Ivan Lendl will feature in Delray Beach tournament next year – Tennis News
Former world number 1, Ivan Lendl, will be seen in action during the Delray Beach ATP Champions Tour tournament from February 24-28, next year. Winner of eight Grand Slam. Czech-born, Lendl announced to participate in this tournament which is conducted by
the officials of ATP Champions tour and ATP World Tour event.
Czech International is a real class act. He played in record 19 Grand Slam tournaments, second-best to Federer who broke his record two years back in 2009. He reached to the final of one of the Grand Slam tournament every year for consecutive 11 years and
Pete Sampras is the only player to shares the same record with Lendl. He joined the list of legendry players in the hall of fame in 2001.
His rivalry with John McEnroe of America is one of the fiercest and longest rivalries in the history of tennis. He is reported to have declared the 1984 French Open final match against McEnroe to be one of his best memories; trailing two sets down, he made
a remarkable comeback and clinched the title with a score of 3-6, 2-6, 6-4, 7-5 and 7-5.
Eight Grand Slam champion, Lendl, said “I am very much looking forward to playing in Delray Beach in February. I have heard many good things about the event and it will be enjoyable to play against my old rivals in front of fans who really appreciate tennis”.
He will be joined by former World No.1, Mats Wilander, the 1987 Wimbledon champion, Pat Cash, Aaron Krickstein, Mikael Pernfors and Jimmy Arias in the tournament. All of these players have been terrific in their eras and would now return to Delray Beach field
to fresh their tennis memories.
51-year-old, Lendl, made his comeback to the world of tennis as a veteran player last year in ATP Champions Tournament and he still looked extremely fit and competitive as he was in his golden era. Delray tournament official’s announcement about Lendl’s
participation was soon followed by another announcement which revealed inclusion of Andy Roddick in the ATP World Tour event.
The tournament will be played with a round-robin system that will part the eight players into two group of four each. Each player would play at-least three matches and the players that will top their group will contest in the grand finale.
The Tournament Director, Mark Baron, was really excited at the inclusion of the hall of famer in the tournament and praised the legend for his work and efforts in taking the game to the next level. He said “Our 2012 field is off to a flying start with Andy
and Ivan on board. We look forward to welcoming Andy back and seeing him play great tennis, and having Ivan play in Delray Beach for the first time is something I am looking forward to. He redefined the game".
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