From the ATP World Tour: DUBAI — The ATP announced the winners of the 2012 ATP World Tour Tournament Awards on Monday, with the Shanghai Rolex Masters, the Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships and the SkiStar Swedish Open all maintaining their status as the most favored tournaments on the ATP World Tour in their respective categories.
Shanghai, Dubai and Båstad continue to set the standard at ATP World Tour Masters 1000, 500 and 250- level respectively. The ATP World Tour Tournament Awards, voted annually by ATP players, recognize the leading standards set across the three tournament categories on the Tour.
Brad Drewett, ATP Executive Chairman and President, said: “These awards represent a true endorsement from the world’s best players who clearly value the effort these tournaments make in setting the highest standards on the ATP World Tour year after year. They are each fantastic events in their own right, and very deserving of their awards.”
Ever since its first edition as an ATP World Tour Masters 1000 four years ago, the Shanghai Rolex Masters has earned the award in the top category. The 2012 tournament came to a dramatic conclusion with Novak Djokovic saving five match points against Andy Murray in the final.
“We are thrilled to be honored by the ATP players for the fourth year in row as Masters 1000 Tournament of the Year. It is one of our principal values to be the most “player friendly” Masters event in the world, and this award for the fourth year running proves we are living up to this standard,” said Jiang Lan, CEO, Shanghai Juss Event Management Co., Ltd. “We would like to thank the ATP players and also share this honour with our close friend Brad Drewett, whose support and vision for the Shanghai Rolex Masters has made these achievements possible.”
Murray, a two-time winner of the Shanghai event, said: “They put on a really good tournament. They look after the players really, really well. They make a big effort, the venue is fantastic, they have a lot of practice courts, a good gym and the centre court is a really nice court as well, so I’ve just always felt pretty comfortable there [in Shanghai].”
The Dubai Duty Free Tennis Championships, whose 2013 event got underway today, captured the ATP World Tour 500 award for the ninth time in 10 years.
“It is such a great endorsement of our tournament to receive the ATP World Tour 500 award for the ninth time in the past decade and we thank the ATP and the players for this recognition once more,” said Colm McLoughlin, Executive Vice Chairman, Dubai Duty Free. “As the owners and organisers of the tournament, we try to ensure that the players, officials, media and spectators, enjoy a fantastic event and this award is a reflection of all the hard work done by Salah Tahlak, our Tournament Director, and the whole team.”
Roger Federer, a five-time winner of the Dubai event, said: “We, the players, and the top players in particular, love coming to Dubai. They always have a great field and this combination makes this a very attractive tournament for all of us.”
Most remarkable is the SkiStar Swedish Open in Båstad, which continued its dominance at the ATP World Tour 250-level, winning the award for an 11th consecutive year.
“To receive this prestigious award for 11 consecutive years is tremendous. Our objective is to continue to improve our tournament and once again this is a great encouragement for the years to come,” said Thomas Wallén, SkiStar Swedish Open Tournament Director. “Hopefully the quality of our event brings out the best of tennis.”
World No.4 David Ferrer, said: “Since playing in Båstad for the first time in 2003, it has been one of my favourite tournaments. Over the years, I’ve had some great results in Båstad, but more than that, the service around the tournament is fantastic and I look forward to competing there again.”
