The Tribune

By BRENT STUBBS Senior Sports Reporter bstubbs@tribunemedia.net With four legends and some of the top 100 players in the world expected to participate, Ty Olando is confident that the 2012 Bahamas Women's Open will provide the Bahamian public with more than enough excitement next month. Now in its second year, the International Tennis Federation's sanctioned $100,000 Pro Tennis Tournament is slated to be held at the National Tennis Center March 11-17. Olando, the tournament director, said they have secured the support of Cable Bahamas as one of their major sponsors, which should help in not only marketing the event but also filling up the stands. "We're basically trying to market this so we can basically fill the stands and get people to come out and support sports, especially on this level," he stated. "At the same time, we want the Bahamas to become a regular stop on the international pro women's circuit tour. That in itself will help us because it will bring millions of dollars into this country on an annual basis." Even though it's not as big as the BNP Paribas Open Tournament in Indian Wells, California, where the majority of the players will come from once they finish playing, or the Sony Ericsson Open in Key Biscayne, Florida, where they will travel once they are done here, Olando said the Bahamas Open will serve its purpose. "We're really going to market this to the point where we want to get the international press and tennis fans from all around the world able to put this on the calendar and say, 'you know what, let's go down to the Bahamas this year, they are going to have something exciting.'" To highlight the week-long festivities, there will be a Legends Double Match, featuring Martina Navratilova and Monica Seles, two of the greatest female players of all time, along with Mary Joe Fernander, Jennifer Capriati and Zina Garrison as a substitute on Sunday, March 11, prior to the official opening ceremonies. "These players normally charge a large fee to do these exhibitions, but somehow, the Bahamas Open and the Bahamas itself, has given them more incentive to want to come down here for practically peanuts," he said. "We are looking at bringing players here every year to start the tournament. The reason for that is we need some marketing gimmick or name to attract people to the Bahamas." Olando noted that they are waiting on the list of players who are expected to make up the field of 144 in the qualifying round that is slated to begin on Saturday, March 10, and the main draw play that will tip off on Monday, March 12. Allistair Williams, who represents the ITF, will be in town to assist the organising committee in the operation of the tournament, which is hoping to duplicate last year's initial entry of players all in the top 100 ranking. Kurk Melnechuk of Melnechuk Marketing has been brought on board as a marketing consultant and already he has indicated that the sponsorship is going to be key to the success of the tournament. "We are encouraging as many small, medium and large businesses to look us up on Facebook, Twitter and online at BahamasOpen.com to get involved in as a sponsor or participant in the event. Without the public's support, as you all know, a lot of these events will tend to die off," he said. "We want to make this a yearly event and we want to make sure that we forge phenomenal relationships with local businesses that will help, not only to promote their business, but local tourism and show that there is a following, businesses in the community following an event like this." And Bradley Bain, one of the local tennis pros at the National Tennis Center, said there are certain things on the drawing board to ensure that the NTC is ready to accommodate the tournament. "We just want to encourage Bahamians to come out and support the event because we have never had the level of tennis superstars to participate in any tennis event in the country," he stated. Referring to the legends - Navratilova, Seles, Fernander, Jennifer and Garrison - Bain said everybody knows them from the time they played and they are emulated by everybody in the tennis world. "To have them come here and grace this event makes it special," he said. "When we look at similar tournaments around the world, they don't get half the participation of the top players in the world that we do." Bain said it would be a shame to have all these international stars in town and the Bahamian public doesn't come out to support the event.