Amazing Thailand Tennis
The Thailand Open 2012 Tennis sports event comes to Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani from 22nd – 30th September 2012 with over 70 of the world’s finest men’s tennis players getting involved. Prize money up for grabs is a staggering USD$ 608,500.
Something a little bit different! Singha Tennis in the dark!
The Thailand Open 2012 returns to Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani from 22 – 30 September with a host of the world’s top tennis stars already confirmed to play in Bangkok.
Leading the field, competing for $608,500 in prize money are: world #8 Janko Tipsarevic, 2009 champion Gilles Simon, crowd favourites Fernando Verdasco and Gael Monfils, Richard Gasquet, and the two hottest young stars in the game: Australia’s Bernard Tomic and Canadian sensation Milos Raonic ranked # 24. The rest of the field for Thailand’s premier annual sporting event will be announced in the lead up to the tournament.
The depth of talent already confirmed guarantees that the tournament will be the mostly hotly contested in this, its 10th year.
Tipsarevic, Gasquet, Raonic and Tomic are four of the most exciting shot makers in the game and will all be making their first appearances at the tournament. Serbian Tipsarevic has contested nine ATP World Tour finals and won last week’s Stuttgart event as well as Moscow and Kuala Lumpur in 2011. “I’m very excited to play the Thailand Open for the first time, said Tipsarevic. “I’ve heard great things about the tournament and about Bangkok, and I’m really looking forward to playing well there.”
Gasquet is currently ranked #21 and has been as high as #7 in the ATP rankings. He possesses one of the most beautiful backhands in tennis, and has collected six career titles. “It has taken many years but I am delighted to finally be able to compete in the Thailand Open,” said the Frenchman.
Milos Raonic is the fastest rising player in men’s tennis. His bullet serves and huge groundstrokes have seen him jump to #24 in the rankings from #156 at the beginning of last year. He has already captured three ATP titles including winning in Chennai and San Jose this year. “It’s always nice to go to a new place and meet new fans, so I hope everyone turns out and enjoys a great week of tennis,” Raonic said.
Joining Raonic among the most exciting young players in the game is Bernard Tomic. At the beginning of 2011, the young Aussie was ranked outside the top 200 but now finds himself amongst the top players in the game. On playing the Thailand Open for the first time, Tomic said: It’s going to be a very strong field and I’m looking forward to playing some great tennis there.”
Simon, Monfils and Verdasco have all enjoyed success in Bangkok before and are three of the most popular players among local fans. On his return to Bangkok, 12th-ranked Simon said: “This is my third time there and I really appreciate the crowd support, and the great hospitality of the Thai people.” World #17 Monfils and #16 Verdasco also have legions of Thai supporters who appreciate their exciting style of play. Both have reached the semi finals at the tournament before and will be aiming to go one better in 2012.
As part of the celebrations for the 10th year of the Thailand Open, fans will have the chance to participate in a special anniversary campaign and win one of 10 special Thailand Open experiences including tossing the coin for the tournament final, winning VIP courtside box seats, being a guest reporter and interviewing your favourite player, and much more. Details of the campaign will be announced in August.
Tickets for the Thailand Open 2012 go on sale on Saturday 21 July. Tickets are available at all Thaiticketmajor and Thai Post outlets. Call 02 262 3838 for more details.
Ticket prices start at just ฿300.
ATP Thailand Open Details
Format : Best of 3 tie-break sets
Venue : Impact Arena, Muang Thong Thani
Date : 22 – 30 September
Qualifying rounds : 22 – 23 September
Main draw : 24 – 30 September
Prize money : US$608,500
Prize money and points breakdown:
| Round |
Point(s) |
Prize money |
| Winner |
250 |
99,465 USD |
| Runner-up | 150 | 52,390 USD |
| Semi-finalist | 90 | 28,380 USD |
| Quarter-finalist | 45 | 16,170 USD |
| Round of 16 | 20 | 9,525 USD |
| Round of 32 | 0 | 5,645 USD |
History of The PTT Thailand Open
Thailand’s premier annual sporting event, the PTT Thailand Open enters its ninth year as part of the ATP Tour and returns to Bangkok from 24 September – 2 October, 2011.
The tournament has played host to some of the biggest names in men’s tennis.
In 2003 with Paradorn-mania at its height after the Thai ace had become the first Asian player to crack the world top 10, the Thailand Open was born and the excitement surrounding “Ball” was a large part of the success of the first event.
However, the event quickly proved that it was not just an opportunity for Paradorn to show his stuff to his home fans. Over the past seven years, the Thailand Open has welcomed some of the biggest names in men’s tennis. In the inaugural event in 2003, the field was headlined by then world #1 Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero as well as fellow top 10 stars Carlos Moya and Paradorn. Paradorn made the quarter finals but in the end it was big serving American Taylor Dent who took the title beating Ferrero in straight sets in the first final, and Israeli duo Jonathon Erlich and Andy Ram won the first of their two Thailand Open doubles titles.
In 2004 the event grew even bigger attracting more spectators as well as the world’s #1 and #2 players: Roger Federer and Andy Roddick. Russia’s Marat Safin was another top-five player who made it to the event. And after two dream semi-finals: Federer vs. Paradorn and Roddick vs. Safin, the final was a clash between the top two players in the world with Federer emerging victorious.
The following year saw Federer return to defend his title against the likes of Aussie Lleyton Hewitt and Germany’s Tommy Haas but it was a then unheralded Scot named Andy Murray who surprised everyone by making his first ATP Tour final and taking it up to Federer all the way in the tight final match.
In 2006, the tournament featured more top names in one year than ever before. The stellar line up included then world #3 Ivan Ljubicic, #9 James Blake as well as the returning Murray, Tim Henman, Safin, Ferrero and Paradorn. James Blake took home the King’s Cup trophy after a convincing win over Ljubicic.
In 2007, Dmitry Tursunov beat Germany’s Benjamin Becker in the singles final but for local fans the highlight of the tournament was the unexpected breakthrough of local twins Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana who collected their first ATP Tour doubles title beating Nicolas Mahut and Michael Llodra in front of an ecstatic crowd of 10,000.
2008 saw the breakthrough of France’s irrepressible Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who captured his first ATP title beating #1 seed Novak Djokovic in the final, and in 2009 Tsonga returned along with countryman Gilles Simon, Marat Safin and rising stars including John Isner and Ernests Gulbis. Simon emerged victorious winning his first title of the year while popular duo Eric Butorac and Rajeev Ram took the doubles crown.
Last year finally saw the arrival of Rafael Nadal in Bangkok, leading a field that also included Argentina’s Juan Martin del Potro in his first tournament back from a lengthy injury spell. Ernests Gulbis returned as did Jurgen Melzer and Fernando Verdasco. To the surprise of 10,000 spectators, Nadal lost his semi final match to compatriot Guillermo Garcia-Lopez in three tense sets. Garcia-Lopez’s opponent in the final was popular Finn Jarkko Nieminen and after three very tight sets the Spaniard was victorious. In the doubles Serbian-German pairing of Viktor Troicki and Christopher Kas defeated Jonathon Erlich of Israel and Jurgen Melzer of Austria.
