Mary Pierce, Neimenin and Jaziri crown 2015 Lexus Tennis Festival

AMMAN — The 2015 Lexus Tennis Festival concludes Friday but not before tennis enthusiasts get a chance to saviour professional calibre tennis right in the capital for the first time ever.

Finnish tennis star Jarkko Nieminen and Tunisian tennis champion Malek Jaziri have joined legendary French star and multiple Grand Slam champion Mary Pierce, for two days of great tennis and family fun.

Following an action packed week for tennis players of all ages, players and fans booked a date with ATP Tour professional players at The Tennis Academy Amman where Nieminen and Jaziri, will compete in both doubles and singles matches. Nieminen and Jaziri will partner two top Jordanian players for a doubles exhibition match before going head to head on Friday in the final exhibition match, the first time ever for these two tennis champions to meet on court.

Tennis enthusiasts and especially the avid young players will have a chance to meet up with Pierce on the closing day starting at 3:00pm on Friday. 

Pierce, a French champion, turned pro at the age of 14 and won four Grand Slam titles, including the 1995 Singles Australian Open, the 2000 Singles French Open, the 2000 doubles French Open, and the 2005 mixed doubles Wimbledon title.

Former World No. 13, Nieminen is Finland’s most celebrated tennis star. Throughout his career, he won two ATP singles titles and three doubles titles. He reached the quarter-finals in the 2005 US Open, the 2006 Wimbledon Championships and the 2008 Australian Open.

He has beaten former World No. 1 tennis legend Andre Agassi and current World No. 1 Novak Djokovic. He represented Finland in three separate Olympic games between 2004 and 2012 and he is the first and only Finnish player to have an ATP singles title.

Better known as “Jazz”, Jaziri has competed in all four Grand Slam events in his career. In 2015, he reached the Round 3 of the Australian Open and came close to beating the legendary Roger Federer in a tight three-set match at the Dubai Open. Jaziri is the first male Tunisian player to reach the semi-finals of an ATP event at the 2012 Kremlin Cup in Moscow.

“We are thrilled to host Mary Pierce, Nieminen and Jaziri at our academy,” said Tennis Academy President Khalid Naffa commenting on “hosting tennis champions of this calibre in Jordan”. 

He added that his academy’s mission is to create a dynamic and professional environment for young and aspiring Jordanian tennis players to thrive and eventually compete on the global tennis stage.

Essential to this mission is to host international events like the 2015 Lexus Tennis Festival, so that “kids can be exposed to the highest levels of the game and most importantly, to instil in them a belief that they too can one day become champions”, added Naffa.

The 2015 Lexus Tennis Festival has attracted more than 200 local tennis players from across the country, competing in 14 different tournaments throughout the 8-day festival.