Dominic Thiem is getting back into the swing of things this month.
The world No. 3 has joined coach Patrick Mouratoglou's new Ultimate Tennis Showdown (UTS), which begins tomorrow at the Mourtaglou Academy in the south of France.
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Matches will be played without spectators and live streamed on the UTS website.
Three-time Grand Slam finalist Thiem is the fourth Top 10 player to commit to the inaugural UTS season. Thiem joins Stefanos Tsitsipas, Matteo Berrettini and David Goffin in the field.
UTS will feature several rule innovations, including:
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Matches are played in four 10-minute quarters rather than traditional sets.
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The player who has the most points at the end of each quarter wins that quarter.
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If one player wins the first three quarters, the fourth quarter is still played for sake of overall scoring.
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If both players are tied at two quarters apiece, then a fifth "sudden death" quarter is played to decide the outcome.
Lucas Pouille faces Eliott Benchetrit in Saturday's opening match followed by Benoit Paire vs. Dustin Brown.
Thiem will miss this weekend's opening matches as he's also committed to playing the Novak Djokovic-led Adria Tour.
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The ATP and WTA extended suspension of the pro circuit until at least the start of August though world No. 1 Djokovic said he believes it's more likely pro tennis resumes on red clay in September.
Photo credit: Mark Peterson/Corleve