The International Tennis Federation (ITF) and the United States Tennis Association (USTA) today announced that the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters will be held this year at the USTA National Campus in Orlando, Fla., for the first time. The ITF’s official year-end singles championship on the UNIQLO Wheelchair Tennis Tour will take place on Nov. 28 – Dec. 2.
It will be the second time in six years that the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters, which features the top eight men, top eight women and top six quad players, has been held in United States after Mission Viejo, Calif., staged the prestigious event in 2013.
The tournament returns to U.S. after being held in Great Britain for the last four years and this year’s event celebrates a notable landmark. The 2018 NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters will be the 25th edition.
"We could not be more excited to once again be hosting the world's best wheelchair players on American soil for the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters,” said Katrina Adams, USTA Chairman of the Board and President. “The USTA National Campus will provide the perfect venue for these world class athletes as they all look to win the prestigious end of year championship. The Orlando community and especially Lake Nona have shown great support for the various types of events that have taken place at the campus and these athletes will be sure to feel it as well."
“The ITF is delighted that the NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters is moving to a new home at the USTA National Campus at Lake Nona for 2018,” said ITF President David Haggerty. “Since opening in 2017 this superb faciltity has already hosted several other ITF events and I’m sure that the 2018 NEC Wheelchair Tennis Masters will be another tremendous occasion, not least because the ITF’s year-end wheelchair tennis championship is celebrating its 25th year.”
The inaugural NEC Masters was held in Eindhoven in 1994. The champions receive one of the most sought-after trophies contested annually by the top players. The tournament remained in Netherlands, hosted also in Amersfoort and Amsterdam, until 2010, before being staged in Mechelen, Belgium in 2011 and 2012.
The USTA is the national governing body for the sport of tennis in the U.S. and the leader in promoting and developing the growth of tennis at every level -- from local communities to the highest level of the professional game. A not-for-profit organization with more than 715,000 members, it invests 100% of its proceeds in growing the game. It owns and operates the US Open, one of the highest-attended annual sporting events in the world, and launched the US Open Series, linking seven summer WTA and ATP World Tour tournaments to the US Open. In addition, it owns approximately 90 Pro Circuit events throughout the U.S. and selects the teams for the Davis Cup, Fed Cup, Olympic and Paralympic Games. The USTA’s philanthropic entity, the USTA Foundation, provides grants and scholarships in addition to supporting tennis and education programs nationwide to benefit under-resourced youth through the National Junior Tennis & Learning (NJTL) network. For more information about the USTA, go to USTA.com or follow the official accounts on Facebook, Instagram, Twitter and Snapchat.
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