DDF switches London tennis tournament to Milan

Dubai Duty Free, owners of the Dubai Tennis Open, have switched venues for the ATP London tournament in 2001.
According to reliable sources, the ATP London tournament, which was supposed to be conducted from January 29-February 4 in London, has now switched venues to Milan, Italy. The tournament will now be called the ATP Milan indoors and will be hosted in Lombardi.
The London tournament was to have been held at the London Arena during week five of the ATP calendar. These were dates earlier scheduled by the ATP for the Dubai Tennis Open.
Confirming this to Gulf News, Colm McLoughlin, managing director of Dubai Duty Free, said, "We were in the process of upgrading the Dubai Tennis Open. We were then trying to re-work the dates for our flagship event. This meant that we conduct the London tournament from January 29-February 4 and get a fresh set of dates for Dubai.
"However, we realised that the response to the London tournament was not as enthusiastic as we had expected. A more positive opportunity arose when we got a chance to move the event to Milan, so we jumped at it."
The London tournament offered prize money of $400,000. DDF's involvement with the London event ensured that their financial commitment to international men's tennis increased by 40 per cent.
Sources offered that the chances of hosting the London event did not look very bright mainly because of a weak response from television. It appeared that terrestrially BBC and Channel 4 were shying away and even though Eurosport had agreed it was still not enough.
Seeing the interest generated by Milan, the organisers approached the ATP and made a formal application for the venue which was duly approved. The event now has the formal support of the city of Milan, the region of Lombardi and there are discussions with a TV station to telecast the event.
The dates for the event in Milan remain the same as London (Jan. 29-Feb 4). The event will be followed by as many as six Davis Cup ties in Europe.
According to McLoughlin, "The response in Milan from both TV and the sponsors was positive and so we decided to go for it. The civic authorities are also excited about it.
"Another interesting point is that we host a number of sporting events in London. We have realised that Italy is a new market for us and we are delighted to be going there."
Dubai Duty Free have already announced major plans to host back-to-back men's and women's tournaments at the Dubai Tennis Stadium from February 19-March 4, thus resulting in a fortnight of top-notch tennis.