BEIJING, Nov. 6 /Xinhua-PRNewswire/ -- An official press conference for the China Open 2007 was held on Nov. 5, 2007 at the Beijing Shangri-la Hotel. The conference was held to celebrate the upgrading of China Open tournament into the ATP 500 Series. Earlier this year, the WTA event of the China Open had already been successfully upgraded to a Crown-Jewel event. Starting from 2009, the China Open will take a huge leap, and will truly become Asia's most prominent combined tennis tournament.
Four Significant Changes are Expected Due to the China Open Upgrade
First, the significance of the event: The ATP "500 Events" are second only to the four Grand Slams and the 9-station "1000 Events" in terms of the number of participating players. On the whole, the China Open will be one of the best combined tournaments after the four Grand Slams, together with Indian Wells, Miami and Madrid, and they will be known as the "Four Super Tournaments". Top male players must participate in one of the ATP "500 Events" after the US Open and they can only choose from Beijing, Tokyo, Basel (Switzerland) or Valencia (Spain). They are also required to participate in 4 of the 10 stations of the "500 Events" over a year.
Second, the prize money: Total prize money will be no less than 4 million dollars for the WTA Crown-Jewel event and no less than 2 million dollars for the ATP "500 Events". This is undoubtedly a tremendous attraction for top tennis players since the total prize money for previous China Opens was just over one million dollars.
Third, international influence: All the tennis stars that came to Beijing and participated in the China Open 2007 have expressed their intentions to take part in the 2008 Olympic Games in Beijing. As the influence of the Beijing Olympics expands and the tournament leap in 2009, the China Open will certainly attract more of the best tennis players from around the world.
The China Open has become one of the top arenas where outstanding male and female tennis players from all over the world come to actively participate, and it is expected to grow even more influential.
