8th August 2009 - Happy 1st 080808 Anniversary!

The Kings of Tennis will be in Penang, Malaysia this 14 - 16 Nov 2008

UPDATED! - Penang Round Cancelled



Kings of Tennis Club

There have been 24 world number ones in Men’s Singles since the introduction of the computer rankings on the 23rd of August in 1973.

These players are eligible for play in Kings of Tennis. The players are presented below in chronological order.

Ilie Nastase, Europe
John Newcombe, Australia
Jimmy Connors, North America
Bjorn Borg, Europe
John McEnroe, North America
Ivan Lendl, (now) North America
Mats Wilander, Europe
Stefan Edberg, Europe
Boris Becker, Europe
Jim Courier, North America
Pete Sampras, North America
Andre Agassi, North America
Thomas Muster, Europe
Marcelo Rios, South America
Carlos Moya, Europe
Yevgeny Kafelnikov, Europe
Patrick Rafter, Australia
Marat Safin, Europe
Gustavo Kuerten, South America
Lleyton Hewitt, Australia
Juan Carlos Ferrero, Europe
Andy Roddick, North America
Roger Federer, Europe
Rafael Nadal, Europe

Checkout more details here: http://www.kingsoftennis.com/tournament.html

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Schedule of Play

The first tournament will be played in Penang,
Malaysia, the 14th to 16th of November 2008.

Friday 14th of November
2 single matches. Order of Play to be decided.
1 double match. Order of Play to be decided.

Saturday 15th of November
2 single matches. Order of Play to be decided.
1 double match. Order of Play to be decided.

Sunday 16th of November
4 single matches. Order of Play to be decided.

Point Schedule and match format
The continent who earns most points will win the Cup. Each match win
is worth 10 points. Additionally each game won is worth 1 point. A
tiebreak game counts as an ordinary game. In the case of a match
tiebreak however, every point won is worth 1 point.

The singles matches will be played in best of three sets. The final
set will however be played as a Match Tiebreak (to 10 points). The
doubles matches will be played in the same format, except for the
no-ad scoring which will be employed.

Kings of Tennis Cancelled in Penang!

The Kings of Tennis event featuring eight former world number one players, which was scheduled for this weekend at the Penang Esplanade, has been cancelled.

The producers of the Kings of Tennis concept announced yesterday the cancellation and said in a statement that they were unable to provide the players without payment of funds from the local organisers.

The players who were to grace the event were Ilie Nastase, Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg and Mats Wilander for the European team and Roy Emerson, John McEnroe, Marcelo Rios and Pete Sampras for the American side.

The Star
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Organizers have scrapped a tennis tournament pitting former world No. 1 players from the Americas against their European counterparts, saying Malaysian promoters had not coughed up funds for the event.

The "Kings of Tennis" competition had been scheduled to run in Malaysia's northern resort island of Penang on Nov. 14-16 with a prestigious lineup that included Roy Emerson, John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Bjorn Borg and Stefan Edberg.

However, tournament producer Lasse Olsson said in an e-mailed statement received Wednesday that the Stockholm-based organizers have "removed the players from participating" and notified the Malaysian promoters that the event was off.

"We simply could not provide the players without payment of promised funds that did not materialize despite a number of ultimatums given" to organizers, the statement said.

The Malaysian event organizing company could not immediately be contacted.

Organizers announced in August that eight tennis legends would compete in singles and doubles matches representing their continents. The other players were to be Marcelo Rios, Ilie Nastase and Mats Wilander, and the tournament would have been broadcast live in more than 40 countries.

The Canadian Press

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The Lawn Tennis Association of Malaysia (LTAM) are still in the dark over the cancellation of the highly anticipated "Kings of Tennis" event scheduled this weekend at the Penang Esplanade in Georgetown. LTAM president Datuk Abdul Razak Latif said the "Kings of Tennis" organiser, a partnership between a Swedish-based event management firm and a local promoter and organiser, did not officially notify the LTAM of the cancellation.

"In actual fact, as of Wednesday, we (LTAM) have not received any official letter regarding the cancellation. The cancellation was only known through media reports," he told Bernama today.

According to media reports, "Kings of Tennis" managing director Lasse Olsson, in a statement issued yesterday, announced the cancellation of the event after notifying the local promoter and organiser last week.

Lasse's reasoning was that they were not able to provide the players as the local promoter and organiser have not paid the promised payment despite a number of ultimatums given to them.

Abdul Razak said the organisers also had not discussed their problems with LTAM as the national tennis governing body, prior to the cancellation.

"Our stand is simple ... we will support any initiative taken by any party, either public or private sector, to develop tennis in this country. But, first they must get our approval or sanction for the event," he said.

The "Kings of Tennis" event dubbed as "Penang's Big Bang", was expected to be feature a team event played between former world number one tennis players from two continents, America and Europe. The Europe team was supposed to be led by Romania's Ilie Nastase and Swedish players, Bjorn Borg, Stefan Edberg and Mats Wilander while the American side comprised John McEnroe, Pete Sampras, Australian Roy Emerson and Chilean Marcelo Rios.

Bernama