February 10, 2025

Open Court

MORE TENNIS THAN YOU'LL EVER NEED

Not to be outdone, IMG/Switch puts on a virtual tennis tournament

With the Mutua Madrid Open tournament this week having broken the technically-challenged, virtual tennis ice, IMG and Facebook are following in its footsteps this weekend.

The player representation agency and Nintendo Switch are teaming up to put on the “Stay at Home Slam” on Facebook Gaming this weekend.

It will take place on Sunday, May 3 at 4 p.m. ET.

And, of course, it includes only its own clients.

The tournament will be played on the Mario Tennis Aces game, exclusively for Nintendo Switch. And it will be streamed exclusively on Facebook, via Facebook Gaming and IMG Tennis’s Facebook page.

Each competitor will get $25,000 to donate to the charity of their choice. The grand champions will get an addition $1 million to donate.

It’s a great idea, to give the tennis players and other celebrities a little air time and exposure during the current crisis.

Here are the teams – each featuring an player from the IMG stable and a celebrity partner, all of whom appear to be clients of IMG Models or the mothership, WME/Endeavor.

Serena Williams & Gigi Hadid
Naomi Osaka & Hailey Bieber
Venus Williams & DeAndre Hopkins
Maria Sharapova & Karlie Kloss
Kei Nishikori & Steve Aoki
Madison Keys & Seal
Taylor Fritz & Addison Rae
Kevin Anderson & Ryan Tannehill

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