The ATP World Tour Finals tennis tournament, played at the end of each year involving the top eight players in the men's tennis world rankings, was held for the first time at London’s O2 Arena last month as part of a five-year deal.
In moving to the O2, the ATP, the governing body for professional men’s tennis, managed to secure a title sponsorship deal with British bank Barclays understood to be worth around $7 million per year – something that the Chinese organisers in Shanghai, home of the Tour Finals for four seasons until 2008, could not accomplish.
“The event in Shanghai was pretty well supported by a number of local partners. And globally, men’s tennis is going very well, so I don’t think this tournament would have a problem finding sponsors anywhere,” Kermode told SportBusiness.
“The key for the success in London was coming back to the European market, where tennis is very strong and where most of the players in the top ten come from.”
Kermode also confirmed that all 15 sessions were sold at and therefore played before a 17,500-capacity crowd, making it the biggest indoor tennis event ever. He added that a large number of tennis admirers who have been finding it hard to get tickets for Wimbledon were attracted to the number of available tickets on sale.
