The second edition of the ATP Champions Tour event in Italy will be held this week-end in Verona (Friday 20th November) and Modena (22nd November). The Italian leg of the Champions Tour will be highlighted by John McEnroe, Mats Wilander, Henri Leconte and Sergi Bruguera (who will replace Yannick Noah who picked a shoulder injury).
The “Big Challenge” will be the chance to cheer on four tennis legends who have remained in the heart of many tennis fans.
Italy hosted the ATP Champions Tour last year when John McEnroe, Michael Chang, Goran Ivanisevic and Ivan Lendl entertained the Italian fans in Genua and Milan for two days of memorable tennis.
Verona will host the first day which features the two semifinals. Henri Leconte will play the first semifinal match against twice Roland Garros champion Sergi Bruguera, the coach of Richard Gasquet. In the second semifinal McEnroe will take Wilander in a match between two former Grand Slam winners and now TV tennis pundits.
McEnroe won seven Majors (three wins at Wimbledon in 1981, 1983 and 1984 and four wins in New York in 1979, 1980, 1981 and 1984). Wilander, who now works for Eurosport, won the Roland Garros three times (1982, 1985 and 1988), the Australian Open three times (1983,1984 and 1988) and the the US Open once (1988). Sergi Bruguera won two consecutive editions of the Roland Garros in 1993 and 1994, the silver medal at the 1996 Olympic Games in Atlanta (where he lost against André Agassi) and reached the final in 1997 in Miami after beating Pete Sampras in the semifinal. Henri Leconte reached his best result at Grand Slam level at the Roland Garros in 1988 when he lost the final against Mats Wilander
