Cincinnati expanded and the race became Grand Slam

Four Grand Slam tournaments are the most prestigious events of the year of tennis village, but not so that Australia expanded, Roland Garros, Wimbledon and the US expanded to stop growing. All are looking at "opponent", compared to each other. A fierce but fierce competition to become the best Grand Slam - an informal title. Regardless of Wimbledon is asking for permission to upgrade All England Club, aiming to the goal of becoming the tournament taking place in three true weeks like three "fellow friends", the remaining Grand Slam has taken the qualifying round in the content of the main combination to extend the event time to increase ticket sales and maximize profits. Indian Wells, where the BNP Paribas Open host, has long been holding the position of "the fifth Grand Slam " - the most unofficial but the most lustful of today, at least since the tournament was transferred to the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in 2000. Despite the similar properties and scale of the organization, the attraction of this tournament seems to be decreasing. This year, the players first experienced the complete amenities of Lindner Family Tennis Center after completing the upgrade from last year, with a total budget of 260 million USD. In fact, this event took place in Mason city, located in the southwest of Ohio, about 30 minutes from Cincinnati to the North..500 m2, a tennis center with six indoor fields - with an area of ​​about 5,000 m2, and more than 1,900 m2 for an executive center.

"When I first came here, I wondered: 'What happened? Where am I?' "In the past, we often crowded each other to use the services in the first days, because at that time the number of players most. But now it is different. I see the tournament has completely changed ". The common campus is also expanded from 81,000 to 162,000 m2. The combination of the combination is the grass and flowers stretching, shaded by thousands of trees, of which more than 2,000 young trees and shrubs have been rooted and will grow in the coming years, thereby turning this place into a park containing tennis courts The grass and gravel layer, decorative stones. Besides, many facilities inside, such as the main building - where it can be used as a restaurant, will open the door all year round to serve local residents and tourists. "They renovated and made these changes in just one year? It is unbelievable".

However, not everything goes smoothly. At the beginning of the week, the electrical system at a combination of problems caused the technology of electronic wiring and television signals to stop working, interrupting the competition day. And yet, in the match Jannik Sinner won Gabriel Diallo in the third round, the fake fire alarm rang made both the player suffer a lot of trouble. In addition, the newly upgraded combination but no roofing pitch also reduces the satisfaction from the audience when coming to the field in the rainy day. In terms of bonuses, Indian Wells is more appreciated in two directions: bonus and fairness. In Cincinnati, the women's singles champion received $ 752,275, less than the $ 1.1 million, awarded to the men's singles champion. This difference is significantly shortened in Indian Wells, when Mirra AndraVa and Jack Draper pocketed 1.1 and 1.2 million.

In terms of attraction, Indian Wells is also marginally better than Cincinnati, partly by the tradition and geographical position better. According to statistics, more than 500,000 fans came to follow the tournament in March in California, which is about 160 km from Los Angeles and near the famous Palm Springs resort. Meanwhile, Cincinnati expanded, located in Mason city with a population of more than 30,000, expected to welcome about 300,000 spectators this year.

If any tournament makes the Indian Wells Masters operators wary, it must be Rome Masters. At the beginning of the year, the tennis federation and Padel Italy (FITP) submitted the file, with an offer of up to 591 million USD to "buy back" Madrid's capacity expanded in the competition schedule. This bold water is to eliminate the Masters 1000 event in Spain, thereby extending Rome Masters into a three -week event. Along with the comprehensive upgrade plan foro Italico, Fitp aims to the ultimate goal of turning the event at Italy into Grand Slam. Rome Masters this year also put into use three new yards, contributing to expanding the scale of Foro Italico from 12 to 20 hectares.. "Why only four prizes and are always those events? This is completely unfair and makes tennis unable to develop ".

Of course, there are countless barriers in front of Rome Masters as well as Indian Masters, but the great ambition of Masters 1000 events not only helps to enhance the tournament, but also benefits for ATP and WTA - the organizations are also in the GRAND race with the four Grand prizes Slam.