Barna gets its WTA

June 22, 2007 on 8:06 am | In Uncategorized |

Barcelona has always been proud of it’s ATP tennis tourney, the Godo, won once again this year by Rafa Nadal, but what has been lacking in these parts has been a decent ladies tournament.

All that changed this year, whit the KIA getting the WTA seal of approval, and thus forming a ranking part of the regular ladies professional tour.

The driving force behind the inaugural tournament is none other that Spain’s most successful tennis playing lady of all time, Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario. It is set to be the biggest ladies compo of the year in a country that has been strangely bereft of any major tennis featuring the fairer sex.

The venue is the Vall d’Hebron tennis complex, which was used for the 1992 Olympics, and is right next to the Montbau Metro Station.

The clay court facilities are top notch, and so is the city, but the biggest problem has been attracting big names to an event that has absolutely zero tradition in an already very crowed world tennis calendar.

Fourteen of the current TOP 100 in the world will be taking part, but they are far from the cream of talent in the world of ladies tennis. Top seed will be Italy’s Francesca Schiavone, followed by Spanish number one Anabel Medina, although it has also been rumoured that a wild card will be offered to world Nº15 Patty Schnyder of Swizerland.

The other relatively big names to look out are Emilie Loit, Martina Muller, Kaia Kanepi, Shaugnhessy, Virginie Razzano, Romina Oprandi, Jelena Kostanic, and local girls Lourdes Dominguez and Vivi Ruano.

There may not bee too many household name in there, but it really isn’t bad at all considering the dates.

You see, it’s playing played right on the back of the French Open in Paris, and with less than a month between that and Wimbledon, what most sensible players want to do once Roland Garros is over is starttweaking their grass game in preparation for the All England Club.

Barcelona really need to either sort the dates out or get some grass courts installed if they want to attract the really big names to this event.

However, the prices are more than reasonable. For the qualfying rounds a general ticket costs just 5 euros, and you can get a seat in the grandstand for 10.

For Friday’s Semifinals they are asking 10 for a general ticket and 15 for grand stand, while the final on Saturday is selling for 15 general and 20 grandstand.

For 35 and 50 euros respectively, you can get a pass for the entire tournament.

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