MADRID, 27 Jul. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Gijón Open, the new ATP 250 category tournament owned by the Royal Spanish Tennis Federation (RFET), was presented this Wednesday at the City Hall of the Asturian city with the Spanish tennis player Pablo Carreño as standard bearer.
“For me it will be a unique opportunity to play at home in front of my family. In fact, my grandmother will be able to see me play in person for the first time,” explained Carreño at the presentation ceremony of the tournament, which will be played from October 8 to 16 in the Sports Palace of La Guía de Gijón.
The Davis Cup champion, Olympic medalist and former world ‘Top-10’ is one of the first confirmed headliners along with Roberto Bautista. In fact, the world number 22 and winner of six titles on the circuit will adapt his schedule to reach the tournament in the best possible way.
“When I go to an ATP 250 my goal is usually to win it, and in Gijón with even more reason. Playing at home will make me feel new things, at times it will help me, but it may also make me more nervous than usual,” he added. .
For his part, the president of the RFET, Miguel Díaz, thanked the Asturian City Council for its commitment to tennis. “Gijón offered us a benchmark city, with growing tourism, and this tournament is important not only in Spain but worldwide. I think the return it will receive will be far above what is expected,” he said.
The head of Spanish tennis recognized the difficulty of achieving an event of these characteristics. “The competition we had with other cities was important, but we told the president of the ATP that we are a ‘top’ federation in terms of results and that we deserved an important tournament,” he settled.
The mayor, Ana González, highlighted the impact that the event will have. “Gijón enters a very restricted club of cities that host an event as distinguished as this tennis tournament. These types of great events are not merely sporting, but have the effect of making us known in many places around the world. world that we would not be able to reach by ourselves,” he said.