Rafael Nadal of Spain plays a backhand in a competition
Tennis gala
More than 600,000 tennis fans are expected to attend the event, according to the organizers. Millions more across the country and worldwide are expected to view more than 150 hours of live coverage and broadcast feeds provided by CCTV-5, a tournament sponsor.
Sina.com, another tournament sponsor, is providing webcasts and real-time online and wireless Internet updates.
“We’re always ready. This ent has to be first-class, and it is,” said Zhang Junhui, managing director of China Open.China Open, formerly the Beijing Salem Open, is an annual professional tennis tournament held in the capital. The men’s singles ad doubles events were first held in 1993 as the ATP opened a series of new tournaments in Asia.
Zhang said the process has not always been smooth. In 1998, the tournament was dropped from the ATP tour calendar before being reinstated in 2004. This year, the tourney had made a huge leap, as Beijing has become one of 10 cities to host an ATP 500 Series event. The men’s event has been upgraded to an ATP 500 Series evnt, while the women’s event was upgraded to a Crown-Pearl tournament.But Zhang said his committee’s clear objective i to develop China Open into one of the world’s top five tennis tournaments, along with Wimbledon, the US, French and Australan opens. “We are confident we will achieve this goal,” he saidAn independent business
Although China Open was organized by the General Administration of Sport of China and the People’s Government of Beijing Municipaity, it is being treated as a “stand-alone” business dealZhang said the Beijing municipal government gave the go-ahead for China Open in 2003, but unlike other tournaments in China, the event was an independent, market-oriented business venture from the beginning.
