Some of the world’s most popular gamers are heading to Melbourne to compete in the Pro-Am charity event at the Fortnite Summer Smash at Australian Open 2019, taking place on Sunday 27 January at Margaret Court Arena.



The Pro-Am will feature 50 duos made up of the biggest names from Fortnite, sports and entertainment who will compete for a share of $100,000 for a charity of their choice including the following gamers:



• DrLupo (USA)

• Valkyrae (USA)

• Vikkstar (UK)

• Lachlan (NSW)

• Lazarbeam (NSW)

• Loserfruit (Vic)

• MrFreshAsian (NSW)

• Muselk (NSW)

• AlexAce (USA)

• MrWoofless (CAN)



American broadcaster DrLupo (Benjamin Lupo), boasting more than 2.8 million followers on gaming streaming service Twitch and a further one million subscribers on YouTube, said, "I am pretty excited to attend this event. I am looking forward to meeting all my fans from Australia!"



"This is my first time visiting Australia and I can't believe I'm here attending the Australia Open while also playing Fortnite with so many incredible people,” said American gaming personality Valkyrae (Rachel Hofsetter), who has racked up more than a million followers on Instagram.



British gamer Vikkstar (Vikram Singh Barn) has more than eight million subscribers on YouTube and is part of popular gaming groups The Sidemen and The Pack said, “I’m really looking forward to taking part in the Fortnite Summer Smash at the Australian Open in Melbourne. It’s gonna be great to hang out with and compete against so many great players and people!”



Muselk (Elliott Watkins) is also heading to Melbourne and will compete alongside fellow Aussies Lachlan (Lachlan Power), Lazarbeam (Lannan Eacott), Loserfruit (Kathleen Belsten) and MrFreshAsian (Harley Campbell).



“It's super exciting that an event like the Australian Open is also able to host the Fortnite Summer Smash. There are some amazing players coming out of Australia and it will be awesome to see that on one stage in Melbourne next weekend,” Muselk said.



Event organiser Mark Riedy said, “The popularity of competitive gaming continues to grow in Australia and having talent like DrLupo, Valkyrae, Vikkstar and Muselk all teaming up with some of the biggest celebs from sport and entertainment for the Pro-Am at the Fortnite Summer Smash is awesome for Aussies fans.”



The Fortnite Summer Smash at the Australian Open Pro-Am is set to take place on 27 January during finals weekend at the Australian Open 2019.



Five hundred of the best Fortnite players in Australia will compete in a solos qualifying tournament on Saturday 26 January with the top 100 players competing for a share of $400,000 of prize money in the main event on Sunday.



The Fortnite Summer Smash at the Australian Open is organised and operated by Tennis Australia in conjunction with ESL Australia.



Head to twitch.tv/AusOpenTennis for more info.



General admission tickets available from $5