Martina Hingis and Jennifer Capriati will headline the KPMG Legends tennis tournament at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman in November.
The players will be joined by a number of other top players including Mark Philippoussis, Wayne Ferreira, Jimmy Arias and Chanda Rubin.
The tournament will kick off on Wednesday 16 November with an opening gala dinner at Blue by Eric Ripert, featuring former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as keynote speaker.
The competition will start in earnest on Thursday 17 November with the first round of the tournament set to kick off at The Courts at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman at 6pm. The semi finals will take place the following evening, Friday 18 November, followed by the finals on Saturday 19 November. The event will wrap up with the traditional Whites party.
Former world number one Hingis is one of the all time legends of tennis, having won the Australian Open for three years running from 1997 to 1999, and also winning Wimbledon and the US Open in 1997. The only Grand Slam singles title that eluded her was the French Open, although she did reach the final of the clay court event in 1997 and 1999. Unlike many other top singles players, Hingis also has an impressive list of doubles titles to her name, having won the Australian Open doubles title from 1997 to 1999 and again in 2002, the French Open doubles title in 1998 and 2000, the Wimbledon doubles title in 1996 and 1998 and US Open doubles title in 1998.
Capriati is also a former world number one, with career titles including the Australian Open singles title in 2001 and 2002, the French Open in 2001 as well as gold in the 1992 Olympic Games.
This year’s tournament will feature a mixed doubles competition as well as a men’s singles competition, promising a very exciting tournament for spectators. The event will also be very accessible this year, with tickets to the first round of matches starting at $5.
Another new feature this year is the participation of local players in the tournament. Each evening will see a junior singles match opening the play for the evening. The players will be selected through the KPMG Junior Legends tournament, which will take place at the tennis club on 22 October. The event will be contested in three age groups and the final of each age group will be played as the opening match on each of the three nights of the Legends tournament.
The mixed doubles event will also feature three teaching pros from Cayman, two of whom has been selected already, leaving one spot open for another local teaching pro. This slot will also be decided by a playoff on 22 October, along with two spots for Cayman amateurs.
In the singles event, Cayman player Panav Jha received a wildcard into the draw, where he will be up against legends Jimmy Arias, Wayne Ferreira and Thomas Blake.
The main sponsors of the event are KPMG, The Residences at The Ritz-Carlton, Grand Cayman, the Tennis Federation of the Cayman Islands and the Cayman Islands Department of Tourism, with gold sponsors Cayman Financial Review, Taittinger Champagne, Maples, The Security Centre, Balaclava Jewellers and Cayman Airways.
For more information visit compasscayman.com/tennis
The tournament will kick off on Wednesday 16 November with an opening gala dinner at Blue by Eric Ripert, featuring former British Prime Minister Tony Blair as keynote speaker.
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