Mallorca to host new WTA tournament as of 2016

WTA Chairwoman and CEO Stacey Allaster speaks in Istanbul, Turkey, Monday, Oct. 21, 2013, a day before start of the WTA Championships. The world's top female tennis players will compete in the championships which runs from Oct. 22 until Oct. 27. (AP)

LONDON — A new women’s grass-court tennis tournament will be held on the Spanish island of Mallorca starting in 2016.

The 32-player event will take place two weeks before Wimbledon.

WTA chair and CEO Stacey Allaster says the tournament “will strengthen the grass-court season leading up to Wimbledon.”

The complex on Mallorca — home to Rafael Nadal — will have five natural grass courts. Construction and maintenance will be in collaboration with The All England Lawn Tennis Club, which runs Wimbledon.

The Mallorca tournament will be played in the second week of an expanded three-week grass-court swing between the French Open and Wimbledon.

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