London, January 15th, 2019 – Tie Break Tens, the fast-paced, short-form tennis format, is excited to announce the launch of their grassroots tennis initiative, TB10 Challenger, in New York City this January. Designed to increase participation in tennis across age groups, TB10 Challenger tournaments will be held across all five NYC boroughs over the next few months.
Launched as a tennis format in 2015, Tie Break Tens is a quick-fire version of the sport that anyone can play. Unlike conventional tennis, Tie Break Tens matches are comprised solely of tie breaks – no games, no sets, just exhilarating ten- point breakers in which every point counts. Tie Break Tens are working in partnership with the New York Junior Tennis & Learning (NYJTL) programme to deliver tournaments across the city during January and February 2019. Leading sporting goods companies, Wilson and FILA, will partner the Challenger Series USA and will support the roll-out of the tournaments with fantastic prizes for players, merchandise, equipment and marketing support.
The competition will heat up on February 1-2 with tournaments taking place at the prestigious Cary Leeds Center for Tennis & Learning in The Bronx. Eight lucky players will earn the opportunity to fly to Indian Wells for an all expenses trip of a lifetime to the BNP Paribas Open. Finalists will have the opportunity to live like a professional player and compete on one of the world-renowned courts at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden.
“We are delighted to expand the Challenger into America, following a successful launch in the UK which saw hundreds of young people enjoying competing in tennis, often for the first time. Our main objective is to drive participation in tennis through our quick, fun format because anyone can play whatever level of tennis they might be.” said Felicity Barnard, CEO of Tie Break Tens.
George Guimaraes, NYJTL CEO & President said, “We welcome the TB10 Challenger initiative and hope to use the player-friendly format as a way to drive tennis participation, inspire healthy competition, and create flexible short-form match play for our children. We are looking forward to getting more children out on the court and seeing TB10 tournaments roll out across NYC”.
As part of the strategy, TB10 are encouraging players to upload content to their website and the TB10 PLAY zone which will host scores, photos and videos. TB10 will be awarding participants with fantastic prizes, including signed kit from previous TB10 players Serena Williams and Rafael Nadal.
For further information on Tie Break Tens or to enter the Challenger Series USA please contact:
Joe Ceriello, NYJTL Marketing & Communications, (917) 693-6672; jceriello@nyjtl.org
About Tie Break Tens:
Tie Break Tens is a quick-fire version of tennis that anyone can play. Unlike conventional tennis matches, Tie Break Tens matches are comprised solely of tie breaks – no games, no sets, just exhilarating ten- point breakers in which every point counts.
The Tie Break Tens series sees world-class players going head to head in fast-paced, action-packed knock out tournaments at prestigious venues around the globe for winner-takes-all prizes of $250,000 each. So far, TB10s has visited London, Vienna, Madrid, Melbourne and New York City.
For more information, please visit www.tiebreaktens.com or email us at enquiries@tiebreaktens.com
About NYJTL:
The mission of New York Junior Tennis & Learning is to develop the character of young people through tennis and education for a lifetime of success on and off the court. Since 1971, NYJTL has changed lives through tennis, education, healthy living, and character development programs. Today, it is the largest youth tennis and education non-profit in the nation, reaching more than 85,000 K-12 New York City youth.
NYJTL celebrates the diversity of the children who participate in every program, providing 3,000,000 hours of year-round programming that serves youth from all five boroughs. During the critical summer months, NYJTL operates in 39 community tennis sites. All NYJTL Community Tennis and Afterschool programs are offered at no cost to its participants.
In June 2015, the $26.5 million Cary Leeds Center for Tennis & Learning opened its doors as the flagship home of NYJTL in the heart of the Bronx. The Cary Leeds Center provides more than 6,000 hours of free tennis court time annually to the community’s under resourced youth. Last year more than 15,000 players walked through its doors for play and programming.