The Golden Gate Open is making historical past in its first 12 months as an occasion.
Held at Stanford University in California, the mixed ATP Challenger Tour and WTA 125 occasion is the primary equal prize cash match at that degree.
Following the path blazed by Billie Jean King 52 years in the past when she pioneered the primary all-women’s tennis match in San Francisco, the Golden Gate Open is hoping to set a brand new commonplace for gender fairness in tennis. Part of the rationale why they’re able to host a mixed occasion with equal prize cash is due to match director Pablo Pires de Almeida and his staff.
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“I actually felt a number of assist, despite the fact that there was a number of stress on the shoulders. Honestly simply to see it in motion right now, it’s lovely,” Pires de Almeida mentioned. “Just to see the women and men enjoying side-by-side, the evening matches. We offered out our Saturday qualifying, over 2,000 tickets had been offered and gamers got here as much as me saying, ‘We have by no means seen that many followers at a Challenger 125 for qualifying’. I imply that’s unbelievable.”
Pires de Almeida has emphasised offering alternatives for tennis gamers from all features of life. A former University of San Francisco head coach, he began Battle of the Bay Classic along with his mates in 2009. That match introduced Division I school gamers to California Tennis Club in San Francisco and partnered with the ATP Challenger Tour to supply wild playing cards to a number of the occasion’s finest performers. In 2015, the Battle of the Bay Classic grew to become a co-ed occasion.
When Pires de Almeida transitioned from USF, he wished to create a males’s and ladies’s mixed professional occasion in his stomping grounds of Northern California. His aim was to supply an equal-pay match.
Aleksandar Kovacevic in second-round motion at Stanford. Credit: Lani-Rae Green
“In tennis, you’ve a novel alternative as a result of you’ve gamers enjoying on the identical time, subsequent to one another, identical scoring, identical courtroom measurement and all the identical situations,” Pires de Almeida mentioned. “In a Grand Slam, you may say, ‘Yeah every little thing is identical apart from the scoring, best-of-five units [for men] and best-of-three [for women].’
“But for many tournaments around the globe, all people is enjoying the identical factor. So whenever you have a look at the match, you’d suppose it’s the identical, however then you definitely have a look at the numbers and also you’re like, ‘Oh wow, there’s an enormous distinction there.’ I feel it’s slightly little bit of the usual you’re going to placed on it and the way a lot you’re actually going to implement it and create that as a requirement.”
The Golden Gate Open will even maintain a Gender Equity Panel Event on Thursday to additional the dialogue on gender pay fairness in sports activities, with former WTA execs Cici Bellis and Rosie Casals amongst these in attendance.
Top seed Tamara Korpatsch in motion at Stanford. Credit: Lani-Rae Green
Though Pires de Almeida is dealing with the day-to-day duties of the match, he credit his staff, household, sponsors, ATP, WTA, and tennis followers within the Bay Area for his or her assist.
“I feel it’s a testomony to the people who find themselves backing this occasion and the world that we stay in,” Pires de Almeida mentioned. “These women and men are enjoying as laborious they will, travelling all around the world, making an attempt to do it the perfect they will. I feel we must always simply have that commonplace and that’s the way forward for the game.”
Player Reactions
Bradley Klahn: “It’s superior to play right here on campus at Stanford once more. The setting, the historical past of this college, and the tennis custom right here. It’s nice to see them deliver skilled tennis [here]. To be the primary Challenger to supply equal prize cash to the women and men actually speaks to the values that Stanford holds, persevering with to push equality.”
Dalibor Svrcina: “I feel it is a very good place to play a Challenger 125 earlier than the US Open. The college and the lodge are very good. I feel it’s very cool that it’s a mixed occasion and even higher for girls, that they will have equal prize cash. It is an efficient change for tennis.”
Source: www.atptour.com