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WTA Tour to undertake significant China expansion |
MIAMI, Florida – The Sony Ericsson WTA Tour announced today that as part of its Roadmap 2010 circuit structure plan, the city of Beijing has been awarded a major nine-day mandatory tennis tournament featuring equal prize money of at least US$4 million beginning in 2009. The tournament will be one of four crown jewel events anchoring a new streamlined 2009 Calendar. As part of the partnership, the Tour will open a new Asia-Pacific office in Beijing in 2008, which will serve as the hub of a major marketing and promotional initiative to grow women’s tennis in China and the Asia-Pacific, one of the world’s largest and most dynamic markets and regions.
“The future growth of women’s tennis and China are powerfully linked,” said Larry Scott, CEO of the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour. “With the establishment of a crown jewel tennis event in China that will feature the world’s best players, along with a new Tour presence, our sport is positioned for explosive growth in the world’s most exciting market. The incredible and rapid success of the Chinese players on Tour, combined with the popularity of our stars in China, the Chinese government’s support for women’s tennis and the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing, make for a potent mix that will propel women’s tennis to new heights in the Asia-Pacific region.”
“Along with the ATP, we have ensured that both Beijing and Shanghai will host world class tennis events of the highest level. Tennis is one of the only truly global sports, and it says a lot that both Tours are committed to working together to grow the professional sport in China,” added Scott.
“I am very pleased to learn that the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour has decided to award Beijing a major nine-day tennis event featuring the world’s best players beginning in 2009 and to open its Asia-Pacific office in Beijing in 2008, a move that I believe is significant for the rapid development of tennis in Beijing and China”, said Zhao Fengtong, Vice Mayor of Beijing. “As the host city for the upcoming 2008 Olympic Games, Beijing has unparalleled advantages in developing tennis. We have full confidence and capabilities to work closely with the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour for the long term to run the Beijing event as a top world tournament so as to propel the development of tennis in Beijing and China.”
“I am really excited that Beijing will be the home of one of the Tour’s biggest and most important events,” said Zheng Jie, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour World No. 32. “Women’s tennis has become incredibly popular in China and will only get bigger in the years to come. It is great that the Tour will be opening an office in Beijing to promote the sport in China.”
"I congratulate Larry and the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour in implementing a plan that will serve to not only grow the women’s game globally, but also form the foundation for growth of tennis overall,” said Etienne de Villiers, Executive Chairman and President of the ATP. “By having both Shanghai and Beijing hosting the respective Tour's top events, we have given the sport in the country of China the opportunity to develop and evolve over time. Our Tennis Masters Cup has been a huge success in Shanghai and has helped elevate the awareness of tennis in China. We are therefore now in the position to provide either back-to-back weeks, a successful formula in Canada, or possibly evolve in time to an alternating combined event in both cities. In an exciting and developing market, we now have a plan that can best serve tennis and China."
The China event will be one of four mandatory events (which all players who qualify by ranking will be required to play) anchoring the new 2009 Tour Calendar and offering equal prize money with a minimum of US$4 million. The tournament will be held at the Olympic Green Tennis Center in Beijing, the official site of the 2008 Olympic Games tennis event. Under terms of the partnership, Beijing and the Tour, working with the city of Shanghai and the ATP, will explore the possibility of combining the Beijing tournament with the ATP’s Masters Series event in Shanghai, creating a combined women’s/men’s event that would rotate annually between Beijing and Shanghai. The other three crown jewel mandatory events under the Tour’s Roadmap plans will be the Sony Ericsson Open in Miami, the Pacific Life Open in Indian Wells and an event to be staged in the city of Madrid. Each of these four events, along with the four Grand Slams and the Sony Ericsson Championships, will be mandatory for all players who qualify by ranking. Sixteen additional premier tournaments featuring top players will round out the new circuit’s 20 premier events. (See Roadmap 2010 release from today for further details on the Roadmap 2010 reform package)
The promotion and growth of women’s tennis in Asia-Pacific has been a priority for the Tour, with the recent success of a number of Chinese players in both singles and doubles, along with the establishment and presence of Tour events in both Beijing and Guangzhou over the past years, having already propelled women’s tennis to one of the most popular sports among fans in China. Li Na, at No.17 in the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour Rankings, is the highest-ranked Chinese player ever, and in 2006 at Wimbledon, became the first Chinese player to reach the quarterfinals of a Grand Slam. Zheng Jie and Peng Shuai have also made their mark on Tour and rank within the Tour’s top 50. Zheng and Yan Zi captured China’s first Grand Slam titles with doubles victories at each of the 2006 Australian Open and 2006 Wimbledon. |
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