By: Iste Sesante Leopoldo
IT’S EVERY tennis player dream of seeing their idols in action especially in one of the sports’ grand slam tournaments. Next year, six netters from the Philippines will get to achieve this dream as Peugeot is giving them the chance to see Novak Djokovic and Serena Williams defend their French Open titles at the red clay courts of Roland Garros.
The grand champions—singles and doubles winners, of the Peugeot Philippine Tennis Open Finals will get to travel to Paris, France from May 22 to June 5 for next year’s French Open.
This was disclosed by tournament supervisor Mario Craiz who announced the Cebu City qualifying leg set from January 7 to 15, 2016 at the Cebu Country Club in Banilad.
Those who will get to play in the finals have to qualify first via the regional legs. Already contested were legs in Cagayan de Oro, Bacolod and Nueva Ecija. The upcoming Cebu City leg will serve as the fourth and last regional leg will be at the National Capital Region at the Celebrity Sports Club.
“As of now, the winners in the singles and doubles finals in February will get an all-expense paid trip to watch the French Open in May in France but our long term goal is to identify talent in this tournament, develop their skills and prepare them to compete in one of the four major world tournaments,” said Craiz.
The French Open is considered as one of the four major tournaments in the world at par with the Wimbeldon in England, US Open, and Australian Open.
The Philippine Tennis Open-Cebu City leg will have a 64 draw in the men’s singles and 16 draw in the women’s.
One of country’s top tennis player that has confirmed his participation in the men’s open is Francis Casey “Nino” Alcantara, a native of Cagayan De Oro City and the only Filipino that has won in the Australian Open Boy’s Doubles event together with Hsieh Cheng-peng in 2009.
“We want to produce more of the likes of Alcantara with our tennis program. For now, we will focus on producing men’s and women’s tournaments to give our players in the regions a chance to play against country’s strong players,” said Craiz.
Aside from Alcantara, Johnny Arcilla has also confirmed.
“It’s Peugeot commitment to bring tennis into higher level, world class standards exclusive for Filipinos only,” said Craiz.
The tournament will be officiated by event organizer Francisco “Pet” Santos, who is the brain behind this tournament together with tournament supervisor Craiz and local organizer/ Philta RVP Region 7 Ken Salimbangon.
Peugeot is the official transport in the ATP World Tour and has been one of the major sponsor in the Roland Garros for 32 years.
All regional leg winners will have an all-expense paid trip to the Finals on February in Manila.
Interested participant can register at www.peugeottennis.ph
Read more at the www.sunstar.com.ph
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