April 18th, 2007
John McEnroe will take on a crop of the greatest clay court players of all time when the BlackRock Tour of Champions event in Barcelona gets underway in Barcelona on Thursday.
The American faces competition from defending champion Sergi Bruguera and 1996 Wimbledon winner Richard Krajicek just to get through the round-robin stages.
If he can advance to the final, 1995 French Open winner Thomas Muster could be waiting.
McEnroe remains undaunted and is looking forward to the challenge.
“Barcelona is a great tournament – the people are very pumped up and I like that,” he told the monthly BlackRock Tennis Champions Podcast.
“It’s a beautiful club, our event is held just before the main event, so we’re a nice little appetiser before the regular tour players arrive.”
The April edition of the Podcast is available for download from iTunes, or via the BlackRock Tour of Champions website, and features interviews with McEnroe and his father JP, Belfast champion Anders Jarryd, and guitar solos from McEnroe and Pat Cash.
Group A in Barcelona sees McEnroe taking on Bruguera, Krajicek and Germany’s Carl-Uwe Steeb.
Group B pits Muster against Belfast finalist Henri Leconte, Cedric Pioline and the 1992 Olympic silver medallist Jordi Arrese.
All players in each group meet over a round-robin format, with the top player in each group meeting in Sunday’s final.
After Barcelona, the Tour will journey through Rome, Hamburg, Algarve, Graz, Paris, Eindhoven, Liege and Frankfurt before arriving in London for the BlackRock Masters Tennis.
SCHEDULE OF PLAY FOR THURSDAY 19th APRIL
At 12 Noon
Cedric Pioline vs. Thomas Muster
Not before 2pm
Henri Leconte vs. Jorde Arrese
Sergi Bruguera vs. Richard Krajicek
Carl-Uwe Steeb vs. John McEnroe
GROUP A
John McEnroe
Sergi Bruguera
Richard Krajicek
Carl-Uwe Steeb
GROUP B
Thomas Muster
Henri Leconte
Cedric Pioline
Jordi Arrese
