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)