ATP圣荷西站将吹熄灯号 里约将有新赛事
San Jose ATP tourney to close; Rio gets event
在加州圣荷西的ATP赛事在2013年将不复见。拥有美国职业冰球圣荷西鲨鱼队的圣荷西运动
与娱乐企业将要把ATP250赛事的主办权从圣荷西移到该企业同样拥有的曼菲斯赛事上。
The ATP tour stop in San Jose, California will cease to exist after 2013,
TENNIS.com has learned. San Jose Sports & Entertainment Enterprises, which
owns the NHL's San Jose Sharks, will move its ATP 250 sanction from San Jose
to the tournament week currently occupied by Memphis, which it also owns.
在上周蒙地卡罗的ATP会议中，董事会证实了曼菲斯的500赛事举办权卖给了IMG，IMG与巴
西首富的EBX集团将于2014年在里约热内卢筹办500赛事。
At the ATP meetings in Monte Carlo last week, the board approved the sale of
Memphis 500-level sanction to IMG, which alongside Brazilian partner EBX will
operate an ATP World Tour 500 event in Rio de Janeiro, beginning in 2014.
圣荷西运动与娱乐企业也将圣荷西的WTA国际赛权利卖给IMG，届时里约将会有未知场地的
男女联合赛事。有关拉丁美洲赛事要从红土改成硬地的呼声一直在讨论中。
San Jose Sports & Entertainment Enterprises also sold its sanction for its
WTA International Series event in Memphis to IMG, which will host a combined
event in Rio on a yet-to-be-determined surface. There has been discussion of
playing the Latin American events on hard courts, as opposed to red clay.
2014至2015年的ATP赛事将在今年决定，而曼菲斯在2013年将缩水成250赛事。
The ATP will determine the calendar and format for 2014 and 2015 later this
year. The ATP tournament in Memphis will continue as smaller 250-level event
in 2013.
圣荷西赛事的结束也宣告从1889年起举办、美国第二长寿的赛事正式走入历史。
The shutdown of San Jose means the end of the second oldest tournament in the
United States, which began in 1889 as the Pacific Coast Championships.
美国网球协会(USTA)曾寄信表达反对立场，认为这将不利于美国职业网球，让澳洲夏季赛
及大师赛之间留了缺口。以目前来说，圣荷西站是澳洲夏季赛后美国第一个赛事，且传统
上都在二月的第二周举行。随后则有曼菲斯、德雷海滩、印地安泉及迈阿密。USTA认为以
往那五周都待在美国的选手将移往同时间的欧洲及拉丁美洲赛事，使参赛阵容更弱。
The United States Tennis Association (USTA) had sent a letter to the ATP
objecting to the sale, as it could have a detrimental effect on U.S. pro
tennis, as it will leave a hole in between the Australian summer and the
Masters Series tournaments at Indian Wells and Miami in March. Currently, San
Jose is the first U.S. event after the Aussie summer, and it traditionally
occurs during the second week of February. It has been followed by the
tournaments in Memphis, Delray Beach, Indian Wells, and Miami. USTA officials
are concerned that players who have traditionally stayed in the U.S. during
the five-week stretch might take their services elsewhere and weaken the
fields. There are also events in Europe and Latin American at that time.
而ATP另外要面对的问题来自拉丁美洲，一些赛事想将红土改成硬地赛事以吸引高阶选手。
过去ATP曾反对这项举动，但即便是固定在这一连串赛事参赛的选手如Ferrer、Almagro表
达希望维持红土的立场，大部分的赛事－如智利、巴西、阿根廷与墨西哥－都准备好要变
更场地。
An additional complication that the ATP faces is that some of the tournaments
in Latin America have proposed converting from red clay courts to hard courts
in an attempt to attract more high-level players. The ATP has opposed that
move in the past, but most of those current tournaments—Vina Del Mar, Sao
Paolo, Buenos Aires, and Acapulco—seem ready to make the switch, even though
some of the players who traditionally have played the swing, such as David
Ferrer and Nicolas Almagro, have said they want the tournaments to remain
clay-court events.
IMG看到里约热内卢将举办2014年世界杯与2016年奥运、未来五年聚焦在此，将赛事移到
这里将可获利。
IMG sees benefits in moving a tournament to Rio, a city that will be in the
spotlight over the next five years, as it will host the 2014 World Cup
(soccer) and the 2016 Summer Olympics.
(圣荷西赛事的历史)
The Northern California tournament was once played at the historic Berkeley
Tennis Club and includes many all-time greats as past champions, including
Don Budge, Rod Laver, Jimmy Connors, and John McEnroe. It moved from San
Francisco to San Jose in 1994 and had done well attendance wise for the most
part, but since the retirement of regulars like Pete Sampras, Andre Agassi,
and Michael Chang, and the declining fortunes of Andy Roddick, attendance has
been up and down. San Jose Sports & Entertainment Enterprises bought the
tournament from longtime promoter and former Top-10 player Barry MacKay in
1995.
除了印地安泉、迈阿密与辛辛那提大师赛外，其余美国ATP赛事都不怎么让球迷蜂拥而至。
Outside of the Masters tournaments at Indian Wells, Miami, and Cincinnati, no
U.S. ATP tournament of the 250- or 500-level packs in fans attendance-wise.
1980年时，从一月中到五月初曾有多达二十个美国ATP赛事，其中十二个是室内赛事。而
随着圣荷西站走入历史，同时期的美国现在五个赛事将只剩Memphis一个室内赛。
In 1980, there were 20 ATP tournaments played in the United States between
mid-January and early May, 12 of which were indoor. With San Jose’s exit,
there will only be one indoor and five overall tournaments.
在美国夏季赛事，亚特兰大站与洛杉矶站也同样面临困境。然而周一传出亚特兰大站与
BB&T(美国的银行企业)签下挂名合作，而辛辛那提也与西南财团延长合约到2014年。
The ATP summer tournaments in Atlanta and L.A. are both admittedly
struggling. However on Monday, Atlanta announced that it had signed a new
title sponsor in BB& T, and the Masters tournament in Cincinnati announced
that Western & Southern extended its deal as title sponsor through 2014.
而花旗集团也和华盛顿站签五年约，成为这美国仅存ATP500赛事的新挂名赞助商。
Sports Business Journal also reported that Citigroup will become the new
title sponsor of the combined Washington D.C. tournament for the next five
years. The Washington ATP spot is now the only 500-level tournament in the
U.S.—Matt Cronin
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