If you haven’t already heard, Tennis esport is a thing. In fact, it is more than a thing. It even has a gaming tournament that is now on its second edition. Roland Garros, BNP Paribas and BIGBEN have announced the second edition of the Roland-Garros eSeries by BNP Paribas, which will see competitive esport athletes pitting their virtual tennis skills against each other on a pre-release version of the latest Tennis World Tour – Roland-Garros Edition video game.
The video game, which features the newly-renovated Philippe Chatrier court, is not due to released until May 16 on Playstation 4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch and PC. The winning player will be crowned as this year’s world tennis gaming champion and few thousands euros richer. This year, ten countries are taking part in the international grand final will play live at the virtual Roland-Garros.
“This year, the tournament is even bigger! Germany and the United States are joining the eight countries from the 2018 line-up: France, China, India, Brazil, Great Britain, Belgium, Italy and Spain. For this second edition, the Roland Garros eSeries by BNP Paribas is forging new bonds with the tennis world by organizing certain national finals off-court at some of the ATP tour’s tournaments, such as the Internazionali BNL D’Italia di Roma and the Open Parc Auvergne-Rhône-Alpes de Lyon. BNP Paribas will also host national finals in its premises in Shanghai, Bombay, Frankfurt and London.”
Here are more details on this virtual tennis tournament:
“The national qualifying rounds will be launched on the Tennis World Tour’s online mode on PlayStation 4, to open the competition up to as many people as possible. The eight best players in each country’s first qualifying phase will then come together in person to play a final qualifying round in their respective country. The winners of these national finals will be invited to represent their country in the grand final, which will decide the winner of the 2019 Roland-Garros eSeries by BNP Paribas.
Two special tournaments will be organized. One is reserved for registered members of the French Tennis Federation, and the other is an online tournament for members of the We Are Tennis by BNP Paribas platform. Held during the first week of Roland Garros, this tournament will decide who takes the last place in the final.
For the second year in a row, this international grand final will be held during the Parisian Grand Slam, with spectacular staging that is designed to immerse the participants in an atmosphere that echoes that of the most prestigious professional tournaments. The participants will share an exceptional cash prize of €10,000, half of which will be awarded to the winner!”
You can learn more (or register, if you are down for it) about Roland-Garros eSeries by BNP Paribas at the etournament official website HERE. In the meantime, you can catch the teaser of the eSeries after the post. With Roland-Garros eSeries by BNP Paribas and the induction of esports into the 30th Southeast Asian Games as a medal event, the future of esports look very bright.
More importantly is, esport is slowly gaining recognition as a sport and with that, its athletes, getting their due recognition too. Regardless how some may beg to differ, esport is a thing and it is here to stay. It is part of the future and it is also sign of continual evolution of society, just like how Lightsaber Dueling is now a recognized as a competitive sport.
Images: YouTube (Roland Garros).
Submitted via TIP US Page.
