The ATP has announced
today the calendar for the 2015 season. To the delight of the grass
court players there will be a extra week between the French Open and
Wimbledon. The three week grass period will see the introduction of a
new 48 draw tournament in Nottingham. This will be the second time
that Nottingham has hosted a ATP event after the Nottingham Open
which was played 1995-2008. The allocation of a extra tournament to
Nottingham delighted the British LTA with the chief excutive Michael
Downey releasing the following statement:-
“Nottingham is a
great city with a rich sporting pedigree and I’m delighted that we
are bringing this international tournament back to the area which
will help to inspire more people to play and follow tennis. The weeks
in the lead up to Wimbledon are a vital time for players to find
their feet on grass, and the Nottingham Tennis Centre boasts some of
the finest grass courts in the country.”
This now means that
in 2015 there will be 3 WTA and 2 ATP British events played in the
three week lead up to Wimbledon.
Elsewhere
Queens and Halle are to be promoted to ATP 500 events. China will
keep holding a wide variety of ATP tournament’s which is
unsurprising giving the fact a estimated 14 million Chinese people
regularly plays tennis. In South America Rio will head up the four
week period with it being the first ATP 500 tournament in the region.
Finally there will be a introduction of a third tournament in week 17
during the European outdoor clay season. The ATP is taking
applications with my money being on either Spain or Romania.
Full
calendar can be seen here.
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