Hard courts, hard tennis await İstanbul Cup players

 The cup, which runs from today through Aug. 2, will be held in a new venue, the ENKA Sadi Gülçelik Arena in İstinye, under the auspices of the Turkish Tennis Federation (TTF).

    Tournament director Coşkun Erginer says the new venue is part of a development program to place Turkish players in Wimbledon within five years. Under a working agreement, the International Club İstanbul Tennis Academy is changing its name to Club İstanbul ENKA. But first things first. He's got the new arena, signed up Türk Telekom as main sponsor, prepared the hard-surface courts… Oh yes, players.

    Beyond the Grand Slam tournaments -- the US Open, the French Open, Wimbledon and the Australian Open -- the WTA Tour is hit or miss as to which players will choose to compete at any given event. That's why Erginer was happy to announce back in May that top-10 ranked Vera Zvonareva would be playing in İstanbul this year.

Top competitors tend to draw other great players, though each athlete must consider the amount of travel and competition she can bear without putting too much wear and tear on her body and mind. Imagine playing your heart out in Hong Kong, then hopping on a plane to go play in California, then moving on to a tournament in Florida, then Germany, then the UK… the stress can be grueling and even a logistics expert would think twice about scheduling.

WTA Tour chief executive Stacey Allaster was just promoted to CEO this year after serving three years as tour president, during which she reorganized the tour specifically to make it less physically demanding on the players.

The tour hosts many prestigious women's tennis tournaments, but in the recession has to struggle with a drop in sponsorship and advertising, sluggish attendance and spotty television ratings. Thus the economic recession looms larger than anxieties about the players.

Allaster says attendance at this year's tournaments has been holding steady, though spectators have been buying fewer expensive seats and generally have watched one or two days of matches rather than the whole tournament. “It's not recession-proof,” she says of the tour.

The Turkish economy is not recession-proof either, but that hasn't stopped Türk Telekom from continuing its grand tradition of supporting professional sports in Turkey by this year agreeing to act as main sponsor of the İstanbul Cup.

To underline the growing importance of professional women's tennis on the national sports calendar, TTF President Mesut Polat says President Abdullah Gül has agreed to officially open the İstanbul Cup this year and that the president, time permitting, may also attend the awards ceremony.

Polat, head of Turkey's tennis federation since last November, says he hopes to see more official cooperation between his organization and the tour organizers. “And we are especially happy to see the club here at ENKA,” he says, “for we believe tennis clubs are integral to the future of sports in Turkey.”

ENKA Sports Club Chairman Alparslan Tansuğ says they are very proud to be hosting the İstanbul Cup, pointing out that the arena boasts 12 hard courts, three of which are permanently covered and six of which can be closed temporarily for winter play. He adds that the club is working to increase the seating capacity at center court, now at 3,000.

Diplomatic protocol ranks the president No. 1 in Turkey, but professional women's tennis rankings can be more complicated. For example, Serena Williams now holds three of four possible Grand Slam titles but is ranked second behind Dinara Safina. In other words, Zvonareva being the top-ranked player in this year's İstanbul Cup does not guarantee an easy win for the Russian player. There is always the possibility of an upset, of a surprise win.

In Formula One Grand Prix racing, the drivers are often separated by seconds, or even parts of a second, in a close finish. It can be the same in tennis among players ranked in the top 20, or even top 50, with many factors contributing to help a player find her groove on any given day.