It has never taken much to get John McEnroe angry, but he will have more reasons than usual to be near boiling point when he arrives in Rome for the Delta Tour of Champions event.
The American, who started the year emphatically with victory in Frankfurt, holds bittersweet memories of Rome from last year.
He played some of his best clay court tennis to lead the 1995 French Open champion Thomas Muster 6-2, 5-3. But, despite holding four match points, he lost 2-6, 7-6 (4), 10-6 (on a Champions’ Tie-Break). Muster went on to win the tournament, which runs alongside the men’s and women’s events at the Foro Italico.
Later in an injury-plagued 2004, McEnroe reached the semifinals of the year-ending Champions Masters at the Royal Albert Hall in London. He lost 7-5, 7-5 to the eventual champion Jim Courier.
Muster and Courier – both former champions at the Foro Italico - are here in Rome as well, and McEnroe wants revenge.
Courier will face McEnroe in the round-robin stages after being drawn alongside his compatriot in Group A. Another former Rome champion – Mats Wilander – and Italian Paolo Cane.
McEnroe will only get his chance for revenge against Muster if they both reach the final. The Austrian has been drawn in Group B alongside Guy Forget, Emilio Sanchez and Renzo Furlan.
The players in each group will face off in a round-robin format, and the top player from each group will contest Tuesday’s final. Those who finish second in each group will play off for third and fourth places respectively.
Matches are contested over the best of three sets, with the deciding set taking the form of a Champions’ Tie-break. The first player to reach 10 points in the Champions’ Tie-break is the winner. If the score is level at 9-all, a two-point advantage is required.
McEnroe won the first event on the Delta Tour of Champions – the European section of the worldwide ATP Champions Tour – when he triumphed in Frankfurt in February. Sergi Bruguera overcame Pat Cash in the Doha final last month, and Goran Ivanisevic also beat Cash a week later in the Hong Kong final.
The event in Hong Kong was one of a number of new steps on the Road to London in 2005. Tournaments in Doha (Qatar), Frankfurt (Germany), Novi (Croatia), Monte Carlo (Monaco) and Essen (Germany), have all been added to the Champions Tour calendar, which now stands at 12 events.
Players will compete for points throughout the year to qualify for The Masters at the Royal Albert Hall in London, November 29 – December 4. The top ten players in the Stanford Financial Champions Tour Rankings after all events are complete will qualify automatically. The field in London will increase to 12 with the addition of two wild cards.
To be eligible to compete on the ATP Champions Tour, players must have been either a World No.1 during their competitive playing careers, a Grand Slam singles finalist, or a singles player on a victorious Davis Cup team, and no longer active on the ATP tour. Each event can also invite two players of its choice to take wild cards.
