Thailand Open brings tennis fans and stars together
Play
Tennis fans will have the chance to get up close and personal with top players at the ATP Thailand Open next month after organisers launched the "10 Fans 10 Experiences" campaign yesterday to mark the tournament's 10th anniversary.
For the first time, fans will play a part in the tournament, with opportunities to toss the coin for the final match, be an official tournament photographer, hit with a star player, meet and greet the champion, be an exclusive reporter, welcome your favourite player at the airport, take a backstage tour, take a seat in the VIP courtside box, be an official flag bearer escorting players onto the court, and be a ball boy or girl.
Interested fans should visit www.Facebook.com/PTTThailandOpen, pick one of the 10 experiences and explain why they want to take part. The best entries will be contacted for interview and 10 lucky fans will be selected by September 10.
The tournament also features the “ATP Finals Experience #2”, offering ticket buyers the chance of a return trip for two to the ATP World Tour Finals in London in November. Ticket buyers can register at the tournament or via its Facebook page.
The US$608,500 Thailand Open will be at Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani from September 22 to 30. This year’s field includes world No 9 Janko Tipsarevic of Serbia, French stars Richard Gasquet, Gilles Simon and Gael Monfils, and lefthander Fernando Verdasco of
Spain.
The tournament also boasts three exciting young players, with world No 16 Milos Raonic of Canada, Australian young gun Bernard Tomic and last year’s quarter-finalist Grigor Dimitrov of Bulgaria.
Adding further depth to the field are former Thailand Open runners up Jarkko Nieminen of Finland, currently ranked 42, and 2008 finalist Viktor Troicki of Serbia, ranked 30. Joining them will be 2010 champion Guillermo Garcia-Lopez of Spain and world No 33 Jeremy Chardy, adding even more French flavour to the tournament.
Other players who have confirmed include Ivo Karlovic of Croatia, Japanese stars Go Soeda and Tatsuma Ito, Robin Haase of the Netherlands, Slovenia’s Blaz Kavcic, Mikhail Kukushkin of Kazakhstan, and Australia’s Marinko Matosevic, currently ranked 62. A total of 13 countries are represented at the tournament.
Thailand Open singles action will feature 28 players including three wild cards and four qualifiers. The public draw for the tournament will be held on Impact Arena’s Level 3 at 2pm on September 22.
