This weekend, two major tennis tournaments in Asia kick off the Asian part of the 2013 ATP tour. The 11th Thailand Open (Prize money of US$600K) and the 5th Malaysian Open (US$900K) take place during the last weekend of this month, 27-29th September.
Two fantastic opportunities for Asia to see some of the best male tennis players in the world and to give wild cards to the future generation of Asian tennis players to show of their budding talents!
Thailand Open
The Thailand Open, held in Bangkok, has a good record of featuring some of the best tennis players in the world as well as giving a chance to Asian spectators to see new players on the international tennis scene during the tour. This year is no different as 5 of the TOP 20 players will be fighting for the trophy:
Berdych (No. 6), Gasquet (No. 9, French defending champion in a good position to win given his recent first semi-final at the US Open), Raonic (No. 11) , Simon (No. 16) (last finalist and 2009 champion), and Youzhny (No. 20). Murray has withdrawn from the tournament due to surgery. The Thai crowd will have the chance to cheer for the three Asian players participating in the singles: Yen Hsun Lu (No. 64) from Taipei and second best ranked Asian player after Nishikori, as well as two wild-card players, the Thai Wishaya and the promising Korean junior Suk Young. The final will be played on Sunday afternoon, 29th September, and there is still time to get tickets on the Thai Open website!
Malaysian Open
Running hot on the spot also is the 5th Malaysian Open at the 7000-seat Putra Stadium in Kuala Lumpur. Three of the TOP 20 players will fight for the prize including Ferrer (No. 4), a semi-finalist in 2012, the Swiss Wawrinka (No. 10) is feeling good after his first grand slam semi final at the US Open, beating Murray in three straight sets, and, lastly, the clay court player Almagro (No. 18). Monaco (No. 30), the defending champion of this tournament, who won his first and only ATP title on indoor hard court in 2012 just withdrew, but the French finalist Benneteau (No. 26) will work up a sweat for the top prize, which should ensure some top quality matches. Some hope in the Asian players invited by wild cards, Chung Hyeon from Korea, and Assri, Agil and Si Yew all from Malaysia will try to honor their country.
… and then Beijing, Tokyo and Shanghai
The international tennis season is slowing down before the end of the season so 250 ATP points will be up for grabs before the 500 points of the China Open of Beijing (US$3M) and the Rakuten Japan Open (US$1.5M). These four Asian tournaments are also good preparation for the Shanghai Masters 1000 (US$6M) starting in early October. This is where everybody can see 56 of the world’s best players competing against each other in one of the most exciting tournaments on offer.
The list of the 8 best players of the year who will have the chance to compete in London ATP Masters this November (US$6M) is not frozen yet, so the points of all those Asian tournaments will be worth fighting for!
If you are interested to go to the Shanghai Masters as a group, contact [email protected].
For more info on these tournaments, check out The ATP calendar and let’s show our support by filling those stadiums and getting more ATP tournaments going in Asia!
