With 16 players confirmed, the draw for the Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro was released in full on Friday as tennis' biggest names are set to face off in a virtual Manolo Santana Stadium.
The charity gaming tournament, which starts on Monday and runs through Thursday, will see the 16 WTA players, and their 16 ATP counterparts, competing against each other on the PlayStation 4 game Tennis World Tour to raise money for their peers affected by the tours' suspensions due to the global coronavirus pandemic.
Each of the four groups boasts at least one Grand Slam champion or former World No.1, with two in Group 3 -- where reigning US Open winner Bianca Andreescu and former World No.1 and Australian Open champion Caroline Wozniacki feature alongside Madison Keys and Kristina Mladenovic.
Karolina Pliskova tops Group 1, which also features Belinda Bencic, Fiona Ferro and Carla Suárez Navarro, while Elina Svitolina headlines a Group 2 that also features British No.1 Johanna Konta, two-time Australian Open champion and former World No.1 Victoria Azarenka and Sorana Cirstea.
Reigning Madrid champion Kiki Bertens and three-time Grand Slam champion Angelique Kerber anchor Group 4, which is rounded out with Eugenie Bouchard and Donna Vekic.
Players ready! 🙌
— #MMOPEN (@MutuaMadridOpen) April 24, 2020
These are the 3⃣2⃣ contenders for the #MMOPEN Virtual Pro. #PlayAtHome 🎮 pic.twitter.com/AvUWOVdvvH
The event will begin with round-robin qualifying matches on April 27 and 28. The top two players in each group will advance to the quarterfinals, which will begin the knockout stage.
The winner of the ATP and WTA event will each be awarded €150,000, from which they will be able to decide how much they donate to their peers who are currently suffering economically.
In addition, the charity tournament will donate a total of €50,000 to the Madrid Food Bank to help reduce the social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic.
Just lost 15 points in a row against @BelindaBencic at @MutuaMadridOpen virtual open 🤦🏼♀️ good start
— Donna Vekic (@DonnaVekic) April 24, 2020
“We’ve had a great response from all the players. From the first moment when the initiative was conceived, they were prepared to help," said tournament director Feliciano López.
"It’s the first virtual tournament. It’ll be a fantastic tournament, the bar is high, the players are ready and it’s certainly going to be spectacular."
The Mutua Madrid Open Virtual Pro will be streamed exclusively online with commentary, interviews and more set to be packaged into the broadcast of each match. The event can be followed in English on the Mutua Madrid Open’s page and in Spanish on PlayStation España’s Facebook page.
For more information on how to watch, click here.