Australia’s own, world No.1 Ash Barty, will play in A Day at the Drive, the official curtain-raiser to the long-awaited 2021 Summer of Tennis featuring the Australian Open.
Hosted by Todd Woodbridge, A Day at the Drive – the “Adelaide Superslam” – is a one-off event to be held at Memorial Drive Tennis Centre in Adelaide on Friday, January 29, and broadcast live on Nine and 9Now from 1.30pm AEDT.
A Day at the Drive will feature a total of eight players, including Serena Williams (USA), Rafael Nadal (ESP), Novak Djokovic (SRB), Dominic Thiem (AUT), Simona Halep (ROU), Naomi Osaka (JPN) and 19-year-old world No.36 Jannik Sinner (ITA).
Collectively, the field boasts the winners of 67 Grand Slam men’s and women’s singles titles.
A Day at the Drive will be staged over two sessions with reduced venue capacity in line with government requirements to ensure the safety of all patrons.
Each session will consist of two singles matches. The schedule of play will be announced in the coming days.
“I am looking forward to playing my first match for the 2021 season in Adelaide,” Barty said.
“I have fond memories from the Adelaide International last year and it will be great to get back on court here for A Day at the Drive.”
The group of international players arrived in Adelaide earlier this month and have undertaken mandatory 14-day quarantine. All players and their support teams arriving for the Summer of Tennis are over and above the numbers of Australians returning to the country during the pandemic.
