ATP doubles championship moved to Netherlands<\/p>\n
JAKARTA (JP): The ATP Tour has decided to move the World
\nDoubles Championship from Jakarta to Eindhoven, the Netherlands,
\nending months of speculation over the existence of the tournament
\nhere.<\/p>\n
An announcement by the Association of Tennis Professionals
\n(ATP) Tour stated that the season-ending tournament, which
\nfeatures eight world top teams in a round-robin format, will take
\nplace as scheduled, during the week of Nov. 20 to Nov. 26, at the
\n6,000 seat Sportscentrum, UPI reported on Friday.<\/p>\n
The men's tennis professionals body stated that the broken
\nbroadcasting deal with local television station TPI, in late
\nJuly, was behind its decision. TPI dismissed its two-year
\ncontract, worth US$1.75 million, with the ATP due to financial
\nshortcomings.<\/p>\n
Dutch television station NOS will be the host broadcaster in
\nthe Netherlands and Advantage International will manage the $1.3
\nmillion event. However, the ATP would not to go into details
\nabout the length of the last minute contract.<\/p>\n
A top official of the Indonesian Tennis Association, Eddy
\nKatimansah, said moving the tournament was a big loss to
\nIndonesia but the association could understand the difficult
\nsituation that led the ATP to its decision.<\/p>\n
\"As far as we could, we tried to help the two parties find a
\nway out. Unfortunately, our efforts came to an end when we talked
\nabout the business interest,\" Eddy said.<\/p>\n
\"We have no money and nobody was prepared to risk losing at
\nleast $850,000 to keep the tournament going here,\" he added.<\/p>\n
The ATP has yet to formally informed the Indonesian tennis
\nbody. \"Never mind, they have no responsibility to do that. It is
\ntheir tournament,\" Eddy said.<\/p>\n
However, he denied that the contractual dispute would not
\nfreeze the ATP's relationship with the Indonesian tennis
\nassociation. The ATP dropped a challenger tournament here due to
\npoor sponsorship two months ago.<\/p>\n
Eddy sent letters to the association's chairman, Sarwono
\nKusumaatmadja, and honorary chairman, Moerdiono, asking them to
\nintervene.<\/p>\n
In response to Eddy's letter, Sarwono opted to hand off in
\nAugust, saying that grooming national tennis prodigies is the
\nmost important program. Moerdiono let his secretary handle the
\nmatter, but no solution was reached until last month.<\/p>\n
Eddy said no further measures have been taken by the national
\ntennis body since then.<\/p>\n
He blamed poor public turn-outs at tennis matches for causing
\nbig companies to refuse sponsoring the event. \"They prefer to
\nwatch it on television. To make matters worse, doubles
\ncompetitions are less popular than singles,\" he said.<\/p>\n
Both the ATP and TPI reportedly conceded a $1 million deficit
\nwhen the championship made its debut here last year. Neither
\nconfirmed the financial losses total.<\/p>\n
The ATP posted a consultant for the championship, Russell
\nBarlow, here shortly after the 1994 tournament. He conducted a
\nseries of negotiations with prospective sponsors, only to find
\nTPI would make the deal. (amd)<\/p>",
"url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/atp-doubles-championship-moved-to-netherlands-1447893297",
"image": ""
},
"sponsor": "Okusi Associates",
"sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com"
}