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October 25, 2006
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DELRAY BEACH ITC TO
TEST EXCITING NEW ATP ROUND
ROBIN FORMAT
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Delray Beach, FL—The Delray Beach International Tennis
Championships is one of 13 ATP tournaments worldwide and
five in the United States that have been chosen to test a
new singles round robin format for the 2007 tennis season.
Delray Beach will be the first tournament in North America
to test one of the three new formats as it opens the U.S.
tennis season Sunday, January 28 – Sunday, February 4 at the
Delray Beach Stadium & Tennis Center.
Adelaide, Buenos Aires, London, Stockholm and Las Vegas are
among other pilot cities.
The Delray Beach ITC, celebrating its 15th year in 2007, has
been awarded a 32-player round robin draw that will bring a
new element of excitement to players and fans as the
tournament continues to grow into one of the top
professional sporting events in South Florida.
"This is a great day for tennis," said Delray Beach ITC
tournament director Mark Baron. "It's exciting for
Delray Beach to open the 2007 tennis season in the United
States by rolling out this new round robin format. We have
been discussing creative ways to make our sport even more
exciting and this format delivers a chance to test some of
those ideas.”
The new Delray Beach format will extend the tournament to
eight days—and from 11 to 13 sessions—beginning Sunday with
a 16-player “playoff.” The eight winners will join 16 other
players to make up a 24-player round robin consisting of 8
groups of 3 players with play beginning Monday. Each player
plays two guaranteed matches in the round robin stage, and
the winner from each group will advance to the
quarterfinals, starting Friday.
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32-Player Hybrid Round Robin Draw |
THE FIELD
28
players entered + 4 winners from the qualifying tournament= 32
players. |
THE PLAYOFF (Starts Sun., Jan. 28)
16
unseeded players play each other = 8 playoff winners |
ROUND ROBIN (Starts Mon., Jan 29)
Top
ranked 16 players + 8 playoff winners = 24
players
Players are divided into 8 groups of 3 with each player in a group
playing the other 2 |
FINAL 8 (Starts Fri., Feb. 2)
8
group winners* advance to traditional single-elimination format:
quarterfinals, semifinals, finals |
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*tie-break
procedures in place under ATP's round robin competition format for
determining group winners |
"The round-robin trials in 2007 will be very exciting for
the ATP and its tournaments," said Mark Young, ATP Americas
CEO. "It is great for the ATP that Delray Beach will open
the tournament season in North America with a trial of the
round-robin format. This system will ensure each player gets
at least two matches in a particular city, and will allow
for more scheduling to be done in advance. We've enjoyed
success with this format at Tennis Masters Cup, and we look
forward to seeing it in practice at other ATP events during
2007."
The Delray Beach ITC has already signed two of the Top 15
players in the world to play—No. 9 James Blake and
No. 13 Tommy Haas—and Baron said that the big winners
are the fans who will have the opportunity to see more of
the marquee players. “We know that Blake & Haas are going to
play at least two matches in Delray Beach,” Baron said.
“That’s a win-win situation for our fans. Getting those
players in front of our fans several times is the benefit.”
The round-robin portion of the event will be played Monday
through Thursday (Jan. 30 - Feb. 1), and Baron sees this
competition as the “nail-biting” part. “It will be exciting
to follow as players jockey for positions into the
quarterfinals," he said. “Now it’s not just a matter of
winning the match, but every game is important.”
The change in format also affects the Delray Beach
qualifying tournament, which now changes from a 32-player
draw to a 16-player draw. It is still scheduled to start
Saturday, Jan. 27.
All Delray Beach doubles competition remains the same.
Ticket packages for the 2007 tournament can be purchased by
calling 561-330-6000 or on-line at www.YellowTennisBall.com.
The Reserved Series package for all tournament sessions is
$250 while the Weekender package—including the
quarterfinals, semifinals and finals—is only $200. Box
series packages range from $980 for two seats to $2,200 for
four seats and include premier parking passes.
Single session tickets are scheduled to go on sale Dec. 1 to
the general public. For more information on the tournament
and its ancillary events, visit www.YellowTennisBall.com.
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