International return to Manchester

International tennis is to make a spectacular return to Manchester after an absence of more than 16 years.

North-west based event and sports management company, Northern Vision, which organises the Nottingham Open and the Tradition-ICAP Liverpool International Tennis Tournament, has announced it is to re-launch a major annual tennis tournament in Manchester this summer.

The Manchester Masters tournament will be a grass event and will take place during the first week of the Wimbledon Championships in June.

Anders Borg, tournament director said: "We're delighted to announce that there will be a new Manchester tennis tournament. It will be a legend's, round robin tournament and will signal the return of top-class international tennis to Manchester. The city has a pedigree for professional sport and we are proud to be bringing tennis back to another major UK city,"

Headline names confirmed for this year's Manchester Masters, include the former Wimbledon winners Martina Hingis and Richard Krajicek.

Hingis, who announced her retirement from the game in 2007, has sparked interest recently by declaring she is not ruling out a comeback to the professional doubles circuit.

During her successful career, Hingis spent a total of 209 weeks as World No. 1, winning five Grand Slam singles titles, including three Australian Opens, one Wimbledon, and one US Open.

She will play alongside another fellow champion, Richard Krajicek, who won the men's singles title at Wimbledon in 1996, after spectacularly defeating Pete Sampras in the quarterfinals of the tournament.

The former British number 1, Jeremy Bates who won the first British doubles title at Wimbledon in 1987 and later went on to win the Australian Open in 1991, will also be among the line-up at this year's event.

Councillor Mike Amesbury, Executive Member for Culture and Leisure, said: "This tournament, taking place at the same time as Wimbledon and featuring some legends of the game, is sure to grab the attention of tennis enthusiasts across the North West.

"Manchester has a proven track record of hosting major sports events and this tournament will further enhance our reputation as one the world's leading sporting cities while giving us the opportunity to showcase some of the terrific grass-roots tennis development work which is taking place here all year round."

The last tennis tournament to be staged in the city was the original Manchester Open in 1994. The tournament was considered to be the most important Wimbledon warm up event until the early 90's and earned the title of 'the Wimbledon of the North.'

The tournament, which began in 1989 and ran for five years, quickly turned out to be a favourite and became an Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) tour event after its initial outing, attracting some of the game's biggest players including Pete Sampras and Goran Ivanesevic.

Michelle Bennett, marketing manager of Northern Vision which is organising the event, added: "This will be such a prestigious event for Manchester and will provide a unique platform for businesses who wish to showcase their brand and become tournament partners. The other tournaments we currently operate are all highly successful events and we are looking forward to building on our expertise next year to develop a landmark event for the people of Manchester to enjoy."

The announcement of the Manchester tournament is part of Northern Vision's drive to re-position tennis as one of the country's top sports. Northern Vision is not only dedicated to opening up world class tennis to a wider audience via tournaments such as the Liverpool International Tennis Tournament, it is also committed to the inclusion and development of tennis programmes for children across the North West.

It currently organises and operates one of the North West's largest tennis programmes, encouraging over 5,000 children to learn and participate in the sport. This programme is designed not only to find and nurture stars of the future, but to make the sport more accessible as well as using it to break boundaries and develop social skills.

Tickets for The Manchester Masters 2010, which takes place at The Northern Lawn Tennis Club in Didsbury from Wednesday 23^rd June - Saturday 26^th June, are now on sale.

Tickets are available from Northern Vision's dedicated Manchester Masters website www.manchestertennis.co.uk and Ticketmaster at www.ticketmaster.co.uk.