Contributed by Merliza Lim
Singapore, Wednesday, July 7, 2010 — The Singapore Tennis Association (STA) has announced a new partnership with the Madrid Tennis Federation (MTF) after signing a Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) which will allow Singapore’s national junior and national team players to train at the Madrid Tennis Federation’s (MTF) headquarters — the famous “Magic Box”, venue of the Madrid ATP Masters 1000.
At a press conference to announce this partnership, Mr Edwin Lee, President of the STA and Mr Miguel Diaz, Vice President of the Spanish Tennis Federation (STF) and President of the MTF, called this a landmark day for both sides.
“We are delighted to have one of the top tennis in the world as a partner and I am certain that tremendous benefit will be bestowed to our players as a result of this opportunity. The ‘Magic Box’ is a world-class tennis facility and a tennis player’s dream and for us to call this our national training center in Spain is a dream come true,” said Mr Lee.
Diaz added: “We have realized that we, as far as the Madrid Tennis Federation is concerned, have a responsibility to grow the sport of tennis and we are delighted to partner with the Singapore Tennis Association and to pass on some of our experiences and resources to help develop their players.’’
The new Magic Box tennis centre, the venue for Madrid Open 1000, has 21 tennis courts (clay, hard and covered courts) and all the required facilities for tennis development.
STA had announced three months ago that it will be setting aside S$500,000 for a three-year period to help groom and develop two promising junior players aged between 12 to 14 years old who are willing to put studies aside in pursuit of a tennis career. The MTF will assist the STA in the selection process of the two junior players later this year.
STA will be able to take advantage of this partnership and send the two selected juniors to train at the Magic Box. Other Singapore players who wish to train at the Magic Box will also be able to benefit from the MOU.
The agreement also marks the first success story of the new marketing agreement between the Singapore Tennis Association and Sports Management Group (SMG). SMG, the marketing and management partner of STA will develop the cooperation with the Madrid Tennis Federation through specific player exchange programs, training camps and development of coaches, as well as the staging of international world-class events in Singapore.
In addition, an announcement made today that is another boost to Singapore tennis is the return of the ATP Challenger event. Previously, Singapore played host to the ATP Challenger event for a period of 12 years from 1989 to 2001 at the Singapore Island Country Club and the Heineken Open ATP event from 1996 to 2000.
Since then, no major professional tennis events have been held in Singapore besides Maria Sharapova Live, which was an exhibition event staged at the end of 2007 at the Singapore Indoor Stadium. Sports Management Group (SMG), who was the sports marketing and events company responsible for staging Maria Sharapova Live, are planning to organize the ATP Challenger event that will run from 24 to 30 January 2011, pending final approval from the ATP. The ATP will be in Singapore soon to visit and evaluate the proposed ATP Challenger venue.
The ATP Challenger circuit run by the ATP is a series of events held around the world, which allows lower-ranked professionals to secure ranking points needed to compete on the major ATP Tour and Grand Slam events.
STA’s Mr. Lee added: “These developments mark a watershed for tennis in Singapore. This is a significant day for Singapore tennis, not only are we seeing a new partnership that allows us to team up with a major powerhouse on the world tennis scene, but we are also marking the return of a key event on the global calendar that will give our local players a chance to compete against the best in the world, and secure crucial ranking points, right in our own backyard.
“Spain is a major tennis nation with players such as Rafael Nadal dominating top events and Grand Slams. It will be fantastic for us to learn from and benefit from the system, which has produced such top players.”
What is the point of organising this tournament if it does not benefit our local players? Our local players do not qualify for this event so is there really a point for this Challenger event? However, I am not saying that I oppose this idea of a Challenger event, as it would certainly draw much media publicity to the tennis scene in Singapore, but what SMG and STA has overlooked is the addition of more lower-level tennis tournaments (as the saying goes, learn to crawl before you walk).
In elaboration, I mean the junior age-group tournaments, the open tournaments (intermediate, advanced and open), and most importantly, the ITFs (International Tennis Federation) and ATFs(Asian Tennis Federation for under-14s) which cater to the aspiring rising stars of tomorrow. We currently have only one ITF and not a single ATF tournament. It would be good for our aspiring and competitive local players if they could participate in this tournaments without travelling to overseas, and would give valuable experience, training and support our local players lack. Therefore, if they want to organise more International events, I strongly urge SMG and STA to reconsider the addition of ITF and ATF tournaments in addition to this Challenger event. (By the way, if STA is still giving the excuse that there are not enough courts, please, then why is this Singapore Open Challenger held in the very Kallang tennis centre in which STA so strongly claim that there are not enough courts?)
Mr Lim,
Is it also possible join by other countries player?