Beijing's 'crown jewel'

Shanghai Daily

WITH a little over eight months until the opening ceremony of the Beijing Olympics, the city's tennis authorities have been hard at work making sure they take full advantage of the sporting legacy of the Games.

The upgrading of the China Open and its relocation to the new US$40-million Olympic Tennis Center for 2009 is the centerpiece of an ambitious plan to make Beijing an international tennis center.

The first step of that plan was the acquisition of one of the WTA's new "crown jewel" events, four tournaments that will sit just below the grand slam events in status, while the men's China Open will become an ATP 500 Series event in 2009, which sits below the grand slams and nine Masters Series events.

"The good sports atmosphere, excellent venues and facilities brought by the Olympics have together provided a good environment for the future development of the China Open," said Sun Kangling, China Open executive chairman and Beijing sport chief.

"The goal is not only to make China Open an international sports event for Beijing, but also make it ... a bright spot for the sustainable development of the sports industry in Beijing after the Olympics," said Sun, who has been given 500 million yuan (US$67.64 million) to attract events to the Chinese capital.

The home for the new tournament will be the tennis center on the northernmost tip of the Olympic Green, already hailed as one of the best venues in the world by International Tennis Federation (ITF) president Francisco Ricci Bitti.

The center court is crowned by a distinctive lotus flower design and there are seats for 16,000 spectators over the eight match courts, which are complemented by six practice courts - made up of the same hard court surface used at the US Open.

The proximity in the calendar to the US Open has proved a bane for the China Open since it started in 2004, with top names regularly withdrawing after playing in New York.

From 2009, however, the top men will have to play one of the four 500 Series events, the others are in Tokyo, Basel and Valencia, after the US Open while the presence of the top 50 women is mandatory at the "crown jewel" tournaments.