 |
Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 May 1999 Issue No. 429 
|
||
Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
 |
 |
|
|
Al-Ahram Weekly 13 - 19 May 1999 Issue No. 429
|
||
| Published in Cairo by AL-AHRAM established in 1875 |
|
|
|
Egypt Region International Economy Opinion Culture Profile Features Books Travel Living Sports People Time Out Chronicles Cartoons Letters The pot gets bigger
By Nashwa Abdel-TawabIt was quite an achievement when Egypt hosted last month's Dreamland Tennis Classic, the first women's professional tennis tournament in the Middle East. Prize money stood at $180,000 and some of the biggest names in the sport came to town. Pictures and posters of the winners, hoisting their trophies while atop camels, were plastered on the walls of the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) offices in the US and Britain. Now the tournament will get even bigger. Starting from next year, prize money will zoom up to $520,000. And naturally, the bigger the pot, the better the players who come.
Just as important, Dreamland will very likely be played at a different time. April was never Dreamland's first choice. Strong, gusty winds, khamasin, plus year-end secondary and university exams equate to a usually sportless month in Egypt. Earlier this year, a request by Egyptian tennis officials to host Dreamland during a month other than April -- and raise the prize money to $450,000 -- was denied.
Then came a lucky break. The $520,000 Generali Ladies Linz tournament in Austria, which is normally played between 25-31 October, will be struck off the tennis calendar starting from next year. Peachy Kellmeyer, WTA senior vice president, has suggested that Dreamland take its place.
Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario taking a victory lap after winning the Dreamland Classic singles title
photo: Khaled El-Fiqi
Egyptian tennis officials have yet to respond, but most likely October it will be. "We hope things will end up in our favour," Mohamed Halawa, president of the Egyptian Tennis Federation (ETF), said. "We didn't ask for it, but it's come. It's an opportunity we should seize."
Dreamland almost turned into a nightmare for Egyptian officials. In January, an international WTA committee visited Cairo to inspect Dreamland's courts and facilities in the Sixth of October City. It didn't like what it saw and was on the verge of cancelling the entire tournament. However, Kellmeyer spoke to a press conference at the time about her confidence in Egypt's ability to stage the championship. "We announced there would be a competition just 15 days before its start. That had never happened before, but we found great potential from the ETF to make this tournament succeed. We were impressed by the great hospitality of the Egyptians and decided to give them a chance to prove themselves."
Egypt is to host the Dreamland Classic for the next five years. Because the prize money will increase, next year's Dreamland Classic will host more top players. WTA rules stipulate that for a major tournament, at least one of the top three players in the world must participate, in addition to two players ranked from 4 to 8 in the world. In last April's Dreamland Classic, five players from the top 20 and 23 players from the top 100 participated.
Dreamland had an instant impact on the players. Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario of Spain, who won the Dreamland Classic singles title, jumped from 7th to 6th place in the world rankings, amassing 3,016 points. Swiss Patty Schnider, improved from 10th to 9th with 2,083 points while Romanian Irina Spirlea, the runner-up in both doubles and singles, improved her ranking from 20 to 17 with 1,867 points. Teenage sensation Australian Irena Dokic improved her ranking from 199 to 150 with 170 points.
