WTA and Guadalajara, a consolidated relationship

In the words of the WTA, Mexico has established itself as the rapidly growing venue for elite women’s tournaments, and has done so like no other country in the world.

The WTA Finals and the 1000 are a vote of confidence in Guadalajara, which in less than a year was in charge of the operation and logistics of both competitions, without leaving the Zapopan Open that they have held since 2019. With this, the city of Guadalajara fulfills two years in a row operating two WTA tournaments. The support of a long relationship with Mexico is rewarded with facts. The first tournament on the women’s circuit was played in 2001 at the Mexican Tennis Open in Acapulco and left the venue in 2020. While the Monterrey Open has held the WTA 250 since 2009.

“It’s been almost 15 years since I’ve been coming to Mexico, that is, since we’ve always had tournaments in this country. We start with Acapulco, Monterrey and Guadalajara. The WTA has been a highly developed brand and is recognized in Mexico. Having the Finals has been an important achievement for the country and there are very few in the world that have had them, now we continue with the 1000. We have a consolidated relationship that will continue and will not end here, there will always be new projects and Mexico is attentive to the WTA with your investments. The WTA is part of tennis in Mexico”, Giulia Orlandi, Supervisor of the WTA, explains to El Economista.

From 1972 to the present, the WTA Finals has only been played in 12 different cities, five of them are from the United States, a country that resumes the organization this year and will be played in the city of Fort Worth, Texas. In 2021 Guadalajara was a temporary substitute for Shenzhen, China because the circuit canceled all its events in that country in support of the case of tennis player Peng Shuai, who denounced sexual assault against a high-ranking Chinese government official. For the same reason, the WTA 1000 was not held in Wuhan and the tennis players are at the Guadalajara Open.

“The growth of Guadalajara is atypical but all due to the Santoscoys who have done a great job and believe in the project, without them we would not have had the Finals or the 1000. Now they help other cities to have the possibility of having a WTA 250 too.

I cannot give an example (of three cities that have grown as fast as Guadalajara), because they have gone so fast from 125, 250, Finals and 1000. The others are countries with a tennis tradition such as the United States, France, Australia or England. The truth is that in Mexico women’s tennis has achieved a lot. Last year’s finals were incredible and this 1000 is even better”, evaluates the WTA Supervisor.

Tournament Director Gustavo Santoscoy revealed to this newspaper that he is looking to move the WTA 250 to another city in the country, because the intention is to operate only one tournament a year. Before dedicating himself to the organization of tournaments, Santoscoy was the corporate director of Golf Resorts of Grupo Vidanta in cities such as Acapulco, Cancun, Los Cabos or Puerto Vallarta, including recognized facilities in Latin America such as The Grand Mayan or Grand Luxxe. He also became general manager of Karibana Beach Golf Resorts in Cartagena, Colombia, and since 2015 he is managing partner of Trust Hospitality in Mexico, a company that coordinates independent hotels.

“From the beginning we always worked with a strong brand that was the WTA 125 that became the best event in other sports in Jalisco. Later, we grew to 250. Then with the Finals we had to explain to people that it was an event without precedent in Latin America, which is only played once, and now with the 1000 we announce that there are only eight in the world. The WTA is a brand that is generating a lot of strength and knowledge with the empowerment of women,” she explains to El Economista , Gustavo Santoscoy Jr., Co-Tournament Director.

marisol.rojas@eleconomista.mx