Tennis tours to be televised worldwide

Tennis tours to be televised worldwide

JAKARTA (JP): The Association of Tennis Professionals and the sports television station ESPN have reached a new multi-year agreement to bring nine of the most prestigious men's events and season-end singles and doubles World Championships to tennis fans worldwide, starting 1996.

The association's Tour tournaments, which feature the strongest fields and most ranking points, will be aired by the station to more than 120 countries in Asia, the Pacific Rim, the Middle East, Latin America and Africa, the association announced yesterday.

The new broadcasting agreement will include the Newsweek Champion's Cup in Indian Wells, California, the Lipton Championships in Key Biscayne, Florida, the du Maurier Ltd. Open in Montreal and the Thriftway ATP Championship, Cincinnati.

In Europe, ESPN will cover the other prime tournaments: the Volvo Monte Carlo Open, the Panasonic German Open in Hamburg, the Italian Open in Rome, the European Community Championships in Antwerp and the Paris Open.

ESPN program of the association's Tour events climaxes with a complete six-day coverage of the singles and doubles World Championships. The year-end singles tournament has been held in Frankfurt since 1990. Jakarta was named the host for the doubles version for two successive years last year. It will be given the chance to extend the deal for another three-year term after this year's edition in November.

ESPN and the men's tennis professional governing body have been in partnership since 1990. (amd)