Genius Sports Group and Topnotch Management (TNM) have collaborated to create the Grand Slam Tennis Tours MatchPlay 120 series, a brand new tournament featuring players ranked inside the ATP and WTA top 300.
The competition, which begins today, will provide fans, players, media publishers and sportsbook operators with over 120 live tennis matches across a six-week period. WTA Tour title-winner Lauren Davies, four-time ATP Tour title-winner Stevie Johnson and 2020 Australian Open quarter-finalist Tennys Sandgren are among the names competing in the new event.
TNM, which manages numerous ATP and WTA athletes such as John Isner and Caroline Garcia, as well as events on the ATP Challenger Tour will run the series. The agency will operate multiple court locations around the US and work closely with Genius Sports and Grand Slam Tennis Tours to deliver an interactive fan experience, combining live streams, daily schedules and orders of play, scores, leaderboard information, and more.
This is an ambitious solution to the current situation and it’s a project that counts as a win on multiple fronts”, explained TNM Event Director, Kyle Ross.
“All groups involved here have demonstrated exceptional agility and we’re really proud, first of all, to provide job opportunities for professional players at a time when there’s been a lot of attention on the challenges they face. Additionally, the series brings tennis fans around the world a reliable schedule of tennis matches between high-level players, and partnering with Genius Sports provides a great opportunity for us to engage the sportsbook audience and ultimately power the launch of the series.”
Throughout the event Genius Sports will also deliver a host of live betting markets and high-quality video streams to sportsbook operators. This will ultimately provide countless sportsbooks with extra content which will help fill the void left by the lack of live sporting events due to the global health pandemic.
Mark Locke, CEO of Genius Sports Group, commented: “The launch of the MatchPlay 120 series is exciting news for the world of tennis and sports fans everywhere. Over a six-week period, GeniusLive, our unique streaming technology, will broadcast over 200 hours of premium tennis for our media partners and sportsbook customers. Given the current environment, it is uplifting to see the use of new technologies come to the fore that enable tennis fans everywhere to watch their favourite sport live again.”
While the new tennis tournament will benefit a lot of sectors in the sports industry, priority will also be placed on ensuring that the event supports player welfare and safety. GeniusLive, the data and technology company’s AI automated camera and production system eliminates the need for camera crews courtside.
Moreover, the event’s organisers stated that ‘significant considerations’ have been made regarding COVID-19, such as not having any fans present, minimal on-site footprints, adhering to local guidance and applying significant safety protocols with regards to matchplay.
