mJohn McEnroe will need to navigate a way past the 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash and 1997 Wimbledon finalist Cedric Pioline in the round-robin stages if he is to reach the quarterfinals of the BlackRock Masters Tennis, which gets underway at the Royal Albert Hall in London on Tuesday.
McEnroe was drawn into Group C by tournament referee Alan Mills, and now faces a repeat of the epic final he lost against Cash at the Royal Albert Hall in 2000. Having won the title for three successive years since the tournamentâs inception in 1997, McEnroe came up against Cash in vintage form, and the Australian won 6-7(3), 7-5, 14-12 (Championsâ Tie-Break).
Elsewhere, two-time defending champion Paul Haarhuis faces a repeat of last yearâs final against Goran Ivanisevic in Group D. The Dutchman won that on a Championsâ Tie-Break. Michael Stich completes the âGroup of Deathâ.
Sergi Bruguera, the No.1 player in the South African Airways Champions Tour Rankings, will face a struggle in Group A against two indoor specialists â Anders Jarryd and Guy Forget. Jarryd won the indoor title in Belfast in February, and reached the final two weeks ago in Frankfurt. Forget has one of the biggest left-handed serves in tennis.
Group B sees crowd-favourite Henri Leconte up against South Africaâs Wayne Ferreira and Britainâs Jeremy Bates.
Many of the players will be available to meet all accredited media on Monday at 11.30 in the Elgar Room at the Royal Albert Hall. Please go to door nine.
On Tuesday night, Tim Henman will take on Stefan Edberg in a charity match to benefit the Teenage Cancer Trust. Henman and Edberg will speak to the media in a separate press conference ahead of the match at 3.30pm on Tuesday.
