We speak to top-10 players every year: Tom Annear

January 05, 2014 12:01 am | Updated May 13, 2016 07:11 am IST - CHENNAI:

Tom Annear says the Chennai Open has done well amidst competition from other tournaments held simultaneously. Photo: R. Ragu

Tom Annear says the Chennai Open has done well amidst competition from other tournaments held simultaneously. Photo: R. Ragu

When player pull-outs / retirements threatened to get out of hand at the 2014 Aircel Chennai Open on Thursday, a few journalists wanted none other than Gerry Armstrong, ATP supervisor of the Open for many years, to address the media.

Instead, tournament director Tom Annear emerged and answered uncomfortable questions forcefully and diplomatically when needed.

Wonderful team

Interacting with his staff, the players and their agents, the media and sponsors, among others, are his prime duties and the American has his hands full, but says he doesn’t want it any other way.

“I have a really wonderful team. I enjoy working here,” he says. Annear promises that the SDAT-Nungambakkam Stadium will receive a facelift for the 2015 Chennai Open.

The Tamil Nadu Government has given a grant of Rs. 4.5 crore and work is expected to begin after the Challengers in February this year.

“There will be modifications to the Centre Court and outside courts,” Annear says.

The 51-year-old says IMG’s priority has always been to give the best of facilities to players, fans and all stakeholders of South Asia’s only ATP event.

“This time too we spoke to Roger Federer among other top 10 players,” he says. “It is a regular process which begins in March and ends in September every year.”

According to Annear, given the competitive landscape — there are simultaneous ATP tournaments in Doha and Brisbane — the Chennai Open has done pretty well.

Annear has clearly fallen in love with the city and the Chennai Open. “It’s been rewarding,” he says, and on the city he says, “It’s controlled chaos on the roads and I say this as a compliment.”

0 / 0
Sign in to unlock member-only benefits!
  • Access 10 free stories every month
  • Save stories to read later
  • Access to comment on every story
  • Sign-up/manage your newsletter subscriptions with a single click
  • Get notified by email for early access to discounts & offers on our products
Sign in

Comments

Comments have to be in English, and in full sentences. They cannot be abusive or personal. Please abide by our community guidelines for posting your comments.

We have migrated to a new commenting platform. If you are already a registered user of The Hindu and logged in, you may continue to engage with our articles. If you do not have an account please register and login to post comments. Users can access their older comments by logging into their accounts on Vuukle.