Rotterdam ATP director keeps aiming for Nadal and Federer
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After Robin Soderling prolonged his title at the 38th edition of the ABN Amro World Tennis Tournament on Sunday it was time for tournament director Richard Krajicek to evaluate about future editions.
"I think we certainly have seen some good tennis, especially in the last four days. We've seen several standing ovations, the audience went home satisfied. Still we have to improve on certain issues," said Krajicek.
One of the issues were the empty seats in the Ahoy arena. "The arena might look more empty compared to previous years, but that's because the stadium capacity is expanded from 8,500 to 10,000 seats, " Krajicek explained during a press conference in Rotterdam.
"Today we had 9,600 people seeing the final and in total we had 106,258 visitors, which means the fourth best amount ever. The record is over 108,000 with Federer in 2005 and we have also reached 107,000 with Nadal in 2009 and last year we were slightly higher at 106,600."
Top seed Novak Djokovic withdrew from the tournament after winning the Australian Open and that made the field a bit less attractive, although still five players from the top 11 of the ATP world ranking were present in Rotterdam.
"After the cancellation of Djokovic I tried to get Roddick, but he had to visit a film premiere with his wife," said Krajicek. "I also tried Nadal, but no chance, just not fit enough. I did not even attempt Federer, because the tournament just did not fit into his schedule."
Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal have played two times in Rotterdam with Federer winning in 2005 and Nadal made it to the final in 2009 at his last appearance. "We hope to have players like Nadal and Federer back in the future as much as possible," Krajicek continued.
"This will get the stadium fuller during the week also and not only in the weekend. Federer, Nadal and Roddick are always the main targets. And to have the defending champion is nice as well, but that should not be a problem since Soderling likes it here. We will have to discuss what to do with the starting fee of Djokovic after his cancellation.
"Next year we hope to have Nadal and Federer. It's not about money. This year Nadal just choose in favor of the Davis Cup and because of his injury he was not able to play anyway. We will discuss the matters with our sponsor. The money is there, but we still have to decide what to do. And our tournament has to fit into their schedules of course."
One other issue was the speed of the ball in combination with the hard court, which led to fewer rallies and shorter matches. The final took place in rapid pace of one hour and 23 minutes. Runner-up Jo-Wilfried Tsonga said: "The ball went so fast, it was difficult to get to the net. When I was only in the middle of the court he could already return."
Champion Soderling had the same opinion: "Yes, it was fast, but indoor tennis is always fast. I think for me it is always good. I can play good on both fast and slow courts. Maybe for the crowd it is nicer to get slower conditions."
"We will definitely do something about that," declared Krajicek. "We are going to slow it down a bit, maybe with slower balls or sand in the court paint. We are not sure yet, but I think it is easier to make the court slower. It was a bit my fault that we did not think of that before this tournament. We introduced other balls and that made it a little too fast. The challenge is to make it attractive for both types of play, both for baseliners and attacking players. You need a balance and make it as fun as possible for the public."
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