the aim of increasing participation around the world.
Leading the events are several high-profile exhibitions, including BNP Paribas Showdowns at New York’s Madison Square Garden, where Serena Williams will take on Victoria Azarenka and Rafael Nadal will face Juan Martin del Potro, and the Asia World Arena in Hong Kong, where Caroline Wozniacki and Agniezska Radwanska will face off before legends John McEnroe and Ivan Lendl renew their famous rivalry. Organised by promoters StarGames, the exhibitions will also include demonstrations of the ITF’s Tennis 10s program alongside the main events.
World Tennis Day is organised by the International Tennis Federation, whose constituent national associations are encouraged to take part. Plans are afoot for activities all over the world, and several European nations are getting involved.
The Belarus Tennis Federation is hosting a national championship around the day, with Tennis 10s events planned across the country, amongst other activities. Portugal and Norway will also host Tennis 10s events, while TK Sparta Praha in the Czech Republic will open its doors to the public for a Tennis 10s festival and free tennis for all. In Great Britain, British Tennis will visit a primary school which will be announced as the 15,000th school to benefit from Aegon Schools Tennis Programme.
Tennis Europe and the Centenary Tennis Clubs Association have also been encouraging clubs throughout the continent to get involved. Many other nations around the world, from Argentina to Zimbabwe, are organising their own promotional events.
Tennis 10s is part of the ITF’s global ‘Play and Stay’ initiative, which promotes tennis as an easy, fun and healthy sport and aims to increase participation worldwide. The Tennis 10s program promotes the use of slower and lower bouncing balls, shorter and lighter racquets and smaller courts, in order to make it easier for children to take up the sport.
For further information on World Tennis Day, click here, or follow the celebrations on Twitter or Facebook.