This article was originally written for TheNintendoVillage.com, a website I founded and ran from 2018 to 2021.

Tennis management company IMG have announced the first ‘Stay At Home Slam’, a doubles tennis tournament in which top players and celebrities will compete in none other than the Switch’s own Mario Tennis Aces.

The tournament will take place this coming Sunday, 3 May at 4pm ET, and will be streamed via Facebook Gaming, as well as IMG’s own Facebook page.

Those taking place include the Williams sisters Venus and Serena, Kei Nishikori, and Naomi Osaka. Even Maria Sharapova has been tempted out of retirement to compete.

They’ll be paired up with various celebrities including Gigi Hadid, Seal and Steve Aoki in a bid to win as much money as possible for their chosen charities.

Everyone will get $25,000 to donate to their chosen cause, with a further $1 million available for whoever emerges victorious.

The pairs taking control of Mario and co are:

Serena Williams & Gigi Hadid
Naomi Osaka & Hailey Bieber
Venus Williams & DeAndre Hopkins
Maria Sharapova & Karlie Kloss
Kei Nishikori & Steve Aoki
Madison Keys & Seal
Taylor Fritz & Addison Rae
Kevin Anderson & Ryan Tannehill

Facebook Gaming’s global partnerships director Leo Olebe said:

“Gaming’s superpower has always been bringing people together, and right now that’s the case more than ever. Blending that superpower with pro athletes and epic entertainment to raise money for COVID-19 relief and research efforts is a natural fit that we’re proud to be a part of.”

I never thought I wanted to see Seal take on Maria Sharapova in Mario Tennis before now, but this could well be an interesting watch! Let us know down in the comments if you’ll be tuning in.

Source: Polygon