Stockholm And Vienna Recruiting Better Than Kremlin Cup

Written by: on 18th October 2012
Tennis Kremlin Cup in Moscow
Stockholm And Vienna Recruiting Better Than Kremlin Cup

epa03437478 Alexandr Dolgopolov of Ukraine returns the ball to Edouard Roger-Vasselin of France during their second round match at the Kremlin Cup tennis tournament in Moscow, Russia, 18 October 2012. EPA/SERGEI ILNITSKY  |

A lack of overall sponsorships for the Kremlin Cup has the tournament unable to pay out healthy enough appearance fees to attract top male players.

 

The ATP 250, which has had standout fields in the past, was only been able to draw seven top-50 players for the $670,000 event. The top seed is No. 20 Alexander Dolgopolov. While Moscow does have Hitachi as a sponsor, it’s likely that the Japanese technology company is not paying enough to allow the tournament to cover prize money, general expenses and appearance fees, which for top 10 players usually run $100,000 minimum and for top 4 players can run from $500,000 to $1 million.

 

Two other on-going tournaments, Vienna and Stockholm are in better shape. Vienna is sponsored by Erset Bank and has two other big sponsors in the Vienna Insurance Group and Novomatic. The tournament features two top 10 players in Juan Martin Del Potro and Janko Tipsarevic.

 

Stockholm has the title sponsor “If Metal”, and four other presenting sponsors including Eurocard. It attracted three top 12 players in Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Tomas Berdych and Nicolas Almagro.

 

Shamil Tarpishchev, the head of the Russian Tennis Federation who helps runs the Kremlin Cup, said things are looking up for 2013.

 

“The list of players does not probably comply with the Kremlin Cup brand, but it is even,” he said. “We have agreement with the Bank of Moscow about the attraction of the strongest players for the next year.”

 

The WTA Kremlin Cup is doing better as features two top 10 players in Samantha Stosur and Marion Bartoli as well as former Nos. 1 Caroline Wozniacki and Ana Ivanovic, plus a host of Russian players such as Nadia Petrova and Maria Kirilenko. But even the women’s event isn’t as strong as it used to be when it consistently drew top 5 players. Now played the week before the WTA Championships, it has no member of the eight players who have qualified for Istanbul.

 

But Tarpishchev seems satisfied. “The women’s draw is very good this year,” he said. “These are 12 players from the top 30, it is a solid tournament.”

 

Topics: , , ,








10sBalls Top Stories

In Case You Missed It

EUGENIE BOUCHARD NAMED 2018 TENNIS CANADA FEMALE PLAYER OF THE YEAR / EUGENIE BOUCHARD NOMMÉE JOUEUSE DE L’ANNÉE 2018 DE TENNIS CANADA thumbnail

EUGENIE BOUCHARD NAMED 2018 TENNIS CANADA FEMALE PLAYER OF THE YEAR / EUGENIE BOUCHARD NOMMÉE JOUEUSE DE L’ANNÉE 2018 DE TENNIS CANADA

Tennis Canada announced on Wednesday that Eugenie Bouchard is the winner of the 2018 Excellence Awards in the Female Player of the Year and Singles Player of the Year categories.
TENNIS NEWS • CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIPS • TOMMY HAAS, TAYLOR FRITZ, STEVE JOHNSON, MARDY FISH AND MORE thumbnail

TENNIS NEWS • CALIFORNIA CHAMPIONSHIPS • TOMMY HAAS, TAYLOR FRITZ, STEVE JOHNSON, MARDY FISH AND MORE

Time to get tickets to watch! Surly you have heard about The Largest Open Tennis Event in America!
TENNIS NEWS • RAFA NADAL CONFIRMS RETURN TO PRACTICE, EYES ABU DHABI EXHIBITION AND AUSTRALIAN SUMMER thumbnail

TENNIS NEWS • RAFA NADAL CONFIRMS RETURN TO PRACTICE, EYES ABU DHABI EXHIBITION AND AUSTRALIAN SUMMER

According to Uncle Toni, Rafael Nadal was supposed to be back at practice on either Dec. 4 or 5. Well, better late than never!
Conchita Martínez prepara la temporada 2019 de Karolina Pliskova en Tenerife thumbnail

Conchita Martínez prepara la temporada 2019 de Karolina Pliskova en Tenerife

Española y checa ya trabajaron juntas durante el pasado Open de Estados Unidos
ALEJANDRO’S FAVORITE PHOTOS FOR 10SBALLS FROM SOME OF THIS YEAR’S TOURNAMENTS thumbnail

ALEJANDRO’S FAVORITE PHOTOS FOR 10SBALLS FROM SOME OF THIS YEAR’S TOURNAMENTS

Jelena Ostapenko of Latvia hits a forehand to Kaia Kanepi of Estonia during her second round match at the Nature Valley International tennis tournament in Eastbourne, Great Britain, on Tuesday, June 26, 2018.