German car joins ATP sponsorship

German car joins ATP sponsorship

JAKARTA (JP): A leading German automaker, Mercedes Benz, has joined other big international companies to sponsor the Association of Tennis Professionals' (ATP) Tour men's tennis tournaments worldwide, starting next year.

Under a four-year agreement with the ATP Tour, the prestigious automaker will be the major sponsor for 85 tennis events, in 38 countries around the world, including the season-end ATP World Championship and World Doubles Championship.

The sponsorship deal followed a series of new marketing and television agreements the ATP Tour has reached for 1996. The men's ATP received sponsorship commitment with Eurosport, the major sports cable broadcaster in Europe, German national broadcaster ZDF and ESPN International earlier this year.(amd)