Andre Agassi and Marat Safin, two of the biggest names — and personalities — in men’s tennis in the past 15 years, will play a series of exhibition matches in Taiwan early next year, the promoter of the event confirmed yesterday.
Agassi and Safin will play in best-of-three matches (with the third set a first to 10 points tiebreaker) at the Taipei Arena on Jan. 6 next year and at the Kaohsiung Arena on Jan. 8.
Jeff Hsu, chief executive of event promoter Integration Sports Inc, said the two stars have plenty to offer Taiwan’s tennis scene.
“We know that Agassi and Safin are really well-known in Taiwan, so we did our best to invite them to play. They’ll bring character, experience and a passion for tennis,” Hsu said.
Both matches will be preceded by a single-set match between Taiwanese professionals Lu Yen-hsun and Jimmy Wang, followed by a set of doubles.
Hsu would not reveal the appearance fees being paid to the two stars, but said staging the event would cost NT$75 million (US$2.3 million).
Advanced ticket sales will take place in the middle of this month and tickets will also be available online beginning in early August. Hsu said ticket prices will range between NT$800 and NT$10,000, with the average about NT$3,700 for about 12,000 seats available in Taipei and about 14,000 in Kaohsiung.
Dedicated Web site and Facebook pages for the event should be ready by the middle of this month to keep fans informed of the latest developments, he said.
Though both players have retired from the men’s ATP Tour, they continue to play exhibitions around the world and should raise the game’s profile in Taiwan, which has long been starved of top-flight sports events.
Tennis, especially, has suffered because of a lack of a tennis center that would meet the ATP’s tough requirements.
“Most countries around Asia have held major tennis events that market their cities. Only Taiwan’s fans haven’t been able to enjoy such an event,” because of the facility problems, Hsu said. “So to get world-class players to come to Taiwan without having to comply with the ATP’s many strict regulations, we felt holding an ‘invitational’ event was more feasible.”
Agassi, who retired after the US Open in 2006, won eight Grand Slam titles and 60 singles titles during a topsy-turvy 21 years on the men’s tour.
Safin, who retired last year, won two Grand Slams, the 2000 US Open and 2005 Australian Open, but was often derailed by injuries and a mercurial temperament.
“I am not perfect and neither was my career. In the end, tennis is like life, messy,” is how Safin summed up his body of work, but he told retired player Justin Gimelstob that part of his frustration was not that he didn’t work hard enough, but that he was a perfectionist.
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