LLEYTON HEWITT, TOMMY HAAS TO BE NEW ADDITIONS TO POWERSHARES SERIES IN 2018
(February 26, 2018) LOS ANGELES – Former Wimbledon and U.S. Open champion Lleyton Hewitt and former world No. 2 and 2000 Olympic silver medalist Tommy Haas will join the PowerShares Series champions tennis circuit in 2018, InsideOut Sports & Entertainment, the organizers of the PowerShares Series, announced today.
The PowerShares Series is the North American tennis circuit for champion tennis players over the age of 30. The series of one-night tournaments will feature 10 events in 2018. The full schedule of tournaments will be announced March 1.
Hewitt was the youngest man to achieve the world No. 1 ranking in 2001 at the age of 20, buoyed by his upset win over Pete Sampras in the U.S. Open final. The following year, he won the Wimbledon singles title defeating David Nalbandian in the final. He lead Australia to the Davis Cup title in 1999 and 2003 and currently serves as the Australian team captain. “I have followed some of my former rivals on the PowerShares Series with great interest over the past few years and am really excited to finally get back out on court against them in this super entertaining format,” said Hewitt.
Haas was the silver medalist at the 2000 Olympic Games in Sydney, losing a five-set gold medal match to Russia’s Yevgeny Kafelnikov. He achieved a career-high ranking of No. 2 and reached the semifinals of the Australian Open in 1999, 2002 and 2007 and Wimbledon in 2009. He won 15 career singles title in his career, including the title in Halle in his native Germany last year, defeating Roger Federer in the final. “I’m excited about having the opportunity to continue to play competitive tennis on the PowerShares Series this year,” said Haas. “As professional athletes, we never lose that urge to compete and the PowerShares Series will give me that opportunity to continue to play the sport that I love. It will be great to compete once again against the likes of Andy Roddick, James Blake and Jim Courier and I will relish the opportunity to play against John McEnroe, which is something I have not had the chance to do.”
“It’s going to be very exciting to see Lleyton and Tommy compete on the PowerShares Series,” said Jon Venison, co-founding partner of InsideOut Sports & Entertainment and the PowerShares Series. “It will be fascinating to see them renew some of their longstanding rivalries against the likes of Andy Roddick and James Blake while also having the chance to take a shot at the 59-year-old John McEnroe in one of the unique cross-generational match-ups that only happen on the PowerShares Series.”
Each PowerShares Series event features two one-set semifinal matches and one-set championship match in one evening. Each event also features special VIP experiences, including hit-with-the-pros opportunities and special back-stage access. All ticket, experience and event information can be found at www.PowerSharesSeries.com.
Haas has already been announced as part of the field for the first-ever PowerShares Series event in Hawaii, May 5-6 at Mauna Lani Bay Hotel and Bungalows at Kohala Coast, Hawaii, joining John McEnroe, Jim Courier and Mardy Fish.
In 2017, the year-long points championship was decided in the final match of the season when Andy Roddick defeated James Blake in the Los Angeles final at the Sherwood Country Club. Roddick, the 2003 U.S. Open champion and world No. 1, won four PowerShares Series titles in all in 2017, winning in Birmingham, Ala., Chicago, Lincoln, Neb., and Los Angeles. Blake, the former world No. 4 and former U.S. Davis Cup star, won PowerShares Series titles in Charleston, S.C., Winston-Salem, N.C. and in Lynchburg, Va.
In 2016, Mark Philippoussis won the PowerShares Series points title with 1600 points and tournament titles in Memphis, Tulsa, Newport, Winston-Salem and New Haven. Roddick finished in second place, also earning 1600 points but losing the head-to-head tiebreaker with Philippoussis 5-2, while winning titles in Charleston, St. Louis, Los Angeles and Orlando. Blake finished in third place with 1100 points and tournament titles in Chicago, Portland and Brooklyn.
In 2015, Roddick won the PowerShares Series points title in his second year of competing on the series with 1,600 points. Roddick won a record eight events Los Angeles, Lincoln, Chicago, Austin, Little Rock, Dallas, Richmond and Minneapolis. Blake finished second in the points rankings with 1,200 points, winning events in Boston and Cincinnati. Philippoussis finished in third with 1,100 points, winning titles in Salt Lake City and Vancouver. The year before in 2014, McEnroe won the points title for the first time in the nine-year history of Champions Series tennis by winning events in Kansas City, Indianapolis, Nashville and Charlotte.
