Nice (AFP)
Benoît Paire (22nd in the world), joined the Elite FFT Challenge in Cannes for the 2nd stage of this mini-circuit designed to support the French players in search of competition since the freezing of the circuit in March, announced on Tuesday the French Federation, organizer.
Pair missed this week in Nice the first of the three stages of this circuit in the Alpes-Maritimes. He was indeed involved in the Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS), a competition shifted in its rules and format imagined by trainer Patrick Mouratoglou.
In Cannes, he joined Ugo Humbert (42nd), who was not in Nice either, or Gilles Simon (54th), who participated in the Nice stage.
After Nice and Cannes, the Elite FFT Challenge will end in Villeneuve-Loubet (July 20-25).
Each of the three tournaments takes place in the form of a championship (from Monday to Wednesday) before a knockout table (quarters Thursday, half Friday and final Saturday). The half and the finals will be broadcast on the FFT web channel (https://tv.fft.fr).
The series of tournaments, endowed with a total of 282,000 euros, is played on hard to prepare for the American tour planned for August with the highlight of the US Open.
24 players and 12 players are eligible to participate in the qualifications and the grand tables of Grand Slam tournaments (with 4 wild-cards for men and 2 for women).
© 2020 AFP