NATURE VALLEY • BRITISH TENNIS NEWS • ATP AND WTA PLAYERS HALEP AND WOZNIACKI, SCHWARTZMAN AND KYLE EDMUND, TO PLAY IN EASTBOURNE 2018 • BUY TICKETS

Written by: Staff on 15th May 2018

NATURE VALLEY • BRITISH TENNIS NEWS • ATP AND WTA PLAYERS HALEP AND WOZNIACKI, SCHWARTZMAN AND KYLE EDMUND, TO PLAY IN EASTBOURNE 2018 • BUY TICKETS

epa06719269 Romanian player Simona Halep in action during her women's singles second round match against Belgium's Elise Mertens at the 2018 Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Spain, 08 May 2018. EPA-EFE/MARISCAL |

Romanian player Simona Halep in action during her women’s singles second round match against Belgium’s Elise Mertens at the 2018 Mutua Madrid Open tennis tournament in Madrid, Spain, 08 May 2018. EPA-EFE/MARISCAL

Five of the world’s top 10 women and some of the brightest young stars on the ATP Tour will contest the Nature Valley International in Eastbourne, a British Tennis event. The combined WTA Premier and ATP 250 tournament will take place 22 – 30 June at Devonshire Park.

World No.1 Simona Halep and No.2 Caroline Wozniacki will be joined by defending champion Karolina Pliskova, reigning French Open champion Jelena Ostapenko, Prague and Madrid champion and world No.8 Petra Kvitova, and a further six players from the world’s top 20 including No.11 Julia Goerges, No.12 Angelique Kerber, No.13 Daria Kasatkina, No.18 Ash Barty, No.19 Magdalena Rybarikova and No.20 Anastasija Sevastova.

Meanwhile two of the ATP’s top 20 including tournament top seed Diego Schwartzman and British No.1 Kyle Edmund, will be joined in the Nature Valley International draw by three of the sport’s most exciting prospects; 19-year-old Denis Shapovalov, 22-year-old Daniil Medvedev, and 19-year-old Alex de Minaur, along with former world No.3 David Ferrer.

As one of the WTA’s most hotly contested event for years continues to heat up, Goerges said she is excited to enter the Eastbourne field: “when you commit to playing at the Nature Valley International you know you’ll face a tough field,” said the German. “I’m already looking forward to what lies ahead for the grass court season.”

Barty added that she would be looking to build on her impressive grass court performances of 2017. “I reached the doubles final at Eastbourne last year after reaching the singles final and winning the doubles title in Birmingham, which was beyond my expectations,” said the Australian. “I’d really like to back that up with a strong singles campaign at the National Valley International this year.”

Tournament Director Gavin Fletcher said he’s delighted with the calibre of players who have committed to compete at the Nature Valley International in 2018.

“We made a strong start to the field by securing the world No.2 Caroline Wozniacki and the world No.1 Simona Halep,” said Fletcher. “Jelena Ostapenko is an exciting talent who’s already built an impressive track record, Petra Kvitova is on an 11-match streak after winning the titles at Prague and Madrid, and Eastbourne was a rankings launch pad for Julia Goerges and Ash Barty in 2017, so it’s very pleasing that they’ve chosen to return to Devonshire Park along with our defending champion Karolina Pliskova.

“As both draws show, the Nature Valley International is attractive to established stars and emerging up-and-comers who want to test themselves against the strongest players in the world, and it’s exciting to give our fans the opportunity to see some of world’s top players, and some of the sport’s most exciting prospects in action.

“Heather Watson, who reached the semi-finals at Eastbourne last year, has confirmed she’s coming back, so, with Johanna Konta and Kyle Edmund also in the draw, British fans will have plenty to cheer about.”

One of two WTA Premier level grass court events, and one of two ATP tournaments, played in the lead-up to Wimbledon, the Nature Valley International features Chris Evert, Martina Navratilova, Justine Henin, and Kim Clijsters among its former women’s singles champions, and Novak Djokovic, Feliciano Lopez and Andy Roddick among its former men’s singles champions.

This year will mark the 40th anniversary of the BBC’s first Eastbourne telecast. In January, the BBC announced it will extend its existing partnership with the tournament for a further seven years until 2024, broadcasting coverage of both the WTA Premier and ATP 250 events, in a deal that sees live, free to air, coverage of the tournament across TV, radio and online.

Don’t miss out on your ticket to summer! Catch world-class players in action at one of the British Tennis events, formed of the Nature Valley Open, Nature Valley Classic, Nature Valley International, Fever-Tree Championships and Fuzion 100 Trophy Series. Secure your seat as tickets are selling fast. Book now at www.lta.org.uk/major-event

ABOUT THE LTA

The Lawn Tennis Association (LTA) is the National Governing Body for tennis in Great Britain, responsible for developing and promoting the sport, with a mission to get more people playing tennis more often. It does this under the consumer brand of British Tennis, by working with a broad range of partners and over 25,000 volunteers, to grow the game in communities, clubs and schools. The LTA represents the interests of over 590,000 British Tennis Members, men and women, girls and boys across the country, playing on more than 23,000 courts. The LTA runs and supports a network of 11,500 approved tournaments for players of all ages, the corner-stones of which are the premier grass court events leading up to Wimbledon: the Nature Valley Open at Nottingham, the Nature Valley Classic at Birmingham, the Fever-Tree Championships at Queens Club and the Nature Valley International Eastbourne. The LTA works with many delivery partners to grow the sport across the country. One of these is its charitable entity, the Tennis Foundation, to provide a tennis provision for more than 20,000 schools, disadvantaged youth as well as promoting tennis as an inclusive sport for anyone with a disability. For further information about the LTA and British Tennis, and to review the British Tennis strategy for 2015 – 2019 visit www.lta.org.uk or follow us on Twitter @BritishTennis