Brits set for battle as tennis returns to the UK

Tennis will return to the United Kingdom this week with the brand new ‘Battle of the Brits’, set up by Jamie Murray amid the COVID-19 pandemic.

The event will begin at the National Tennis Centre in Roehampton on Tuesday and will help raise money for NHS Charities Together.

Andy Murray will play for the first time since the Davis Cup Finals back in November last year, whilst British number one Dan Evans also features.

The event features both doubles and singles competitions, which will take place over the upcoming week.

The singles event features Great Britain’s top eight ranked players, who have been divided into two groups.

The Tim Henman group consists of: Kyle Edmund, Andy Murray, Liam Broady and James Ward, whilst the Greg Rusedski group features: Dan Evans, Cameron Norrie, Jay Clarke and Jack Draper.

After round robin matches, the top two of each group progress to the semi-finals where a knockout bracket will take place to determine the winner.

Whilst Andy Murray is the biggest name in terms of achievement, the Scot has played infrequently over the last few years due to injury and names such as Evans or Edmund may be more favoured when choosing a favourite.

The event will also be a great chance for Britain’s young guns to make an impression.

Jack Draper is the youngest player in the competition at just 18 years old, and in 2018 he became the Wimbledon boys runner-up at just the age of 16.

The tournament will be shown on Amazon Prime, and organiser and doubles competitor Jamie Murray hopes his initiative cna help raise over £100,000.

The event begins Tuesday, with Kyle Edmund facing James Ward in the first singles match.