Mega prize money and star names confirmed for UTS Grand Final in London

Patrick Mouratoglou has told Tennis365 that his Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS) is moving to the next level ahead of next month’s Grand Final in London.

The field for the £1.67million UTS Grand Final is set, with eight of the best male players heading to the Copper Box Arena from December 6 for three days of high-octane tennis using the innovative, quickfire UTS format.

Top ten stars Andrey Rublev and Alex De Minaur will be joined by Holger Rune and Ugo Humbert, who were in impressive form as they reached the final weekend of last week’s Paris Masters.

The entertaining quartet of Alexander Bublik, Gael Monfils, Denis Shapovalov and Thanasi Kokkinakis will complete the line-up for an event that will be played using the quick-fire UTS rules.

Each match consists of four quarters of eight minutes and the timer stops during the 3-minute changeover at the end of each quarter.

The first player to win three quarters wins the match and if both players are tied at two quarters apiece, a sudden-death decider is played.

The rapid and dynamic format has proved to be a big hit with fans around the world and there appears to be real momentum behind UTS with tickets for the Grand Final in London almost sold out.

Mouratoglou, who was coach to Serena Williams for some of her greatest triumphs, spoke to Tennis365 in an exclusive interview ahead of the London Finals, as he expressed his belief that the UTS World Tour is ready to lift off.

“Last year went really well in London,” said the coach who is currently working with four-time Grand Slam champion Naomi Osaka.

“We had a big crowd last time and this year, we took the risk to have a bigger stadium. This one is 5,500 seats so it’s much bigger, but we are going to be sold out.

“This shows that UTS draws a lot of interest and I’m very very happy and very excited because we put in so much effort to please the fans and to create something for them, to feel that they love it, they come back and bring their friends next time because they loved it.

“Every year it’s bigger and bigger stadiums and more and more, we’re going to be sold out again.

“We have Nimes in April and on the first day we sold 6000 tickets in 24 hours, so it’s huge and we’re really happy about that. I think it’s really a plus for tennis and the fact that the average age of our fans is 40, has a big impact on the future fan base for tennis.

“A lot of people have gone to the events already. They’re speaking because they’re, I think 90 if not more per cent of the people have loved it.

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“So now we’re sold out every time, we are sold out earlier and earlier and I think the atmosphere is just something you’ve never seen on a tennis court.

“You can express yourself as much as you want, whenever you want. It’s really that’s what I just said before, I feel like it’s an old format of Davis Cup with the same atmosphere.

“There is the DJ, entertainment, people are really participating, dancing, it’s really special. Also, it’s a really, really tough competition between players at the same time.

“So you have both the competitive part with the top guys, an incredible amount of really pressure moments, where you have a lot of stress as a spectator, and, of course, as a player too, and at the same time, a huge entertainment.”

Britain’s Jack Draper won a mega $546,800 after his win at the UTS Grand Final in London last year and Ben Shelton claimed $377,400 from his UTS win in Frankfurt last month and with that kind of money on the line, the top players will continue to play and the crowds will continue to flock to the events.

Tennis needs to find new ways to attract younger audiences and UTS is making its mark with the average age of their fanbase around 20 years younger than the traditional tennis fan.

With the fans demanding more and the players eager to cash in, events like the UTS Tour are here to stay.

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