Six ATP Tour Tournaments are in Search of Sponsors

(This entry was originally published in this blog December 2008 and it is based on the information of that time.)

Global economic crisis now seems to have its bite on Tennis. According to recent report out in the media claims that six men’s tennis tours are still in search of sponsors. Among these six ATP tour tournaments, two are reported to have come very close to make new agreements. Earlier in October, Dutch Open, one of the 63 annual men’s tennis tournaments, was bought by the Serbian tennis star Novak Djokovic’s family as the tournament organizers were not finding any interested sponsor. Reports also have it in the media that Paris Masters event has also lost one sponsor. ATP’s 12-year contract with its title sponsor Mercedes-Benz will expire at the end of this year. So, ATP is also in search of new sponsor at this moment.

Bloomberg reported:

The men’s tour encompasses 63 tournaments played in 31 countries. The ATP is still looking to replace its main title sponsor Mercedes-Benz, whose 12-year support of the tour expires at the end of the month, Dent said. Mercedes-Benz, a unit of Daimler SA, the world’s second-biggest luxury carmaker, will continue to sponsor tournaments in Madrid, Shanghai and Stuttgart, Germany, next year.

“We continue to have very encouraging discussions with a number of partners from different sectors,” Dent said when asked how close the tour was to finding a new title sponsor. “We are in a fortunate position that as a business we can afford to take the time required to get the right kind of deal for the ATP.

Tennis is one of the popular sports in the world and it has four major tournaments, called Grand Slam, which are taken place throughout a season in Australia, France, England and USA in different times of the year. However, the tour events go on almost every month in the year. I am not surprised to know that tennis is also being affected by the global credit crunch because it has become a problem which exists almost every part of the world. Now, let us see if tennis tours can come out of this crisis without having been suffered much.