The Valencia Open 500 ATP World Tour is warming up for its next edition, which takes place from 18 to 26 October in the City of Arts and Science with one of the best line-ups in its history. This morning, the tournament’s director, Juan Carlos Ferrero, and executive director, David Serrahima, explained the latest details at a press conference held in the Multipurpose Hall of the City of Arts and Sciences. The conference was also attended by María Ángeles Vidal, the Manager of the Municipal Sports Foundation. 

Ferrero expressed his great “satisfaction with the Valencia Generalitat (regional government), the provincial council, the city council and the sponsors for putting their faith in this Valencian institution.It’s a matter of great pride to be one of just eleven ATP 500s held around the world,” explained the former world number one before going into details of the sporting side of the event. 

“We’ve got a really great line-up;the lowest-ranked player is within the world’s top 40so it’s one of our best line-ups ever. Four of the players are in the world’s top ten and many are in the top 20,” he pointed out. 

Ferrero also commented that the tournament is continuing the trend of supporting the Valencian Community, as “this year 90% of the tournament staff is from Valencia and 85% of its suppliers are Valencian.” He also made a special mention of how the tournament benefits Valencia outside its own Community. The fact is that the tournament will be selling15,000 tickets outside the Valencian Community and this year the Valencia Open 500 Young Talents event has opened up to cities in the rest of the country.”

Berdych to be given a wild card
One of the most pleasant surprises revealed by Ferrero is the inclusion of Tomas Berdychthrough a wild card. The Czech player, currently the world number six, will bring even more quality to the tournament, confirming the line-up as the best in its history. Berdych has only played once at the Valencia Open 500 ATP World Tour, in 2009, and brings the number of top ten players in the tournament up to four. 

Prices to suit every budget
The former world number one noted that “we are following the same strategy of affordable prices as last year, with tickets starting at 10 euros, up to 50% cheaper than in 2012 and previous years, and the chance of watching the final from just 30 euros. The tournament is thus remaining strongly committed to its ethos of ‘tennis for all’; affordable prices and side events before and during the tournament, especially with the ‘VO500 Young Talents’and ‘the VO500 Street Tennis’ events,” he explained.