ATP Finals: Will the choice of Turin bring a breath of fresh air?
The Pala Alpitour will most likely be the new background of the ATP Finals. Finally the choice of the city has become official: it will be Turin that will host the year-end Masters for the period 2021-2025. The Italian city defeated competitors like London, Manchester, Singapore and Tokyo.
This is a victory expected after all, without too many surprises. The Pala Alpitour (the official name is Palasport Olimpico) is a multi-purpose covered facility, built between 2003 and 2005 for the 2006 Winter Olympic Games. The facility has the capacity to accommodate 14,350 seats, and it is the largest indoor sports facility in Italy. Made by Japanese architect Arata Isozaki, it cost around 87 million euros.
However the real question that insiders, media and fans are asking is: will the choice of Turin bring a breath of fresh air to a tournament which need it? The ATP Finals in London, in recent years, have had a great growth from the business point of view, helped by the great organization of the city and the work of the organizers.
The work done by Chris Kermode, aided by the BBC and Sky Sports, led to an average of 250,000 admissions each year, the tournament earned $144 million. Impressive numbers, as well as the legacy that London will leave to the next city that will host the Finals.
What was missing was the show on the court. The continuous (and cloying) slowdown of the playing surface, the tiredness of the protagonists who arrived very tired at the end of the year, the many withdrawals due to injuries or retreats and the precarious physical conditions of the protagonists, did not live up to the location. So the answer could be this: change of location, leading to more excitement, least in the last three or four years.
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2DWi7BD
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