New Zealand to stage pro competition as restrictions ease

wellington — The prize-money is paltry, the field lacks star power and the tournament director is busy hammering out the draw while locked down in quarantine.

But New Zealand will be proud to revive elite tennis next week when it stages the “Premier League” in Auckland, marking the southern hemisphere’s first pro competition since the Covid-19 pandemic brought global sport to a halt.

The men’s team-based tournament will run for three weeks from June 3, giving tennis-starved fans something to watch in the absence of the pinnacle

ATP and WTA tours, which have been suspended since early March.

It will also have the sporting spotlight exclusively in New Zealand for its opening 10 days, having left professional rugby union’s June 13 restart in the dust.

All 112 matches will be staged without the general public in the terraces but the games will be broadcast live on Sky Sport’s Youtube channel, Sky Sport Next.

“Yeah, it’s a big thing,” Tennis New Zealand’s commercial manager Gareth Archer told Reuters.

“As soon as rugby starts there’s probably no more talk about (anything else) in New Zealand so to get a week or two on them is a good thing.”

New Zealand has been relatively successful in containing Covid-19, recording about 1,500 cases and 21 deaths. A strict two-month lockdown reduced new infections to a trickle.

Authorities have begun easing social restrictions in recent weeks, however, giving the green light for pro sports to restart.

Travel curbs and border controls remain in place, so there will be no influx of ATP stars flying in to Auckland to shake off the shut-down rust.

Instead, it will be world number 77 Cameron Norrie, a New Zealandbased Briton, headlining a modest field of 24.

With New Zealand lacking any men in the ATP’s top 500 singles rankings, the “Premier League” will feature a grab-bag of college players and doubles specialists like Queenstown resident Ben McLachlan, who switched allegiance to Japan and played Davis Cup for the Asian nation.

They will play for a prize pool of about NZ$90,000 ($54,800), about half of which will be shared as base pay among all the entrants -