Organisers of Hong Kong's new US$50,000 ATP Tour Challenger tournament yesterday vowed not to pay a 'single cent' of appearance money to players at next month's groundbreaking inaugural event.
Jeff Mann, tournament director of the CMG Asia Open, said he was confident the new event would appeal to Hong Kong tennis fans because it would feature '32 players fighting it out in genuine competition'.
At a press conference to announce the sponsorship of the tournament by financial services group CMG Asia Life Assurance Limited, which has signed up for three years, Mann said the absence of star names would benefit the tournament.
'The tournament is not about stars or big names and I can say quite categorically that we will not be spending a single cent on appearance money,' Mann told Sports Post. 'This is a unique event for Hong Kong and we are anticipating a high level of interest.' Under ATP Tour rules, players in the world top 10 are not eligible for Challenger Series events and the circuit caters primarily for players ranked outside the top 50.
'That is the key,' said Mann yesterday. 'Although in the past we have had exhibition events in Hong Kong with big-name players - which have been very well received - our tournament will have a real competitive edge.
'The players coming here will play hard all the way through because valuable rankings points are on offer,' he said. 'So many tournament organisers these days depend on one or two 'stars' to market their event and to raise ticket and sponsorship prices.
'They forget that an event is about 32 players in aggressive competition,' he added.