Tennis legends return to Palma

Today at the official presentation of this prestigious sporting event, the Director General for Sport Antoni Martín, Majorca’s very own former world number one and current coach of Rafael Nadal - Carlos Moyà, the President of the Balearic Tennis Federation, Toni Ferragut and Tournament Director Michael Landström all gave their support to the tournament which attracts tennis and sports fans from across the world.

This year the tennis legends include Goran Ivanisevic, Mats Wilander, Juan Carlos Ferrero, Carlos Moyá, who has supported the event from day one, Thomas Enqvist, Elena Dementieva, David Ferrer and Mikhail Youzhny with a few guests of honour such as Nuria Llagostera, Rosa Vicens and Linnea Malmqvist.

One of the new faces this year is Goran Ivanišević, who is currently a member of Djokovich’s coaching team. Goran, who turned professional in 1988 and was ranked number two in the world, is the only player to have won the men’s singles title at Wimbledon as a wildcard.

The organisers are also excited about having four female tennis stars competing this year and heading the list is legend Elena Deméntieva who has won 16 WTA singles titles, an Olympic gold medal and reached a career high ranking of world number three.

Antoni Martin, on behalf of Palma City Council stressed the importance of Palma hosting a sporting event of such importance and magnitude and praised the organisers for having restored the sports complex to such a high level of quality.

Toni Ferragut said that apart from the Legends, it is exciting to see the event yet again hosting a tournament for up and coming tennis stars which will features players from the Wimbledon, Good to Great (Sweden) and Palma tennis clubs.

And finally, Carlos Moyà said that for him to be able to able to play in front of a home crown and on home soil is a luxury. "This is the club where I first started playing tennis and to be able to return, accompanied by such great fellow colleagues, is a delight."