September 10, 2007
The BlackRock Tour of Champions will expand to 12 events in 2007 after a tournament was added in South America for the very first time.
The event, in Sao Paolo, Brazil will take place November 22-25, and will feature Bjorn Borg among a field of other great tennis champions at an indoor stadium that holds 6,000 people.
“When we told the sponsors and the people that Bjorn Borg would play in Sao Paolo you could see their excitement,” said Tournament Director, Pedro Frazao.
“He is still the biggest name in tennis history. The event will be just one week before the BlackRock Masters in London so players who need points to qualify can do so in Brazil.”
Frazao hopes that former French Open champion Gustavo Kuerten will play at the event in future years.
“We believe that in one or two years ‘Guga’ will be looking to play so we want to start a good tournament this year so that it will be there when he is ready to play,” he said.
For Borg, who returned to the BlackRock Tour of Champions in the Algarve, Portugal last month and has already signed up to play in Eindhoven, Holland and London, England, it is an exciting opportunity.
“It’s good for the Tour to be expanding all over the world,” said Borg.
“I have played in Sao Paolo before and the people in Brazil get very excited about tennis. It’s going to be a great event with some great players.”
The next event on the BlackRock Tour of Champions is the 4th Trophée Jean-Luc Lagardère in Paris, September 20-23rd, at the Lagardère Paris Racing Club. There, John McEnroe will take on a host of French Open greats such as Thomas Muster and Sergi Bruguera. For more information: http://www.trophee-jeanluclagardere.com/
After that, the tour will journey to Eindhoven for the Alex Tennis Classics, and then on to Liege, Frankfurt, Sao Paolo and London.
