Governing body Tennis Canada has announced a VR tennis esports tournament that will be held later this year. The tournament will be called the Tennis Canada VR Tournament.
Played on the Tennis Esports game, the tournament will have a prize pool of CAD $15,000 (£8,900). Moreover, the top two winners will be flown to Canada to compete in the finals at the National Bank Open, a ATP1000 and WTA premier event.
The tournament’s headline sponsor will be Motorola, more specifically its Razr subbrand of foldable smartphones. The two parties did not announce any activations that will take place during the finals.
This is the first time that Tennis Canada is entering esports, and in a quite unusual manner. The tournament is open to all interested players, although certain requirements, such as owning a VR headset and equipment (Oculus Quest 2) need to be met.
The game selected for the tournament is called Tennis Esports, and the organisation noted that it has been selected since it has the “best virtual gameplay available in VR today”. Tennis Canada added that the game provides the most realistic experience that compares to playing actual tennis.
There will be two game modes available, and players will be able to acquire tournament points in either one, or both. The game modes are Instant Match, an online multiplayer mode and Hit’em All, which is a single-player, arcade mode in which players aim to hit targets.
The best-performing players will get the opportunity to win a cash prize of up to CAD $15,000 (£8900). The tennis tournament that will feature the final, also known as Canada Masters, is held annually in Ontario and Quebec.
