Fédération Française de Tennis (FFT) is pleased to announce the return of the Roland-Garros eSeries by BNP Paribas – the largest eTennis tournament in the world – for 2023. Back for its sixth year, the tournament will once again be held on the world’s most popular mobile tennis game, Tennis Clash, from Wildlife Studios, following a switch to the mobile esports format in 2022. The mobile game has more than 120m downloads and last year, more than 238,000 people from 207 territories across the world participated in the eTennis tournament organised by FFT.
“We are thrilled to announce the details of our 2023 competition alongside FFT. Continuing our last year’s successful partnership, we have created an even more exciting and engaging experience for our players,” Dotan Arad, General Manager of Tennis Clash. “By being part of the Roland-Garros eSeries by BNP Paribas, we are committed to providing our players with the best content and experiences, offering them the chance to compete at Roland-Garros, a dream come true for any tennis fan worldwide.”
This year’s event will see eight finalists compete in the Grand Final at Roland-Garros itself on Friday, May 26 with qualifiers playing for a share of the €5K prize pool. Seven of the eight places at the final will be awarded to players coming from different qualifying events. Meanwhile, the eighth qualifying place will be awarded to the winner of the 2023 Australian Open Tennis Clash virtual tournament, William Foster who also won the 2022 Roland-Garros eSeries by BNP Paribas event.
A full breakdown on how the eight finalist spots will been determined is as follows:
- 1 slot for the 2023 Australian Open Tennis Clash winner William Foster
- 4 slots for the three open qualifiers, Open Qualifier #1 (winner) February 23 to 27, Open Qualifier #2 (winner) March 23 to 27 & Open Qualifier #3 (winner and runner-up) April 20 to 24
- 1 slot for the Women in Games closed qualifier
- 1 slot for the Handigamers closed qualifier
- 1 slot for the “Twitch Community Clash” closed qualifier
In 2023, Roland-Garros eSeries by BNP Paribas will extend its collaboration with Women in Games – an international charity making gaming a better place for women – and introduce a new collaboration with Handigamers – a French charity helping people with reduced mobility to play video games. Both of these organisations will host closed qualifying events that will see the winners take part in a one-month remote training program facilitated by French esport organisation, Team MCES, ahead of the Grand Final.
Ahead of the Grand Final, all eight finalists will also receive the opportunity to attend an esports workshop courtesy of FFT, ensuring every participant is prepared to give their best performance on matchday itself. FFT is committed to making gaming accessible to everyone and is proud to be one of the few organisations endorsing higher representation in all stages of its competitive environment.
In 2023, FFT will once again welcome back BNP Paribas as the presenting partner and Renault as the official partner of the event for the sixth and second years in succession respectively. Their continued support has helped to elevate eTennis as a sport and contributed to an increase of top level eTennis tournaments taking place across the world.
“We are absolutely delighted to be hosting another edition of Roland-Garros eSeries by BNP Paribas for the sixth successive year and can’t wait to see how the competition unfolds over the next few months” said Aymeric Labaste, Head of Roland-Garros International Development “Last year, we saw exponential growth as a result of our switch to a mobile esport tournament using Tennis Clash by Wildlife Studios, and the introduction of our new tournament format. Through our continued expansion, we’re hoping to further build on the success of previous years and cement our status as the biggest eTennis event in the world.”
Any members of the public interested in signing up for free to one of the Open Qualifier events can do so via their smartphone or tablet device via the Tennis Clash app, giving many players across the world the opportunity to compete in the event.
About Roland-Garros eSeries by BNP Paribas
Created in 2018, Roland-Garros eSeries by BNP Paribas is the world’s biggest and most inclusive eTennis tournament. The competition includes six separate qualifying events, including 3 open qualifiers and 3 closed ones held in partnership with Women in Games, Handigamers and Twitch community. The Grand Final features eight competitors and takes place at Roland-Garros on Friday, May 26. In 2023, the competition will be played on the leading video mobile game Tennis Clash, developed by Wildlife Studios. With this new format, Roland-Garros eSeries by BNP Paribas is positioned to increase interest and participation in eTennis globally.
About Wildlife Studios
Wildlife is one of the world’s largest mobile gaming companies. In over ten years, it has launched more than 60 games, including hits such as Sniper 3D, Zooba, Tennis Clash, War Machines and Colorfy. Founded by brothers Victor and Arthur Lazarte, the company’s games have been downloaded more than 3 billion times across the planet.
Wildlife has over 1100 employees in five countries around the world, and many positions available – especially in game design, engineering and growth.
