Williams sisters, Osaka, Sharapova to participate in virtual Mario Tennis Aces tournament
Tennis News
With tennis still suspended due to the coronavirus pandemic, it seems that more organizations are engaging with fans via a virtual platform.
The Mutua Madrid Open is currently hosting a virtual tournament amongst ATP and WTA players, which is proving to be rather entertaining. Now talent company IMG has gotten involved, as they announced that eight of their top ten clients will participate in a live virtual tennis tournament. The event, titled "Stay at Home Slam" will be played on the Nintendo Switch, using the Mario Tennis Aces video game.
Competitors include Serena and Venus Williams, Naomi Osaka, Maria Sharapova, Kei Nishikori and other celebrities. They will play the game from their homes across the country, with each participant receiving $25,000 to donate to a charity of their choice. The winner of the tournament will receive an additional $1 million donation, which will be used for COVID-19 relief.
The event will be held on Sunday, May 3 at 4pm EST, and streamed exclusively on Facebook via Facebook Gaming at fb.gg/FacebookGaming and IMG's tennis Facebook page.
“I am proud our IMG tennis clients came together so quickly to support a multitude of great causes,” said Max Eisenbud, SVP of tennis clients at IMG. “It is a testament to the people we work with across all our divisions that we were able to bring this to life in such a short amount of time.”
Tennis stars participating, and their corresponding celebrity doubles partner are:
Serena Williams & Gigi Hadid
Naomi Osaka & Hailey Bieber
Venus Williams & JuJu Smith-Schuster
Maria Sharapova & Karlie Kloss
Kei Nishikori & Steve Aoki
Madison Keys & Seal
Taylor Fritz & Addison Rae
Kevin Anderson & Ryan Tannehill
Naomi Osaka & Hailey Bieber
Venus Williams & JuJu Smith-Schuster
Maria Sharapova & Karlie Kloss
Kei Nishikori & Steve Aoki
Madison Keys & Seal
Taylor Fritz & Addison Rae
Kevin Anderson & Ryan Tannehill
Commentary will be by retired tennis legend John McEnroe and YouTube personality iJustine (Justine Ezarik).
[embed]https://twitter.com/WTA/status/1255578854657228801[/embed]
Growing up in a household where soccer was king, my earliest memories are filled with chants from packed stadiums and the rhythm of a ball being passed across neighborhood streets. But somewhere along the way, the quiet elegance and raw emotion of tennis pulled me in. What began as a curiosity became a lifelong passion; not just for the sport itself, but for the stories it tells: of grit, of heartbreak, of improbable comebacks and human resilience.
As a tennis writer, I bring the observational lens of someone who didn’t grow up in the sport, but fell in love with it as an outsider; a perspective that lets me see both its technical beauty and its emotional depth. Over the years working with TennisUpToDate, I’ve had the privilege of reaching more than 3.5 million readers worldwide, with one of my features ranking among the site’s top three articles.
With a background in storytelling and a creative mind always searching for meaning beyond the scoreboard, I aim to craft narratives that go deeper than results and rankings. Whether it’s a rising star breaking through or a veteran fighting off Father Time, I try to capture the heartbeat behind the headlines.
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