John McEnroe will have his work cut out if he is to advance beyond the round-robin stages after the draw for The BlackRock Masters was revealed at the Royal Albert Hall on Monday.
The American will need to find a way past two-time Grand Slam finalist Cedric Pioline and the dangerous wild card Anders Jarryd if he is to make it through to Friday’s quarterfinals.
Pioline is No.4 in the South African Airways Champions Tour Rankings, and Jarryd reached the semifinals in London two years ago.
The 12-man field at the Royal Albert Hall was drawn into four groups of three players, and some more mouth-watering early clashes were revealed.
BlackRock Masters: Groups and Order of Play
Marcelo Rios, the runaway No.1 player in the South African Airways Champions Tour Rankings, will meet Pat Cash and Jeremy Bates, while Goran Ivanisevic was drawn to face his least favourite opponent on the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions, Paul Haarhuis, and Carl-Uwe Steeb.
The other group put together two of the most formidable baseline exponents of the past two decades - Thomas Muster and Sergi Bruguera. Henri Leconte round out the group.
The top two players in each group will advance to Friday’s quarterfinals. There is winner-take-all cheque of $100,000 on offer to the victor.
On Tuesday evening, Tim Henman will also take on Mark Philippoussis in a special match to aid his charity Kids at Heart.
Mats Wilander, Mansour Bahrami, Jacco Eltingh and Peter Fleming are part of the doubles field.
To be eligible to compete on the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions, players must have been either a World No.1 during their competitive playing careers, a Grand Slam singles finalist or champion, or a singles player on a victorious Davis Cup team, and no longer active as an singles player on the ATP circuit. Each event can also invite two players of its choice to take wild cards.
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South Africa's international flagship airline and the continent's most awarded carrier, South African Airways is the official airline of the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions. Its modern fleet features a comfortable Economy Class cabin recently reconfigured for extra legroom and a Premium Business Class cabin featuring the airline's award-winning, lie-flat seat. Complimentary South African wines, inspired cuisine and personal on-demand entertainment for all travellers make the trip to Africa fly by. Built on a venerable 72-year history of bringing the world to Africa and taking Africa to the world, the airline's network is unsurpassed on the continent - connecting travellers to more than 20 destinations within South Africa and more than 20 cities across Africa. As a recent member to the worldwide Star Alliance, South African Airways is now able to offer its customers 852 destinations in 152 countries and more than 15,500 flights daily.
