TENNIS in DEPTH.

The eighth season of the Olympus US Open Series, the six-week North American summer tennis season that links 10 ATP World Tour and WTA summer tournaments to the US Open,will launch on Monday with the Atlanta Tennis Championships. Since its inception in 2004, the six-week Olympus US Open Series has more than doubled television viewership and increased event attendance, while generating new corporate partnerships for the sport.

Throughout the summer, the Series will feature nearly 200 live television hours on ESPN2, Tennis Channel and CBS Sports, highlighted by back-to-back men’s and women’s finals on Sundays on ESPN2 and select finals on CBS Sports. The Olympus US Open Series premieres Friday, July 22, from the Atlanta Tennis Championships with two hours on Tennis Channel, followed by four hours on ESPN2. An additional seven hours of coverage on both networks will follow over the weekend, with the finals airing live on Sunday on ESPN2 beginning at 3 p.m. ET.

More than 200 of the game’s top players will compete during the Series for $40 million in prize money. Additionally, through the Olympus US Open Series Bonus Challenge, the USTA will offer up to an additional $2.6 million in bonus prize money at the US Open to the top three men’s and top three women’s singles finishers in the Olympus US Open Series. The Olympus US Open Series Bonus Challenge has resulted in the largest paychecks in tennis history for men ($2.4 million– Roger Federer, 2007) and women ($2.2 million– Kim Clijsters, 2005 and 2010). For 2011, both the men’s and women’s US Open singles champions will earn a record $1.8 million with the ability to earn an additional $1 million in bonus prize money (for a total $2.8 million potential payout) based on their performances in the Olympus US Open Series.

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