Málaga and Martín Carpena closed this Sunday a historic week in which the capital of the Costa del Sol became the epicenter of world tennis. The 2022 Davis Cup Final Phase is already history and the countdown to the appointment in 12 months, again on the same stage, has already started.
There have been six days of “5-star” tennis, with the presence of some of the best rackets in the world, which concluded Sunday afternoon with the well-deserved triumph of Canadathe first in its history, and which had as its only mole Spain express removalwhich lost the quarterfinal match against Croatia and left the final phase orphaned by the host team and the main claim for the local public.
Despite this premature goodbye from the “Armada”, the truth is that the color, the atmosphere and the party in the stands of Carpena were total from the first game from the quarterfinals to the last point of the very final this Sunday. And it is that according to official data, the tournament ended with the presence in the Palace of a total of 61,956 spectators, which makes an average of more than 10,000 a day. A magical atmosphere full of sportsmanship among the fans of the 8 teams that fought in Malaga for the “Salad Bowl” and that could be seen both inside the Carpena and its surroundings.
T-shirts, flags, scarves with the colors of each one of their respective countries, musical instruments… outside, in the Fan Zone, a continuous coming and going of adults and children, who had the opportunity to take gifts from Rakuten, from the City Hall, of the Diputación, as well as taste different foods, sweets and other gastronomic products.
They were also seen many familiar faces from the world of local sports, Malaga society or the field of politics. During the six days of competition, the mayor Francisco de la Torre has been seen passing by in the box; the president of the Provincial Council, Francis Salado; the Sports Councilor of the Junta de Andalucía, Arturo Bernal; as well as the president of the Junta de Andalucía, Juanma Moreno, who saw the grand finale live.
All the personalities related to this event showed their happiness for having lived a week for the history of sport in Malaga. “We had a total of 175,000 people who have attended the Davis Cup this year,” reported the general director of Kosmos Tennis, Enric Rojas, referring to the total number of attendees at the group stage held in four different venues (Bologna, Glasgow, Hamburg and Valencia) and the final phase itself in Malaga.
“If you make a comparison with what we had last year, when we had 105,000 people, it’s a great improvement,” he added. There was a growth in the media for this Tennis World Cup, as Davis herself defines, in a format that was established in 2019 and is more striking for the viewer.
21% foreign fans
21% of the people who attended the Carpena are from outside Spain, and up to 55% are from outside Andalusia. “This is key because this division between September and November of the finals allows fans to travel, plan flights and hotels in advance,” said Rojas.
Throughout these days there have been many Italian, German, American, Canadian, Croatian, Dutch or Australian fans who have been seen in the capital of the Costa del Sol, which has caused an impact on the hotels in the surrounding city. 85% during the weekend and an average of 75% during all the previous days.
The Chairman of the Board pointed out that the final of this competition has an outstanding economic impact, but also something “very important” such as the reputational impact and the fact that transmit to the world the image of Andalusia and its ability to organize events of this typewhich is “key” for other sectors such as tourism or industry.
«Betting on sport, as we see, has a return and the result of this is the enormous competition that exists to enjoy this type of event. There are many cities that want to host it,” said Moreno.
For the Andalusian president, this tournament is a first-level event and one of great importance for Andalusia in sporting, economic and international projection terms, since the total direct economic impact is close to 40 million euros and, during these days the city of Malaga welcomes more than 27,000 visitors who have come to witness this final.
«The celebration of this final phase is Malaga is a complete success and even the forecasts have exceeded. The atmosphere has been spectacular and events like this project the image of Málaga and the Andalucía brand. We are very fond of tennis, a sport that is in very good health », he concluded.
Waiting for Davis 2023
The Final Phase of the Málaga Davis Cup 2022 is already past. From now on the countdown begins for the Final Phase of 2023. Perhaps, in 12 months, they can be present some of the big absences due to injury (or because their teams failed to qualify for the final round of 8 for the title) of this edition as Carlos Alcaraz, Rafa Nadal, Novak Djokovic, Alexander Zverev, Jannik Sinner o Nick Kyrgios. And another question that is not trivial: the edition of Davis next year It will not coincide with a major parallel sporting event, as has happened this time with the World Cup in Qatar. Within 12 months tennis will command information and media.
