ATP Finals To Stay In London Past 2015?

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 5th November 2013

ATP Finals To Stay In London Past 2015?

epa03779984 Andy Murray of Britain hoists the championship trophy after defeating Novak Djokovic of Serbia in the men's final for the Wimbledon Championships at the All England Lawn Tennis Club, in London, Britain, 07 July 2013. EPA/ANJA NIEDRINGHAUS / POOL |

There is good possibility that a new ATP CEO will be announced this week at the World Tour Finals and once that s done whomever fills the new position is going to have to contend with a major issue: whether to extend the tournament s stay at London s 02 Arena beyond 2015.

The tournament has already been in London since 2009, but was moved around before that. Yet tournament director Andre Silva and some other ATP officials are so thrilled with how the event has down in London that they might extend it beyond six years.

But Rafael Nadal wants to see it move around to help grow the sport.

“I cannot find a better place to have a Masters Cup than here because the stadium is one of the best stadiums I’ve ever played,” he said of the O2. “But that doesn’t mean the ATP cannot be a little bit more fair to all the players. In the World Tour Finals, we qualify on all surfaces. It would be a little bit great. I’m not talking about me because I know it won’t happen for my generation, so I’m talking for the next generations [to have] something more fair to the players and I think for the fans it would be something more interesting to change the surface every year. South America would love to a crack at the prestigious tournament. Rio de Janeiro was in the running the last time that the ATP Finals in London was given an extension. Rio will host the upcoming summer Olympics. Interestingly, ATP Final tournament director Andre Silva, who is Brazilian, might just want it to stay put in the UK.

“My personality isn’t much for a change,” he told CNN. “This is a different animal to the World Cup in that it’s year to year, and you do want to expose fans around the world to this type of tennis. But the tournament is a very important part of the business of the ATP. More important than exposing everyone around the world to it is making sure it’s healthy and not an experiment. I know a lot of people talked about Rio and New York. It’s obviously great to be wanted. At the same time you need to be sure it makes sense — and right now London makes a lot of sense.”

Roger Federer, who is very influential inside the ATP boardroom as well as outside of it, agrees with Silva. More than a million fans have attended the tournament since 2009.

“I must agree with Andre in many ways because I think it’s important that this event is played in a place that knows tennis,” Federer said. “I think it’s good sometimes to play Shanghai, or maybe Lisbon or Sydney for a year, but I think it’s not long enough in one place to put its roots down. It’s like a circus. You come, the tent is there but it’s temporary and you move it away again. So here the roots are down, it’s successful and that’s why if the business makes sense, if the numbers make sense, if the excitement of everybody involved makes sense, I think we should keep it here.”

Richard Davies, the former CEO of ATP Properties, told the network that London was twice as successful money-wise than the likes of Shanghai.

“If there’s no tennis fatigue at the O2 and it’s still selling out, I think you have to ask yourself, ‘What’s the upside to move it elsewhere? “said Davies. “At the ATP Tour, it’s not their responsibility to be evangelistic about tennis. London is a great city and that helps corporately. But world No. 2 Novak Djokovic of Serbia agrees with Nadal that it’s smart to move the event around the world.

“Because of the promotion of tennis,” Djokovic said. “Just having the popularization of this sport in places where tennis isn’t as popular. I think that if we are looking forward to expand the success and the consciousness of our sport, which is very global, then we should look into that.”

Topics: 10sballs.com, Andre Silva, Atp, Cnn, Masters Cup, Novak Djokovic, Rafael Nadal, Tennis, Tennis News, World Tour Finals