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Singapore National Stadium considered for ATP Finals

Representatives from the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) have visited Singapore’s National Stadium as it considers the next host of its season-ending ATP Finals event.

Last month, the organisation detailed the final shortlist of candidate cities that are in contention to host the event from 2021 to 2025: Manchester, Tokyo, Turin, Singapore and current host London.

The O2 in London has been the site for the event since 2009 but the venue’s hosting deal expires after the 2020 tournament. London remains in contention to retain hosting rights but the ATP is weighing up its options ahead of a decision later this year.

Singapore’s National Stadium has a capacity of 55,000 and is primarily a football venue. The Straits Times newspaper reported that ATP officials have visited the stadium and the 3,000-seat OCBC Arena, which both form part of the Singapore Sports Hub site.

Sport Singapore chief executive Lim Teck Yin told the Times: “We did bring them to look at the different venues, the different back-of-house facilities, how we envisage we would connect the overall fan experience, how we would be able to look after the players and how the players would be able to move quite seamlessly across the different venues.”

He added: “I think they (ATP representatives) want for Singapore to make it a uniquely Singaporean experience – they know what we’ve done with the Formula One. They were quite clear it wasn’t about trying to replicate what you see elsewhere.”

Singapore has experience of staging major tennis events, with the 12,000-seat Singapore Indoor Stadium having hosted the season-ending WTA Finals from 2014 to 2018. Singapore Indoor Stadium is also part of the Sports Hub complex.

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