Despite just a few days of preparation, the Philippine Sports Commission and the Philippine Tennis Association pulled off what may be the biggest tennis tournament ever staged in the country — the inaugural Philippine Women’s Open, which concluded with a heart-stopping singles final on Saturday.
A week of world-class tennis — both an opportunity and a celebration — ended with a sellout crowd at the Felicisimo Ampon Tennis Center in Manila. And no less than PHILTA Secretary-General John Rey Tiangco expressed pride in everyone who helped make the historic event possible.
“I’m very happy with the turnout; it was a success. I would like to thank everyone for being part of history and making this WTA tournament turn out this way,” said the former tennis standout.
“I talked to the players and some of the coaches, and they felt very good. They were surprised from the day they arrived from the airport, they were brought to the hotel, the buffet, the extras, like the nail spa and the salon. And, of course, the reception of the crowd. They said that never experienced such in a WTA 125,” Tiangco added.
The WTA itself was impressed with the extra touches, noting how the Philippines went above and beyond what was required to stage a tournament of this level for women’s tennis. As a result, the country earned high marks for its efforts.
Naturally, the public — and even the players who experienced the event firsthand — hope that the Philippines can host an even bigger tournament in the future. Tiangco shares the same vision, though he acknowledged that PHILTA, together with its stakeholders, will need to put in the work to make it happen.
“Of course, people want a bigger one; that is expected. But it is a different process, kasi ‘yung franchise ng 125, you have to get directly from the WTA. But the 250s, the 500s, the 100s, it’s owned by a private entity. So, we have to deal with them; it’s either you lease the franchise or you have to buy it. You have to negotiate kasi may limited number lang of the 250s, the 500s, the 1000s,” explained the concurrent mayor of Navotas City.
“Yung 125, they still have to offer it to their countries, kasi they have a target of around 90 125s eventually, and right now they have around 60. Actually, this is a good schedule that we got because we got the second week. Remember, nung nag-presscon tayo, we were transparent na we’re not sure that Alex (Eala) will be here. Either way, we were able to attract different players coming from the Australian Open,” Tiangco added.
Perhaps the biggest wake-up call for the national sports association came from what Alex Eala shared during her exit press conference — the lack of professional tournaments for women in the country.
Tiangco said PHILTA is well aware of the issue and vowed to produce more tournaments to elevate the state of Philippine tennis, especially for its female players.
“I also said in one of the interviews, this is part of the ecosystem,” said the tennis executive. “One of the challenges when we organize tournaments — we want that when we organize such tournaments, there will be men’s, women’s, and juniors — our problem with women’s is that there are not enough players who participate.
“But now it’s different; since they got the experience, they showed that there is an opportunity to play in big tournaments such as this. Normally, after juniors, they go to a different career, or a different racket sport, actually, kasi walang opportunity. Now, it’s different; we really want to promote women’s tennis.”
History was made — and hopefully, for good reason.
And with that milestone, women’s tennis in particular, and Philippine tennis as a whole, may have finally carved a place in the hearts of Filipinos — at least until the next serve.
