Philippines needs more tennis tournaments if it wants to break through in international tennis.
This was the assessment of Women’s Tennis Association vice president for Asia Pacific Melissa Pine who visited the country for the first time to promote the WTA Finals, the circuit’s “crown jewel” which features the top eight players in the world.
Pine, who is also the WTA Finals tournament director, was feted in a dinner by Filipino sports officials Wednesday night at Valle Verde Country Club. The Philippines is one of the 17 participating markets of the WTA.
“There’s definitely a correlation with the amount of events that a city or country hosts, with the growth and success of the sport,” she said. “It has to start somewhere, for now that opportunity has not been here yet. It requires passion, people who want to invest in the sport.”
The entry level for a WTA event is the the $125k series which require total cash pot of $125,000.
“It allows entry into the WTA, allows top players to be able to have job opportunities,” said Pine.
But Pine still has high hopes for the Philippines which hosts one of the legs in the International Premier Tennis League.
“But it’s my first time here, it’s the first time WTA is here so we have a defining moment here, tennis in Asia has never been better. Now is a great time to start this discussion,” she added.
The WTA is slated Oct. 23 to Nov. 1 in Singapore, which has the five-year hosting right since last year. Serena Williams won the 2014 edition. It also has several events attached to it including the WTA Future Stars set for Oct. 20-27 where Filipinas Shaira Hope Rivera and Miles Vitaliano are seeing action.
The WTA has 40 percent of its tournaments in the Asia Pacific region that it put up an office in Singapore last year. In China alone, there are 10 WTA events.