Tennis Season Finale Extends London Stay
The ATP has announced that London will continue to host the season-ending Barclays ATP World Tour Finals until 2015, while the organisation has also extended its agreements with the event’s title sponsor Barclays, and Ricoh has signed a new agreement with the governing body of men’s tennis.
The season-ending World Tour Finals has been played at The O2 arena in London since 2009.
Over the past 42 years, the tournament has been contested in 14 different cities from Tokyo to New York to Lisbon to Sydney and most recently Shanghai, before moving to London – where it will now remain until at least 2015.
More than 750,000 fans have watched the world’s best eight singles players and doubles teams over the past three years at The O2.
Brad Drewett, ATP executive chairman and president, said: ‘We are very happy to announce the extension of our original commitment in London for a further two years, meaning the Barclays ATP World Tour Finals will be played in London for at least the next three years through 2015.’
‘We are very proud of our marquee event, the ultimate showcase of the best of men’s tennis. The excitement created by our season-ending tournament in London has been fantastic, with fans, players, media, and commercial partners all supporting the event in an unprecedented manner.’
Along with the new agreement, Barclays has also extended its title sponsorship of the tournament for a further two years.
Antony Jenkins, Barclays Group chief executive, said: ‘We are committed to the long term success of the tournament that has established itself as one of the most popular tournaments in the world with more than 250,000 people attending every year. I would like to thank the ATP, the players and The O2, but particularly all those fans of tennis who come every year to support the event and have made it the success it is.’
Meanwhile, earlier on Wednesday the ATP announced that Ricoh had extended its sponsorship agreement for a further three years, taking the partnership into its 10th year in 2015.
As platinum partner and the official office solutions provider of the ATP World Tour in Europe, Ricoh provides its state-of-the-art document solutions and services to aid the ATP in tournament operations.
Speaking on the ATP Final in London, Riccardo Silva, President, MP & Silva, added: ‘This year’s ATP Tour finals is being enjoyed by fans all over the world and the event moving to London over the past few years has been key to its growth.’
‘London has been at the centre stage of sport this year hosting a wonderful Olympic Games and is an iconic city that’s famous to audiences around the world, undoubtedly making it more appealing from a broadcast and sports rights perspective.’
‘Wimbledon is of course a magical and unique championship, but hosting another high profile tennis tournament in London will certainly help to grow Tennis in the UK even more.’
