Turbo Tennis
Encyclopedia
Turbo extra Tennis is a shortened form of tennis
Tennis
Tennis is a sport usually played between two players or between two teams of two players each . Each player uses a racket that is strung to strike a hollow rubber ball covered with felt over a net into the opponent's court. Tennis is an Olympic sport and is played at all levels of society at all...

 in which players play in a fast knockout tournament which consists of five matches of 30 minutes each, taking place over the course of a single afternoon. The idea was launched in London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 by former Wimbledon champion Pat Cash
Pat Cash
Patrick Hart "Pat" Cash is a retired Australian professional tennis player who won the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1987.-Early career:...

, American world number nine James Blake
James Blake
James Riley Blake is an American professional tennis player. Blake is known for his speed and powerful, flat forehand. As of August 2011, Blake is ranked no. 63 among active male players with 24 career finals appearances...

 & English entrepreneur Andi White.

Betfair Turbo Tennis at London

The first tournament took place on 15 September 2007 at the O2 Arena
The O2 arena (London)
The O2 Arena is a multi-purpose indoor arena located in the centre of The O2, a large entertainment complex on the Greenwich peninsula in London, England.With a capacity of up to 20,000 depending on the event, it is second largest...

 in London. It featured six players from both past and future. The winner received prize money of £50,000. The first tournament at the O2 arena was won by Andy Murray, defeating Goran Ivanisevic in the final.

Players competing in the inaugural tournament were;
  • Andy Murray (GBR
    United Kingdom
    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

    ) - then world number 19 and British number 1
  • Pat Cash
    Pat Cash
    Patrick Hart "Pat" Cash is a retired Australian professional tennis player who won the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1987.-Early career:...

     (AUS
    Australia
    Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...

    ) - Former Wimbledon Champion (1987)
  • James Blake
    James Blake
    James Riley Blake is an American professional tennis player. Blake is known for his speed and powerful, flat forehand. As of August 2011, Blake is ranked no. 63 among active male players with 24 career finals appearances...

     (USA) - then world number 6
  • Goran Ivanišević
    Goran Ivaniševic
    Goran Ivanišević is a retired Croatian professional tennis player. He is best remembered for being the only person to win the men's singles title at Wimbledon as a wildcard. He achieved this in 2001, having previously been runner-up at the championships in 1992, 1994 and 1998. Ivanišević is famous...

     (CRO
    Croatia
    Croatia , officially the Republic of Croatia , is a unitary democratic parliamentary republic in Europe at the crossroads of the Mitteleuropa, the Balkans, and the Mediterranean. Its capital and largest city is Zagreb. The country is divided into 20 counties and the city of Zagreb. Croatia covers ...

    ) - Former Wimbledon Champion (2001)
  • Jamie Murray
    Jamie Murray
    Jamie Robert Murray is a British tennis player from Scotland who specialises in doubles and is Britain's number 1 doubles player. He is the older brother of Andy Murray. He won the Wimbledon mixed doubles title in 2007 with Jelena Janković. Murray had an early career partnership with Eric Butorac,...

     (GBR
    United Kingdom
    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

    ) - 2007 Wimbledon mixed doubles champion, then British number 1 doubles player
  • Greg Rusedski
    Greg Rusedski
    Gregory "Greg" Rusedski is a British Canadian former tennis player who turned professional in 1991 and played until his retirement on 7 April 2007, at the age of 33...

     (GBR
    United Kingdom
    The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...

    ) - Former world number 4, replaced Tim Henman
    Tim Henman
    Timothy Henry "Tim" Henman OBE is a retired English professional tennis player and former British Number One. Henman played a serve-and-volley style of tennis that suited the grass courts of Wimbledon. He was the first player from the United Kingdom since Roger Taylor in the 1970s to reach the...


Betfair Turbo Tennis at Saragossa (Spain)

The tournament took place on October 27th, 2007. Players competing in the inaugural tournamente were Rafael Nadal
Rafael Nadal
Rafael "Rafa" Nadal Parera is a Spanish professional tennis player and a former World No. 1. , he is ranked No. 2 by the Association of Tennis Professionals...

, David Ferrer
David Ferrer
David Ferrer Ern is a Spanish professional tennis player who lives in Valencia, Spain who is currently no. 5 in the ATP Rankings and the second-highest ranked Spaniard behind world no. 2 Rafael Nadal. He turned professional in 2000...

, Carlos Moyá
Carlos Moyá
Carlos Moya Llompart is a retired former world no. 1 tennis player from Spain. He was the French Open singles champion in 1998 and was the singles runner-up at the 1997 Australian Open. In 2004, he helped his country win the Davis Cup. He currently resides in Switzerland...

, Sergi Bruguera
Sergi Bruguera
Sergi Bruguera i Torner is a former professional tennis player from Spain. He is best remembered for winning consecutive men's singles titles at the French Open in 1993 and 1994.-Career:...

, Pat Cash
Pat Cash
Patrick Hart "Pat" Cash is a retired Australian professional tennis player who won the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1987.-Early career:...

 and Joachim Johansson
Joachim Johansson
Joachim Johansson is a former professional male tennis player from Sweden.-Background:Johansson was born in Lund and currently lives in Södertälje, Sweden. His father, Leif Johansson, was also a tennis player and represented Sweden in the Davis Cup in the 1970s. He goes by the nickname "Pim Pim",...

. The winner was David Ferrer, who beats Rafael Nadal in the final (7/5).

Rules

Unlike regular tennis, games are set to a 30 minute time limit with a klaxon on the fifteenth minute to signify a change of ends from the next game onwards. If games are level after 30 minutes the winner is decided by a sudden death point, but there have been some changes and you have to win 2 out of 3 sudden death points to win the match. Other main differences include a 15 second maximum time limit for serves which, if exceeded, results in the player losing the point automatically; lets on serves are also played.

External links



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