Following an absence of almost 10 years from the local calendar, the All Jamaica Open Tennis Tournament serves off today at 9:00 am at the Police Officers Club on Hope Road.

Sponsored by Jamaica National, the event will be a singles competition with men and women doing battle in their respective category, which is expected to end on November 9.

Total prize money for the top four male contenders will be $100,000, while the females will share $50,000, and though it was not announced at the press conference earlier this month, it is said that Jamaica National’s total sponsorship is about $500,000.

Sales manager of the building society, Judy Benjamin, said her company was pleased to be on board, and noted further its latest partnership with the Police Officers’ Tennis Club is a continuation of its support for tennis in particular and sports in general.

“Jamaica National was approached by the Police Officers’ Club to assist them with this tournament and we are traditionally a company that assists with youth and national development, so we saw this as an opportunity to put in some resources,” she said. “We have done other sponsorships of tennis, especially with Llockett McGregor,” Benjamin added.

Today’s schedule:

9:00 am Andrew Knight vs Dwayne Lue Shing, Courtney Kazambe vs Chris Dugan.

10:30 am Roger Lyn vs Barry Hazle, George Williams vs Leighton Burton.

3:0 pm Steven Jones vs Lloyd Allen, Mjr Warrenton Dixon vs Simon Levy.

4:30 pm Garnette Johnson-James vs Mark Philpotts, Andrew Bicknell vs James Craze.

6:00 pm Ramone Dyoley vs Thane Allen, Leo Fung Sang vs Neil Daley.

7:30 pm Ransford Hamilton vs Steven Coy, Brandt Fuller vs Cecil Edwards.

9:00 pm David Isaacs vs Arnold Douglas, Garth Darby vs Andrew Madden.