Organisers hope Vietnam Open will spur local interest in tennis
HANOI - Organisers of this week’s ATP Vietnam Open hope the communist state’s first international tennis tournament will build on growing local support for the sport.
“This tournament will be a booster for Vietnamese players and the development of tennis in Vietnam,” said tournament director Amit Naor. “By staging this event, this will show Vietnam can host major international events in other sports too.” Naor said organisers chose Vietnam because of the growing interest in tennis here. The week-long event starts Monday and runs to October 2 in Ho Chi Minh City’s Phu Tho Stadium.
“It would be wonderful for Vietnamese fans who will have a chance to see world-class players in action,” said Nguyen Hoang Nang, director of the Sports Department in Ho Chi Minh City. “Hopefully, the Vietnam Open will be an annual event.” Dozens of players, including Argentine Mariano Puerta, ranked 10th in the world, Thomas Johansson of Sweden and the Czech Republic’s Radek Stepanek, will be competing for a total purse of $380,000. Vietnam’s top male player, Do Minh Quan, has drawn a wild card to be in the main event. The ATP event coincides with the country’s blossoming interest in tennis.
Tennis was first introduced to Vietnam at the turn of the last century by the French, but was considered an elite sport since only the French and wealthy locals could afford it. The sport was almost abandoned in the north after the communists defeated the French at Dien Bien Phu in 1954, but it remained popular in southern Vietnam, which was ruled by a US-backed government. After Vietnam was reunified in 1975 at the end of the Vietnam War, the sport was largely abandoned as the country endured economic crisis and isolation. But in recent years, tennis has enjoyed a resounding revival.
As Vietnam’s economy has steadily picked up steam, an emerging middle class, with more time and money on its hands, has picked up rackets to turn tennis into the new sport of leisure. Amateur tennis has become big business. It can cost hundreds of dollars for a racket, shoes and clothes, while renting a court costs $4.5 an hour. Over the past six to seven years, some 3,000 to 4,000 tennis courts have been built and there are more than 100,000 tennis players in the country, according to Tran Ngoc Linh, general secretary of Vietnam Tennis Association. Linh said he believes the ATP tournament is a “great event for Vietnam’s tennis.”
“It would help to create an impetus for Vietnam’s tennis development and Vietnamese players will have a chance to learn from world-class players,” he said. Tickets for the entire event cost between $75 to $142, a huge amount of money for the people in Vietnam. Though Vietnam remains a developing nation, tournament director Naor said he believes that the decision to move the competition here is a good one given the country’s potential. “We went into Russia 15 years ago. There were no vending machines back then but it has become one of the best tournaments we have. We expect the same thing here,” he said.
The Associated Press - September 26, 2005.
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