During the 2018 edition of Roland Garros, the French Tennis Federation and BNP Paribas are launching the “Roland-Garros eSeries by BNP Paribas”: a series of e-gaming (video game) tournaments played all over the world.
A qualifying phase, organized in the run-up to the French Open (from the end of March to the beginning of May), will be held in eight countries: China, India, Brazil, France, Great Britain, Belgium, Italy and Spain.
Every event will be contested by 32 participants. The winners from each country will then play each other in the grand final, which will take place at Roland Garros stadium on Friday 25th May 2018.
Registrations are already open to everyone on wearetennis.com. BNP Paribas will host the other European tournaments in its branches in London, Rome, Brussels and Madrid.
This competition will be played on the forthcoming video game “Tennis World Tour”, published by Bigben. A demonstration version of the game will be used, which has a clay court decorated in the Roland Garros colours and a selection of players that includes Gaël Monfils, the game’s ambassador. Tennis World Tour will be released on 22nd May for PlayStation®4, Xbox One, Nintendo Switch™ and PC.
“The French Tennis Federation is delighted to become involved in e-sport alongside BNP Paribas, a loyal partner of the Roland Garros tournament. This initiative confirms the Parisian Grand Slam’s desire to stay at the cutting-edge of technology and operate in this rapidly-growing sector. This tournament will enable us to bring together communities of players who are passionate about tennis and about gaming,” explained Stéphane Morel, Deputy Managing Director of the French Tennis Federation’s Strategy and Development Department.
“BNP Paribas supports all branches of tennis –professional, wheelchair, junior and university, amateur – and e-tennis is another new discipline. Along with the French Tennis Federation, we wanted to respond to society’s enthusiasm for e-sport by launching this e-gaming tennis competition. With 30% of European e-sport fans being aged between 18 and 34*, this tournament is also for our younger tennis fans,” clarified Sébastien Guyader, Tennis Sponsorship Manager at BNP Paribas.
Roland Garros is breaking ground as the first Grand Slam tournament to organise this type of competition.
BNP Paribas We Are Tennis is reaffirming its innovative commitment to tennis. Back in 2005, BNP Paribas and PlayStation co-created the “Roland-Garros Virtual Tour” – the first ever virtual tennis tournament, reserved for players aged 12-25.
Since 2011, the wearetennis.com platform and its social media accounts (on Facebook, Twitter, YouTube, Instagram and Snapchat) have brought together a community of nearly 2 million avid tennis fans from all continents.