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ATP Unveils New Top Tier Of Events For 2009

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.

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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.

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Ik heb eens zitten kijken wat Tier II evenementen kunnen worden. Afgaande op huidige prijzengeld/status en een redelijke verdeling over ondergronden, continenten en plaats in het jaar denk ik dat het tien van de volgende elf opties gaan worden:

-Doha
-Marseille of Rotterdam
-Memphis (of ander US hardcourt)
-Acapulco
-Dubai
-Barcelona
-Queen's of Halle
-Hamburg, Stuttgart of Kitzbuhel
-Wenen of Basel
-Tokyo
-Moskou of St. Petersburg

Het wordt dus heel erg hopen dat het Rotterdam lukt deze status te bemachtigen. Wel is er extra sponsorgeld nodig en gezien de huidige situatie bij ABN AMRO vrees ik wat dat betreft wel een beetje.