{"id":17295,"date":"2019-02-02T11:14:55","date_gmt":"2019-02-02T00:44:55","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/?p=17295"},"modified":"2019-02-02T11:19:36","modified_gmt":"2019-02-02T00:49:36","slug":"revamped-memorial-drive-to-host-international-tennis-in-2020","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/news\/2019\/02\/02\/revamped-memorial-drive-to-host-international-tennis-in-2020","title":{"rendered":"Revamped Memorial Drive to host international tennis in 2020"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Adelaide<\/strong>\u00a0will host some of the world\u2019s best tennis stars in 2020 with a new week-long ATP and WTA combined tennis tournament set to take place at\u00a0<strong>Memorial Drive<\/strong>.<\/p>\n<p>Tennis Australia CEO\u00a0<strong>Craig Tiley<\/strong>\u00a0and Tennis SA President\u00a0<strong>Kent Thiele\u00a0<\/strong>and CEO\u00a0<strong>Steven Baldas\u00a0<\/strong>were joined by SA Premier\u00a0<strong>Steven Marshall<\/strong>\u00a0and SA Minister for Sport, Recreation and Racing\u00a0<strong>Corey Wingard<\/strong>\u00a0MP for the announcement today.<\/p>\n<p>A $10 million SA Government commitment to the Memorial Drive Centre Courts Redevelopment has enabled Adelaide to host the event. Stage One of the project will include:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A new woven fibreglass membrane fabric roof covering the existing stands and centre courts<\/li>\n<li>Four refurbished ITF standard Plexicushion match courts<\/li>\n<li>New fencing and lighting<\/li>\n<li>Improved access between the centre and outside courts during tournaments.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>Craig Tiley<\/strong>\u00a0said\u00a0<strong>Tennis Australia<\/strong>\u00a0had a vision for the future of the Australian tennis summer which would see the global tennis season launched each year in more cities across the country.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cIt\u2019s important for us to continually improve on the great tennis offering we have in Australia to ensure there are more opportunities for players, more opportunities for fans to get to see them in their home towns and more global exposure for our sport,\u201d Mr Tiley said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cA major part of that vision is delivering more world-class tennis to capital cities around Australia which is what this tournament will help do. It is a vital piece in our vision to ultimately grow tennis and provide inspiration for future generations,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe are thrilled to welcome the return of international tennis to Memorial Drive, which will showcase Adelaide and South Australia to a global television audience from more than 200 countries,\u2019\u2019 Premier\u00a0<strong>Steven Marshall<\/strong>\u00a0said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThis significant investment will attract more interstate and overseas visitors to South Australia to support our growing $6.9 billion visitor economy and create jobs, enhancing our reputation as a world-class destination for tourism and sporting events.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cMy government is committed to investing in infrastructure projects that stimulate the economy, grow local jobs and leave a positive legacy for future generations.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cI look forward to welcoming world tennis stars, and interstate and international visitors to Adelaide, when the event kicks-off next year,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n<p>Minister for Sport, Recreation and Racing,\u00a0<strong>Corey Wingard<\/strong>, said the new roof would give Memorial Drive an increased capacity to host small to medium concerts and a \u2018live-site\u2019 during major events at Adelaide Oval, such as AFL games.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe roof will also allow for the year-round training of the state\u2019s tennis talent and for use by community groups who are able to access Memorial Drive,\u201d Minister Wingard said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThousands of budding tennis players will now get the chance to see their heroes play live in their home state. The flow-on benefits from such a tournament to the state\u2019s sporting communities is immense,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n<p>Tennis SA CEO\u00a0<strong>Steven Baldas<\/strong>\u00a0said the new tournament in Adelaide and improved facilities at Memorial Drive will help attract new fans to the sport.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cThe redevelopment of Memorial Drive and the securing of a week-long WTA and ATP combined tournament is extremely exciting for tennis in South Australia,\u201d Mr Baldas said.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe have a long tennis history in Adelaide and the upgrades to the facilities announced today by the Premier and Minister Wingard will help us connect to a whole new generation of fans across the country and the globe by providing a new source of inspiration for young athletes to choose our sport.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019ve worked closely with the SA Government, via the South Australian Tourism Commission, to ensure world-class men\u2019s and women\u2019s tennis content will be played in Adelaide from 2020,\u201d he continued.<\/p>\n<p>The week-long tournament, which is subject to ATP and WTA approval, is expected to attract more than 120 of the world\u2019s top singles and doubles players and offer a minimum of $2 million in total prize money.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Adelaide\u00a0will host some of the world\u2019s best tennis stars in 2020 with a new week-long ATP and WTA combined tennis tournament set to take place at\u00a0Memorial Drive. Tennis Australia CEO\u00a0Craig Tiley\u00a0and Tennis SA President\u00a0Kent Thiele\u00a0and CEO\u00a0Steven Baldas\u00a0were joined by SA Premier\u00a0Steven Marshall\u00a0and SA Minister for Sport, Recreation and Racing\u00a0Corey Wingard\u00a0MP for the announcement today. A [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5736,"featured_media":17298,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-17295","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17295","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5736"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=17295"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/17295\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/17298"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=17295"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=17295"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/sa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=17295"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}