New York, U.S.A. - The ATP, governing body of the men’s
professional tennis circuit, announced today eight additional venues
that have been awarded “1000” status for the new-look 2009 ATP Tour.
The eight are Indian Wells, Miami, Rome, Madrid, Cincinnati, Canada,
Shanghai and Paris. The “1000” tournaments will replace the existing
Masters Series, and these eight tournaments will join the ninth “1000”
event, Monte Carlo, to make up the top tier of the new ATP Tour
structure.
The eight tournaments named will attract a
mandatory player field, ensuring guaranteed top player participation at
all events. The commitment will be backed by new rules and sanctions
that include suspension for missed mandatory tournaments.
Launching in 2009, the ATP Tour will undergo its largest set of changes
since its creation in 1990. As well as new tournaments and a record
breaking level of prize money, the ATP will also introduce a new brand
look and identity based on extensive consumer research and designed to
make the Tour more fan friendly by linking tournaments to their winners
ranking point levels of either “1000”, “500” or “250”.
The new look 2009 calendar will also ensure increased investment into
men’s tennis. Between them the “1000” tournaments alone will bring over
$500m of facility investment into new stadia builds or existing
facility upgrade. The new builds include the spectacular Caja Magica in
Madrid, the proposed new indoor arena in Paris and the recently
completed Qi Zhong stadium in Shanghai.
“The 2009 ATP Tour is about the world’s best tennis players performing
in the world’s very best stadiums at the right times of the season and
we have now created a top tier that will showcase our sport, deliver
substantially increased investment into our facilities and will attract
more broadcast and sponsor support,” said Etienne de Villiers,
Executive Chairman of the ATP. “Additionally, by creating more combined
events we are taking the sport to a new level. I believe we now have a
standard of top tier event that the sport, its players, its sponsors
and above all its fans truly deserve.”
The ATP also announced that by 2011 six of the nine “1000” level
tournaments will be combined events. Cincinnati and Rome will become
combined ATP and WTA tournaments and in addition Canada will have the
ATP and WTA tournaments running simultaneously in Toronto and Montreal.
The ATP Tour has continued to work closely on its plans with all
branches of the sport. Larry Scott, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Chairman
said: "I applaud Etienne and the ATP Board for taking bold steps that
are great for tennis. There is a shared vision for the future of our
sport, including a focus on combined events at the top of both Tours."
In
addition to the “1000s”, the ATP Board this week also announced that 22
applications have been received from tournaments wishing to become one
of ten proposed events that will make up the second tier of the 2009
calendar – the “500s”. The successful applicants will be announced
after further review.
Offering 500 points for each
champion, the “500” level tournaments will attract increased prize
money levels of $1m, will spark increased facility investment around
the world and will attract more broadcasting partner opportunities
globally.
The new look calendar, with revised scheduling and mini swings running
into each Grand Slam and the ATP Tour Finals, will ensure the season is
more understandable for fans and media, more appealing for sponsors and
healthier for players. The 2009 calendar will be backed by a record
multi million dollar global marketing and promotional spend. The final
calendar will be announced in Shanghai at the Tennis Masters Cup.
The Tour will conclude in November 2009 at the new look ATP Tour Finals, to be held at the iconic O2 Arena in London.
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