BlackRock Website

RANKINGS

1 Sergi Bruguera 2880
2 Henri Leconte1125
3 Cedric Pioline 990
4 Thomas Muster 915
5 Paul Haarhuis 850
6 Anders Jarryd 810
7 Michael Stich 785
8 John McEnroe 715
9 Fernando Meligeni 500
10 Magnus Gustafsson 460
11 Wayne Ferreira 450
12 Goran Ivanisevic 405
13 Pat Cash 345
14 Guy Forget 310
15 Carl-Uwe Steeb 280
15= Bjorn Borg 280
17 Richard Krajicek 265
18 Jordi Arrese 250
19 Mats Wilander 200
20 Andres Gomez 185
21 Mikael Pernfors 125
22 Karel Novacek 80
22= Jeremy Bates 80
22= Magnus Larsson 80
22= Renzo Furlan 80
26 Boris Becker 60
26= Guillermo Vilas 60
26= Nuno Marques 60
26= Paolo Cane 60
26= Mansour Bahrami 60

EVENTS 2008

Belfast, Northern Ireland February 21-24
Barcelona, Spain April 24-27
Hamburg, Germany May 14-17
Sao Paulo, Brazil May 21-24
Istanbul, Turkey July 17-20
Graz, Austria July 29-August 2
Algarve, Portugal August 5-8
Paris, France September 18-21
Brussels, Belgium September 25-28
Eindhoven, Netherlands October 2-5
Budapest, Hungary October 9-12
Frankfurt, Germany November 13-16
BlackRock Masters Tennis
London, UK December 2-7

McEnroe and Borg Stunned in Belfast

Bjorn Borg and John McEnroe arrived in Belfast to a heroes’ welcome on Wednesday, but left the Odyssey Arena on Thursday with their tails between their legs.

Borg was tamed by Britain’s Jeremy Bates in their first round-robin match, and then McEnroe was stunned by a sensational performance from Sweden’s Mikael Pernfors.

In their opening Group A match Bates defeated five-time Wimbledon champion Borg 3-6, 6-3, 10-6 (Champions’ Tie-Break). Pernfors was more dominant, beating McEnroe 6-2, 7-6(1).

Borg and McEnroe now know that the winner of their sold-out Friday night match will still have a chance of reaching the final on Sunday, while the loser will go home early.

“That’s as good as I can hit a tennis ball,” said McEnroe’s conqueror Pernfors, who reached the French Open final in 1986.

“He (McEnroe) didn’t have his best day but that’s partly because I played as well as I did, and I didn’t really give him an opportunity and when he did have an opportunity, I came up with a big serve. I was extremely excited about playing, and for the first time in probably five years, I don’t really hurt anywhere. With all my injuries and operations, this is the first time I really feel like I’m not hurting and that makes it so much more fun to go out and play.”

Earlier, the 51-year-old Borg seemed to be in control of his match after breaking Bates to lead 5-3 in the first set before closing it out on his serve. However, Bates hit back to force the Champions Tie-break and sealed victory with a winning volley on match point.

“I’m really pleased,” said Bates after the win. “I haven’t played any matches for a while so you’re never sure what you’re going to get first match of the tournament. It’s a lovely venue and the court suits me down to the ground. We had some good points to begin with but I came through in the end and I’m very happy.”

With the crowd enjoying a competitive battle, Bates admitted he was finding it difficult not to get caught up in the occasion of playing Borg.

“It’s a privilege to be on the court with him,” said the former British Davis Cup captain. “Having been in tennis for 30 years, anytime I can be on the court with one of the legends of the game and one of the greatest ambassadors the sport has ever seen, is very special. I was watching him as much as I was trying to concentrate on the game, so it was quite funny.”

Borg, who will now have to defeat his old rival John McEnroe on Friday night to have a chance of reaching the final, said: “You’re always disappointed when you lose. Your ambition is to win but I thought we played a good match, it came down to the last couple of points where anything can happen. Jeremy played a good match, he played well on the important points but generally I thought it was a very good match. Now I have to win my next two matches to reach the final.”

Earlier in the day, defending champion Anders Jarryd began his 2008 campaign with a comprehensive 6-1, 6-2 victory over Britain’s Chris Wilkinson.

“I was very pleased with the way I played,” said Jarryd. “I thought it would have been a little more difficult, I was surprised. Chris doesn’t play so many singles matches these days, but he’s probably going to play better and better every match. When you win and you play a match like this, you feel better.”

Wilkinson added: “It was a very tough first one to play. Anders loves the court, loves being here and plays at a very high level. So for me it was very difficult to get into the points and get into the match. Second set I felt I had a bit more opportunity to get going but he upped his game and all credit to him, he played brilliantly.”

Tennis Legends
Belfast, Northern Ireland
February 21-24, 2008

Players:
Group 1: John McEnroe, Bjorn Borg, Jeremy Bates, Mickael Pernfors
Group 2: Pat Cash, Henri Leconte, Anders Jarryd, Chris Wilkinson

RESULTS FOR THURSDAY 21 FEBRUARY, 2008
Anders Jarryd d. Chris Wilkinson 6-1, 6-2
Jeremy Bates d. Bjorn Borg 3-6, 6-3, 10-6 (Champions’ Tie-Break)
Pat Cash d. Henri Leconte 6-4, 3-6, 10-4 (Champions’ Tie-Break)
Mikael Pernfors d. John McEnroe 6-2, 7-6(1)

Friday, February 22, 2008
At 2pm - Henri Leconte vs Chris Wilkinson
Jeremy Bates vs Mickael Pernfors
At 7.30pm - Anders Jarryd vs Pat Cash
Doubles TBC
John McEnroe vs Bjorn Borg

Saturday, February 23, 2008
At 2pm - Pat Cash vs Chris Wilkinson
Doubles TBC
Bjorn Borg vs Mickael Pernfors
At 7.30pm - John McEnroe vs Jeremy Bates
Doubles TBC
Henri Leconte vs Anders Jarryd

Sunday, February 24, 2008
At 2pm - 3rd & 4th Place Play-off Match
Final Match

:blink:

did I read that right? Jeremy Bates beat Borg :unsure:

It'll be interesting to keep an eye on this over the year - I am taking my mum to the London one as a birthday present :)

yeah - good on Jezza :P

I know a lot of people are fans of loads of the players who play on this Tour so I think it'd be worth giving them a bit of publicity :ok:

it's Mac vs. Borg tonight

:peek:

Cheers for starting this thread cos I have a nice article about Borg and Mac to put up so If you don't mind I will tag it along here in a bit. :)

It's not so shocking that Borg and Mac getting beaten by opponents who we would consider far inferior. I think we forget they are nto what they were and how old they are. Mac is 50 next year and Borg is appraoching 52! Doesn't seem it though :o Bates is 6or 7 yrs younger than Bjorn and I guess has kept playing in various competitions whereas I don't think Borg has so Borg is gonna be rusty. :shrug: Mac has 5 years on Pernfors, but I've no idea what Pernfors does these days - however he never won a GS title in anything so why is he on this tour?

I thought they got to play if they had made a GS final as well :unsure: 'cos i remember someone saying that Greg will get to play but Tim won't :blink:

and yeah sure, please post any interesting articles :ok:

I think they might try and get out of that - I am sure I saw an advert for Blackrock with Tim on it :unsure:

Legends Hold Court- article from BBC about Mac and Borg's Match at the Blackrock Masters, Belfast

http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/7255845.stm

It think it's amazing to see these two play again and the amount of respect for each other is great to see. Mac says some very nice things about Borg. I assume these pair get on very well because it was Mac who talked Borg out of selling his trophies so I heard..

Oh right, so now you can enter if you are a one time RU in a GS? Pernfors was an FO RU - he never made any other GS finals.

It's hard to know where to draw the line isn't it? I think they opened it up to get more players involved which is good but it leaves out a lot of popular and entertaining players who have never made a GS final. Of you don't have strict criteria though, where do you draw the line? :shrug:

Anyway the issue of age is what they need to be concerned about - they should be over a certain age - wasn't fair when Goran joined and was playing guys 15 years older than he is!

These are the rules (from the website):

To be eligible to compete on the ATP Champions Tour, players must have been either a World No. 1 during their competitive playing careers, a Grand Slam singles finalist, or a singles player in a victorious Davis Cup team; and they should have retired from the ATP circuit. Each event can also invite two players of its choice to take wild cards.

Players compete for points throughout the year to qualify for The Champions Masters. The Masters takes place at the Royal Albert Hall in London at the end of the year; the player field is comprised of the top ten players in the Champions Tour Rankings after all events, plus two wild cards.

Well Tim is screwed, he'd need a wildcard :lol:

I suppose this means that Malavai Washington and Martin Verkerk can play then. And is Tsonga retured tomorrow he'd be assured of a place when he's older! :lol: Jamie Murray is sorted then :D

Not sure about the being on a vitorious DC team bit becuase it's a team effort, and a good player has no chance of winning it if his team is crap, like the Brits. :rolleyes:

Jamie Murray can't play - they've got to be a grand slam singles finalist......

I thought they could be doubles? Is Bates a WIldCard then? And was Haarhuis a singles finalist?

well, the rules seem to say singles slam finalist - however, I think they can have been world number 1 in doubles, which might explain Haarhuis' inclusion. Looks like Bates is a WC

Borg is almost 52???? :blink: Holy Cow-I thought he was much older! :D So is this tournament kind of like a "senior's tour?"

yep, that's exactly what it is :ok: there's certain rules for entry to the tour (see above) and they only play about 13 events a year i think :unsure:

that's awesome!!:ok: Hope to see the current crop of players doing that when their time comes.

well Goran Ivanisevic - who retired fairly recently - has already played on this tour. But you do have to meet certain criteria to join the tour....

tonight McEnroe is playing against Borg, which must be a great thing to have tickets to. Apparently it's sold out :blink:

I know some people from the board have been to see the finals in London and from what they've said it's a good event to go to :ok:

To be honest i think it's abit over-rated!
I went to this one last year and thought it was pretty boring!
The local tennis coaches could play better tennis and it wasn't really entertaining! :blink:
So i won't be returning this year!

I went on the Saturday and really enjoyed it :shrug:

its not going to be in the same league as your Wimbledon matches, but tbh, the players in the doubles looked like they were having fun and a bit of a laugh - and the singles were deadly serious and entertaining in their own way.

Its all about what you like - and I like spending a Saturday afternoon being able to watch some form of tennis without the Pebblettes keep asking me if they cant turn it over now :)

I think it depends who is playing; the Borg v Mac match I would have killed to get tickets for and it was a good close mach form two legends so I hear. I know what you mean cos I saw some matches on Tv last Dec and they hardly cuaght fire and were not the most exciting players. I'd have been pissed if I'd paid the huge costs for those tickets - the trouble is you can't pick the matche when you book. If I knew I was seeign Mac and Borg i'd pay though.

Jarryd to Face Bates in Belfast Final

Anders Jarryd is one win away from successfully defending his title at the BlackRock Tour of Champions event in Belfast, Northern Ireland. The Swede will meet Britain’s Jeremy Bates in Sunday’s final.

Jarryd, who earlier saw off Pat Cash and Chris Wilkinson, defeated Henri Leconte 6-3, 6-4 to maintain his 100% record in this year’s event.

His final opponent Bates will face a late fitness test after pulling up with knee pain during his 7-6, 4-6, 10-4 (Champions’ Tie-Break) loss to John McEnroe.

McEnroe was the unluckiest man in Belfast, winning his second match out of three round-robin encounters but still failing to qualify for the final day.

“It’s a shame that I’m not in the final because I felt like I played the best I’ve played all week today,” said McEnroe.

“I was just starting to find my rhythm, but I came out flat in my match on day one against Mikael Pernfors and paid the price.”

In the third/fourth place play-off, Pernfors will take on Chris Wilkinson, who scraped past Pat Cash on Saturday. Pernfors beat Bjorn Borg 7-6, 6-3.