Madrid, Sep 17 (EFE) .- The Mutua Madrid Tennis Open, whose first edition was held in 2002, will continue in the Spanish capital until 2030 after the agreement reached between the City Council and Gerard Tsobanian, president and CEO of Madrid Trophy Promotion.
The City Council, according to Mayor José Luis Martínez-Almeida, “maintains substantially the same figures in this agreement, which do not represent an increase with respect to the above, and will continue to be about 10 million euros per year.”
The agreement reached between the Consistory and Madrid Trophy Promotion also includes the construction of an additional track, near the outdoor tracks, with a maximum capacity of ten thousand people and which will respond to the demands of the ATP and the WTA.
“We have committed ourselves so that the tournament continues to grow and it will also have a new infrastructure that will allow it to continue to consolidate. It will allow us to increase the advertising impact and tourist capacity because the expected return is higher than what we invested,” he said.
“Mutua is one of the symbols of sport in the city and I think that after the Grand Slam it is the fifth or sixth great tournament in the world. For Madrid it is essential to combine professional sports with grassroots sports,” he confessed.
For Gerard Tsobanian, president and CEO of Madrid Trophy Promotion, this tournament “means many things because we have had a twenty-year relationship and the tournament has gone through all kinds of moments.”
“Without the help of the city, it would have been very difficult to get where we have arrived. It is a tournament for all Madrilenians and the economic return, not advertising, is 105 million euros,” he stressed.
Feliciano López, director of the Mutua Madrid Open, stressed that looking back he realizes “that he is lucky to be in this project from the beginning and that as a player and manager the vision is different”.
The Mallorcan Rafael Nadal, dominator of the record with five titles (2005, 2010, 2013, 2014 and 2017), could not be in the presentation but left a video recorded with a message of “thanks to all those who make the tournament possible”.
“As a Spaniard, being able to have this tournament is very special and I think we are privileged. There are many places in the world that would pay a lot of money to have such a tournament, so we must be satisfied and value it. The contribution of the city is decisive to have a tournament of this level, “said Rafa Nadal.
The presentation of the renewal of this new agreement was attended by Manolo Santana, for whom the mayor of Madrid wanted to recognize as an “icon” and of whom he said that “the city will always be grateful for his contribution to this tournament.”
The first edition of the tournament was held in 2002 on hard court and indoors at the Casa de Campo Rockódromo facilities. Seven years later, in 2009, the tournament went on to clay and moved to the south of the city, to the Caja Mágica, also hosting the women’s category.
The next edition, 2022, will be held between April 26 and May 8 and will once again feature some of the best players in the international ranking.
