Wimbledon champions John McEnroe, Goran Ivanisevic and Richard Krajicek will all contest The BlackRock Masters at the Royal Albert Hall in London, 5th – 10th December after guaranteeing year—end finishes in the top ten of the South African Airways Champions Tour Rankings.
The trio – three of the most popular players on the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions – will join unbeaten leader Marcelo Rios, former French Open winners Thomas Muster and Sergi Bruguera, and two-time Grand Slam finalist Cedric Pioline at the season-ending extravaganza.
Krajicek and Ivanisevic both leap-frogged McEnroe with third and fourth-place finishes at the Alex Tennis Classics in Eindhoven last week to secure their berths in London.
It will be the first time Ivanisevic has played at the Royal Albert Hall. Last year, he was the No.1 player on the Merrill Lynch Tour of Champions and qualified with ease, but a conflict of dates with the Davis Cup final meant he was unable to play. Instead, he was picked as part of a Croatian team that won their first ever Davis Cup.
He wrote a personal letter to British tennis fans, promising that he would play at the BlackRock Masters in 2006.
“Trust me, as long as I am fit, I will be there,” he wrote.
“I have been told that the Royal Albert Hall is a perfect, beautiful venue. I can’t wait to play there in front of the British people.”
Players are still scrambling for points to secure the remaining three qualifying places. Another Wimbledon champion Pat Cash, Henri Leconte, Carl-Uwe Steeb and defending Masters champion Paul Haarhuis are all in with a chance. One of them will be disappointed.
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playing careers, a Grand Slam singles finalist or champion, or a singles player on a victorious Davis Cup team, and no longer active as an singles player on the ATP circuit.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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