The Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) final is set to take place in London from December 6-8 and will feature stars like Holger Rune and Alex de Minaur with record prize money. Jack Draper is defending champion but he won't return.
Founded by coach Patrick Mouratoglou, a former coach of Serena Williams who has recently worked with Holger Rune and former world No. 1 Simona Halep, the tournament has been held in various locations around the world since 2020.
Mouratoglou aims to bring innovation to make tennis matches more dynamic, introducing a system of timed quarters. UTS has incorporated "power-up cards" into the tournament, which can impact the number of points a player can accumulate within a quarter, adding a unique twist to the game:
“Half of our fans are non-tennis fans, which shows we have brought new people to tennis through UTS, which is the goal,”
“It is clearly the goal to recruit new fans to the sport. This is clearly an incredible sport, but we showcase it in a way that is more modern and that fits better the criteria of what the new generation watches in general," he added.
“It is the same fan base since the 1970s and 1980s. It’s me! I was ten at the time and now I am 53 and this is the fanbase of tennis.
“If we don’t renew the fan base and don’t bring in new people, it is going to fade away. That’s a fact. All the studies that have been made show the same thing," Mouratoglou claimed"
“Everybody knows that, but it is difficult to make drastic changes as all the traditional fans will be upset. That is why I did UTS.”
The tournament already has the confirmed eight players who will vie for the trophy, and it will feature a total prize money of $2.165 millions will be on offer, with a maximum of $921.800 available to the winner. In addition to the prize money for winning the trophy, the champion will receive a bonus for those who have participated in four UTS events, $250,000 for those playing fewer of those tournaments, and a $125,000 prize for someone participating in the tournament for the first time.
The eight players vying for the half-million-dollar prize will be divided into two groups, and these groups have already been confirmed.
Group A:
AndreyRublev “Rublo”
Ugo Humbert "The Commander"
Gael Monfils "La Monf"
Thanasi Kokkinakis "Kokki"
Group B
Alex de Minaur "The Demon"
Alexander Bublik “The Bublik Enemy”
Holger Rune "The Viking"
Denis Shapovalov "Shapo"