Patrick Mourtoglou, the coach of tennis superstar Serena Williams, is due to start a new independent tennis league for professional players to play without fans in Nice, France this May.

The ATP and WTA professional tours were suspended in March due to COVID-19 and no tours or competitions scheduled until at least mid-July.  

Mouratoglou announced his new venture over the weekend, calling it the Ultimate Tennis Showdown or UTS.

He says the plan is to Livestream ten matches per weekend for five weekends in May and June.

The competition is due to start on May 16. The next Grand Slam tournament on the calendar is supposed to be the US Open, which is planning to begin main-draw competition on Aug. 31 in New York.

The French Open's start was postponed from May until September, while Wimbledon was cancelled for the first time since 1945.