New Haven competition shifts to Winston-Salem
The ATP and USTA made an announcement on Monday regarding the sale of the ATP World Tour competition previously held in New Haven to Winston-Salem Professional Tennis. Starting next year in August, the forty eight field event will be held in a to-be-built tennis facility on the campus of Wake Forest University.
The newly constructed state-of-the-art tennis facility will be designed in order to conduct both collegiate and professional tennis competitions. It will be located between BB&T Field, home of the Wake Forest Demon Deacon football team and the current indoor tennis training center. According to the plan, ten to twelve Deco-Turf II courts will be constructed along with the central court which will accommodate over 3000 spectators.
Don Flow, who is the President of The Flow Companies and head of Winston-Salem Professional Tennis, when commenting about this recent shift in venue, said that they are all excited about the prestigious event moving to Winston-Salem. The entire community will welcome the competition and the process has already started with the corporate community stepping up, and with Wake Forest University being a strong supporter of the competition.
The ATP Executive Chairman and President Adam Helfant, when asked about the venue shift thanked Don Flow and Winston-Salem Professional Tennis for bringing the ATP tour back to North Carolina. He further added that the game of tennis at the moment is going through one of the most exciting periods in its history and it is tremendous that the tour will visit Winston-Salem as part of its United States summer circuit.
The competition will be held with great local support, both within the USTA Southern Section as well as the Winston-Salem community.
“It is a great honor for Wake Forest to serve as the host of this tournament. As an ATP World Tour event, the Winston-Salem Open at Wake Forest University will generate tremendous interest both nationally and internationally, allowing us to showcase all that the University has to offer to a global audience. The entire Wake Forest community will embrace this tournament, as they did with the Davis Cup in recent years, and with their support, we will be able to make this one of the premier professional tennis events in North America,” reflected Dr. Nathan O. Hatch who is the President of Wake Forest.
Ron Wellman, on the other hand, who is the athletic director of Wake Forest, declared, “We are very excited to host the Winston-Salem Open at Wake Forest University, both for the opportunity it gives for our fans and the entire Winston-Salem community to experience an ATP tournament in their backyard, and for the improvements it will bring to our athletic facilities. The world-class tennis complex that will be constructed will give our men’s and women’s tennis teams one of the best facilities in the Atlantic Coast Conference. It will perfectly complement the recent renovations to BB&T Field and Wake Forest Baseball Park as part of our commitment to providing our fans with one of the best game day experiences in the country.”
Some of the local corporate partners who have signed as initial presenting sponsors of the event include Hanes Brands, The Flow Companies and BB&T Bank.
The competition will take place from August 21-27 next year with total prize money of $625,000. The qualifying matches will be played on August 19 and August 20. It serves as the final men’s contest of the Olympus United States Open Series prior to the year’s last Grand Slam, the United States Open in New York.
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