LONDON -- The 2002 Tennis Masters Cup will
be staged by Shanghai, the Masters Cup committee said on Friday.
The Cup is the season-ending men's tournament and is
co-owned by the ATP, the Grand Slams and the International
Tennis Federation.
"I could not be more pleased that Shanghai will become the
third city to host the Masters Cup," ATP chief executive officer
Mark Miles said at Wimbledon on Friday.
"The Tennis Masters Cup will be one of the biggest
international sports events ever to be held in China.
"There were many great cities bidding to stage the event.
But we were looking to move the prestigious event to another
part of the world and chose Shanghai as China has a solid tennis
base."
Last year's inaugural tournament was held in Lisbon and was
won by Brazil's Gustavo Kuerten.
This year's event will be in Sydney. The eight players will
share $3.7 million in prizemoney.
The 2002 Cup will be held in a hall currently under
construction at the Shanghai New Expo Centre.
"The Tennis Masters Cup will give us an opportunity to
extend the relationship with the rest of the world and promote
tennis in China," said a spokesperson from the Shanghai
Administration of Sport.
Miles said Shanghai pipped New York, Brazil's Florianopolis
and Sydney who were looking to stage the event for a second
successive year.
The tournament replaced the ATP World Championship and the
Grand Slam Cup which was held from 1990 till 1999.
"We are particularly pleased to award Shanghai the bid for
the event as Asia has enormous growth potential for tennis and
it's an important part of our region," said Geoff Pollard,
president of Tennis Australia.
"The event should prove to be a catalyst for tennis to begin
to fulfill its potential in this part of the world."
Although table tennis, basketball and soccer are more
popular than tennis in China, Brad Dewitt, executive
vice-president of the ATP, believes the tournament will raise
the profile of the sport.
"While it's not nearly as big as some other sports here in
China, there's a great aspiration to play tennis," Drewitt told
Reuters by phone from Shanghai where he is promoting the event.
"As the economy keeps growing here in China, we believe that
tennis will be part of that growth."
The ATP holds the Heineken Shanghai Tennis Open annually.
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