“We set the bar very high” and “it went to every mother.” Saturday, Raul Zurutuzadirector of Mexican Tennis Open (AMT) referred to this when asked about the balance of the tournament. There are plenty of reasons to support such claims, but, above all, they mean a challenge for the edition of 2023in which they will be fulfilled 30 years of the competition.
In the 2022 edition, for the first time they came to Acapulco four players placed in the Top 5 in the world, twice set the record for the longest match in the tournament (three hours and 21 minutes) and the Spanish Rafael Nadal joined the Austrian Thomas pattern and your compatriot David Ferrer as the only tennis players with four Titles in the Mexican port.
Even the Acapulco competition drew international attention, after the German Alexander Zverev lose my head and go expelled from the tournament for hitting the linesman’s chair. Anyway, but advertising, after all.
And all this, framed with the inauguration of its new headquarters, the Arena GNP Seguroswhich looked plethoric, especially last Friday, when Nadal and the Russian Daniil Medvedevwho today is number one in the world, met to repeat the Final that they played in the Australian Open.
It was a new beginning for the Open, at least that’s how the organizers that managed this year the slogan of “New Beginnings”.
“We had very good things (…) the GNP Seguros Arena is undoubtedly already a reality as the best tennis venue in Latin America. By 2023 we will have a much more functional complex. There are a significant number of points that we must fine-tune,” said the director, who revealed that as of Monday the planning of the next tournament.
One of those points to improve is the basketball court. It will be completely redone. “We put a higher degree of slope, it’s almost 30 centimeters, so we need to redo it. We need to reinforce practically all the railings in the stadium,” says Zurutuza.
It even went unnoticed by anyone that even outside the Arena there was land, which, according to the manager, will be called meal.
Why not be a Masters 1000?
Currently, Acapulco is located in the 500 category, which are the points received by tennis players who win the tournament and Profits from one million 333 thousand dollars to two million 249 thousand.
However, given the recent quality of players who have come to the puertothe question is why not aspire to be Masters 1000?
The answer is simple: because there is no quota. Currently, there are nine Masters 1000 and in order to aspire for Acapulco to reach it, a place must first be opened and, later, raise its profit bag to more than five million dollars.
But beyond that, 2023 represents a key year for Acapulco, because the calendar is very close to the AMT of Indian Wells (first Masters of the year and played in California), which opens the possibility that the mexican tournament be a must stop
They also win economically in the Mexican Tennis Open
According to estimates of financial meansit is expected that the economic impact of the AMT 2022 is one billion pesos, and that it is only the starting point to attract more resources to the entity, in which the GNP Arena will have a leading role.
And it is that the complex will also function as the venue for multiple national and international events, which began over the weekend with the presentation of Emmanuelclosing the tournament, and next April 14 will be presented Alexander Fernandez.
The hosting platform Airbnb carried out an analysis in which he estimated that, in 2019, tournament attendees spent around 414 thousand dollars on stays in the city of Acapulco during the week of the event.
In January, events were held conferences and conventions and is seeking to confirm the National Banking Convention and, later, in May, the Tourist Market.
Thus, the Mexican Tennis Open seeks to continue winning “sets” to confirm itself as an increasingly attractive tournament and avoid at all costs a “break” that lowers its level.
