Macao serving up tennis tourney

China's top tennis stars will battle it out in Macao next month as the special administrative region is gearing up to host the year-end final of the Chinese Tennis Association Tour.

After six legs across the country since the action started in May, the 2021 CTA Tour will take its highest-ranked 16 men's and women's players to Macau from Dec 6 to 12, where the prestigious national titles in singles and doubles as well as a total purse of 2.2 million yuan ($34,474) will be up for grabs.

The top three ranked men – Zhang Zhizhen, Li Zhe and Bai Yan – will be joined by last year's final champion Wu Yibing as favorites for this year's singles title in Macao, while on the women's side all the singles winners, including Wang Meiling, Liu Fangzhou and Zheng Wushuang, from the previous six stops will square off against each other in a close fight for the coveted singles crown.

The tour organizing team and the Macao Tennis Association have jointly launched a program to recruit and train ball retrievers for the tournament. Local juniors will have to attend theoretical and practical courses before taking part in a test event at the end of this month, where 50 exceptional performers will be selected to serve.

The tournament will be broadcast live throughout the country on China Central Television. Resort operator SJM Holdings will finance the event as official title sponsor.