Toni Nadal was the most important person in Rafael's career - Weindorfer
The Stuttgart Mercedes Cup Tournament Director Edwin Weindorfer commented about how Toni Nadal influenced the professional path of his nephew Rafael in tennis. "Toni Nadal was the most important in the career of Rafael, the way he developed as a player was much because of Toni. I know Toni Nadal very well starting from 2006 when Rafa won the Mercedes Cup on clay and in 2015 on grass. We also organize a WTA tournament in Mallorca and we have been working together very closely", said Weindorfer.
Asked if they feel fortunate to now host a grass event in June and not a clay event in July, which makes them attract top players more easily, Weindorfer replied: "Five years ago when Wimbledon decided to move to one week later in the calendar, the ATP had to react and add two grass-court tournaments. One was Antalya and the other one was Stuttgart. But do not forget, every tournament has the change. Hamburg, Gstaad, Kitzbuhel, Bastad have the chance but they were not ready to take the risk and put their money for the investment. We decided that we would go to do investment with my company, Mercedes Benz and the city of Stuttgart. That's why I do not feel privileged. I had a good idea and I thought that would make us bring top players and I was right because Nadal, Federer and Thiem played and the whole tournament changes. You have much more media coverage, more spectators, but everybody has the chance. People take a chance, other people don't."
On when he first approached the men's tour, Weindorfer added: "We started with an ATP Challenger Tournament in 1991 in Austria until 1997 and then I would start working with the ATP in Monte Carlo being responsible for new business developments, from 1997 to 2003."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2LEC6eK
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