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‘Still room’ for IPTL in Singapore

SINGAPORE — The Republic can expect a bustling sports calendar at the end of the year, with the BNP Paribas Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Championships providing 10 days of action and entertainment at the S$1.33 billion Sports Hub from Oct 17 to 26, before the kick-off of the new International Professional Tennis League (IPTL) a month later.

SINGAPORE — The Republic can expect a bustling sports calendar at the end of the year, with the BNP Paribas Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) Championships providing 10 days of action and entertainment at the S$1.33 billion Sports Hub from Oct 17 to 26, before the kick-off of the new International Professional Tennis League (IPTL) a month later.

The latter will see the likes of legend Pete Sampras, as well as world champions Rafael Nadal and Serena Williams facing off here from Nov 28 to 30.

But response from the WTA on the IPTL remains muted for now, as Melissa Pine, its Vice-President (Asia-Pacific) and WTA Championships Tournament Director, said at the title sponsorship press conference yesterday: “We don’t have a lot of details on the IPTL; we’re still reading about it, as you are.

“Exhibitions can be good for tennis. The critical aspect is that players are managing off-season time and balancing the promotional and potential opportunities with the critical element of the health and recovery period to get ready for the upcoming season.”

The brainchild of Indian former doubles player Mahesh Bhupathi, the four-leg tournament in Singapore, Bangkok, Mumbai and Dubai will see four teams of 10 professional and ex-players competing in 24 matches across the four cities, with a reported US$24 million (S$30.4 million) spent on drafting top athletes like Nadal, Andy Murray and Novak Djokovic.

Despite the lack of details, World Sport Group (WSG) Chief Executive Officer Andrew Georgiou believes there is room for more tennis tournaments here.

“The IPTL is interesting. Any other tennis that happens around that (WTA Championships) is only going to help promote what is a key event in our programme,” he said.

“The more interest we can generate around tennis, the more it’s going to help our tournament and theirs as well. So I don’t see it impacting us. I think, collectively, we can make the pie bigger between the two of us.”

Yesterday’s announcement by the WTA and WSG — which promotes and manages the tournament — saw BNP Paribas unveiled as title sponsor of the prestigious US$6.5 million tournament for five years (2014-2018). The deal sees the French bank continuing its partnership with the season-ending WTA event.

BNP Paribas has been associated with tennis for 40 years and has sponsored the French Open, the Davis and Fed Cups, four ATP Masters 1000 tournaments and the 2011-2013 WTA Championships in Istanbul.

While sponsorship figures were not revealed, Pierre Veyres, Regional Head for South-east Asia and CEO of BNP Paribas Singapore, said: “It is a very significant event in the tennis season and we are very pleased to be part of it. It (the sponsorship amount) is significant and comparable to large tournaments in the world.”

Over 100,000 spectators are expected at the WTA Championships which will feature the world’s top eight singles and doubles women players.

Corporate hospitality packages will go on sale in March, and interested parties can register their details at www.wtachampionships.com.

Tickets for the public will be available in stages from April.

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