08.08.2008
Qatar Tennis Federation welcomes women’s tennis elite in Berlin
The world’s top women tennis players will compete in the Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin hosted by the Qatar Tennis Federation this week. Both the world number one, Justine Henin, and number two Ana Ivanovic will be playing. Henin is aiming for her fourth trophy on the red clay of Berlin.
The Qatar Tennis Federation acquired the Tier 1 Berlin Open from the German Tennis Federation, which was the first time a Middle Eastern country has procured, organised and hosted a tournament in another country.
The Qatar Tennis Federation now hosts three international WTA and ATP tournaments every year including the WTA Qatar Total Open and ATP Qatar ExxonMobil Open in Doha, and the WTA Qatar Telecom German Open in Berlin.
Hassan Ali Bin Ali, the Chairman of the Doha 2016 Olympic and Paralympic Games Bid Committee and one of the founders of the Qatar Tennis Federation said: “The Qatar Tennis Federation continues to organise world-class tournaments both at home and abroad. The professional organisation of the annual international WTA/ATP tournaments in Doha and Berlin demonstrates why Qatar is at forefront of the tennis world. We are proud that, throughout the world, tennis enthusiasts always check their calendars for the dates of our next events.”
With its Tier 1 status, the Berlin Open still belongs to the highest category of tournament on the world-wide Sony Ericsson WTA Tour, and it promises to host a first class field of players. Besides Henin and Ivanovic, Jelena Jankovic, Svetlana Kuznetsova and Serena Williams will also fight for world ranking points and a record-breaking total purse of US$1.3 million.
This is Berlin's 28th consecutive year playing host to the WTA Tour. The Rot-Weis Club, where the tournament is being held, has hosted numerous international matches and is where the majority of Davis Cup matches are held in Germany.
Mr Hassan added: “In my day, I was quite a decent tennis player myself but not even close to the incredible athletes who are visiting Berlin this week. I very much look forward to welcoming the WTA players for the end-of-season Championship in Doha in November.”
Doha hosts a large number of sporting events every year. In December 2006, Qatar hosted the Asian Games in what has been called “the best, the biggest, the most widely reported, and the highest standard” Asian Games ever. The Asian Games are the second biggest multi-sport event in the world, after the Olympic Games. At the 2006 Asian Games, the tennis programme included seven events; men’s/women’s singles, doubles, team and mixed doubles. The tennis events were held over 11 days and attracted 130 competitors from 22 NOCs.