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"Better Than Nothing" Open: A Rundown of Tennis' Unsanctioned Events

SI's Jon Wertheim shares how professional tennis continues during the coronavirus pandemic
Jon Wertheim|

The ATP and tour events coming up recently, but unsanctioned events in tennis have been taking place. The UTR has been sponsoring events featuring tennis professionals. Even though matches are played without line judges and ball people, this is still professional tennis - SI senior writer Jon Wertheim has more on these events and the players to be featured in upcoming UTR events. 

Video Transcript: 

Robin Lundberg: We're all looking forward to some form of sports. So for a preview of the Women's UTR exhibition, I'm joined by SI senior writer, Jon Wertheim. Jon, what should we expect? 

Jon Wertheim: Live pro sports. That is the good news. Again, there are no tour events, no ATP or WTA events. That doesn't mean there isn't pro tennis. And last weekend, there was a four-man event at a private home in Florida sponsored by the UTR broadcast on Tennis Channel. Generally a success. There were no ball kids. There were no fans. There were no lines people. It was a little bit different, but it was live tennis. And we're going to have a women's event coming up this weekend. It features Allie Riske and Danielle Collins, a couple of Americans. Amanda Anisimova, the Young American. And then Ajla Tomljanvoic, who is Australian but trains in Florida. So a four-women event should be a lot like the men's; these are players that are a little bit more closely bunched together in the rankings. 

We'll see who look sharp given this layoff that everybody is enduring. But again, this is what tennis has been looked like for the foreseeable future, which is some playing opportunities. We're going to have a television product if you're a fan of tennis. You can watch elite level players you've heard of playing competitive matches. These are not tour-level matches, but we keep calling it the "Better Than Nothing Open," and we have a women's event coming up and another one coming up soon after that. So get used to these unsanctioned events. This is going to be the way the world for a while.

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Jon Wertheim
JON WERTHEIM

Jon Wertheim is a senior writer for Sports Illustrated and has been part of the full-time SI writing staff since 1997, largely focusing on the tennis beat, sports business and social issues, and enterprise journalism. In addition to his work at SI, he is a correspondent for “60 Minutes” and a commentator for The Tennis Channel. He has authored 11 books and has been honored with two Emmys, numerous writing and investigative journalism awards, and the Eugene Scott Award from the International Tennis Hall of Fame. Wertheim is a longtime member of the New York Bar Association (retired), the International Tennis Writers Association and the Writers Guild of America. He has a bachelor’s in history from Yale University and received a law degree from the University of Pennsylvania. He resides in New York City and Paris with his wife, who is a divorce mediator and adjunct law professor. They have two children.

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