Week 2 - Futures F1 ($15K) - Glasgow, GBR - indoor hard

Shhh · Challenger level

RE: Week 2 - Futures F1 ($15K) - Glasgow, GBR - indoor hard

ForeverDelayed · Grand Slam Champion

Well done to Chris on winning the title and hopefully having finally won a title it will spur him on to show the kind of form he did when he qualified for Wimbledon.

Good start to the year as well for Baker to build on the good end to 2009 for him and it would be good to the see the pair of them moving up the rankings again.

clayfan · Lower Club Player

I was surprised as well Madeline. The grandstand was full. There were 7 tiers of seats and I estimated about 50 seats in each row so I think an estimate of 300 - 400 is accurate. I got the impression there were large groups coming from local clubs to see Jamie Baker play. Last October for the Dan Evans v Yannick Mertens final the stand was about a third full (100 spectators) which I thought was good going but I was taken aback by the numbers yesterday. With no entry fee there was a danger of the event being overcrowded on the day.

I don't know what is normal for the finals of Futures or Challenger tourmaments. I used to think they would all be busy as the tournaments I attended as a kid, many decades ago, were all busy with spectators. But the ones I have been to recently have had relatively few spectators. Then again they are free to watch and are not advertised as such. Who would really want to go along to a tournament called Great Britain Futures 1. Call it the Glasgow Open and you might have a good commercial event. But much depends on the entry list and well known players being involved in the finals. I think having a crowd does change the atmosphere tremendously and I hope the other events this year will be well attended.

It is difficult to know what facilities there are for spectators before hand. Some indoor tournaments may not even have a stand. There will be only 5 main mens commercial tournaments this year with none north of the Midlands. 3 in London including Wimbledon Queens and the ATP finals and one each in Eastbourne and Nottingham. 2 Other challengers are planned in Gosling(?) and Jersey. That leaves the North and West with little quality tennis acton. Maybe it is time for the LTA to sponsor a few more commercial tournaments around the country to raise the regional profile of the sport.

Shhh · Challenger level

I dont know if Andy Murray would play an ATP 250 if it was in Scotland......maybe? But the liklihood of getting onto the calendar is remote anyway. A WTA ladies event though has a slightly better chance, alongside a mens 100k?????? Autumn indoors???? It may need a new venue but, this sort of investment, to a place that is showing a good quantity of players that are well supported must surely be a way of growing the game.

wolf · Tennis legend

It shows what can happen if you advertise the event and get people interested. The LTA miss a big oppotunity to get kids interested in the game at these kind of tournaments, the local bodies should be putting up flyers etc at local clubs advertising the event.

I remember when there used to be a 10k ladies event at Tipton, and Katie O'Brien was playing in the final. It was advertised and about 60-70 people turned up with chairs placed on either side of the court or the option of watching from the balcony.

zarrafak · Lower Club Player

clayfan wrote:

I was surprised as well Madeline. The grandstand was full. There were 7 tiers of seats and I estimated about 50 seats in each row so I think an estimate of 300 - 400 is accurate. I got the impression there were large groups coming from local clubs to see Jamie Baker play. Last October for the Dan Evans v Yannick Mertens final the stand was about a third full (100 spectators) which I thought was good going but I was taken aback by the numbers yesterday. With no entry fee there was a danger of the event being overcrowded on the day.

I don't know what is normal for the finals of Futures or Challenger tourmaments. I used to think they would all be busy as the tournaments I attended as a kid, many decades ago, were all busy with spectators. But the ones I have been to recently have had relatively few spectators. Then again they are free to watch and are not advertised as such. Who would really want to go along to a tournament called Great Britain Futures 1. Call it the Glasgow Open and you might have a good commercial event. But much depends on the entry list and well known players being involved in the finals. I think having a crowd does change the atmosphere tremendously and I hope the other events this year will be well attended.

It is difficult to know what facilities there are for spectators before hand. Some indoor tournaments may not even have a stand. There will be only 5 main mens commercial tournaments this year with none north of the Midlands. 3 in London including Wimbledon Queens and the ATP finals and one each in Eastbourne and Nottingham. 2 Other challengers are planned in Gosling(?) and Jersey. That leaves the North and West with little quality tennis acton. Maybe it is time for the LTA to sponsor a few more commercial tournaments around the country to raise the regional profile of the sport.

At the same event last year the stand was pretty well full as well for the final between Colin Fleming and Stephane Robert. Jamie learned his trade as a junior about 4 miles from the Scotstoun Centre, whereas Colin was based near me some 40 miles away.
Chris is pretty popular in Glasgow too, having retained his doubles trophy last Friday, which he'd previously won with Jamie the year before. That probably accounts for the slight increase in numbers attending over 2009.
There's no doubt that an ATP event in Glasgow or Edinburgh, with Andy Murray, Jamie Baker and Flemski, along with Boggo, Wardie, Dan Evans, Chris Eaton and a few other Brits, (and of course some top 100 players!) involved would be a massive draw for tennis fans, and the media, in Central Scotland.
I'd have it say the first week in May, in place of say the Belgrade or Munich ATP 250s, but on hard courts. This would be attractive to most of the top players who will always struggle for points on clay at that time of year

-- Edited by zarrafak on Tuesday 19th of January 2010 03:42:18 PM