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MUTUA MADRID OPENMay 12, 2013Manolo SantanaMADRID, SPAIN  (Through translation.) MANOLO SANTANA: First of all, sorry that I don't have a proper voice. After being all this week with so much work. But the most important thing is to say thank you for being here. I just want to inform you how the development of the tournament has been going this year. We are very happy to be able to beat record of last year. This year we had 225,000 people come into the Caja Mágica. This year we have between 3% and 5% more people than last year. We are very proud of being able to contribute so the tournament is established here. Obviously we are not the fifth small Grand Slam, but we pretend to be, and I think we are achieving it. If you have any questions you can ask me. We're trying to be the best tournament. Best ATP, the best Masters 1000 of the ATP. I think really the effort we are making is to be able to consolidate a tournament that really has the category of our facilities. You know, the Caja Mágica has become the center of the Spanish tournament we. Are sure we are going to continue as we have been until now. Sincerely, I wanted to thank you for all the good things you've said about us, all the good things we've done. Above all of them, of course, the change of the clay. All of the players are very happy now, like all of you. We will continue working so that the tournament has the facilities that Madrid deserves. Also, of course, Spanish tennis is to the heights of having a tournament like this, you know. So really a lot of thanks for your assistance. Now you've got maria and Serena here. It's been a really good match from Serena and she's going to finish being No. 1. We also have to wait for the great match between Rafa and Wawrinka. Thank you all, and if you want to ask me a question, here I am. Q. We see of course many people, but also some of the courts are empty. Maybe the alternative activities are making the courts not that full. Besides that the sale of tickets has been really high, hasn't it? MANOLO SANTANA: Well, it's true the tournament with the courts we have out there, right now we're in a difficult moment. We've seen that even because of the economical difficulties that Spain is going through, the people have answered pretty well. Also talking about the two great tournaments, we have 18‑under male tournament and 18‑under girls tournament, and to the participants, we give them a wildcard so they can participate in the tournament. I think that's the support we should give to tennis, because tomorrow we need some people like the ones that we have today. A few minutes ago we finished the under‑12 championship. I'm not sure, you know, but I think that a girl from Burgos and a boy from Aragon has won this tournament. I think that being able for them to play where great players are playing, I think it's really good news for them. The maximum is after five years they continue playing, well, you know, then the winners of each year will have the opportunity to go into the under‑18 ‑‑ internationally talking. Q. What is Nadal for this tournament? What is he for Madrid? MANOLO SANTANA: Well, for Madrid and from Spain, and talking about the level, I'm lucky enough to be able to see him playing out of our country. I really admire him and all the respect that people have for him. It's really admirable. Of course all the crowd loves him. Of course that Rafa is able to play Madrid, all the Spanish that are able to participate here is a success, because it's the best thing for the tournament and for you, you know, the people that like tennis, and especially for the press. For the press, that Rafa plays, it's really important for every single tournament. Rafa didn't play Miami and the crowd was a little bit lower because of that. Rafa has played here. Whenever he plays here the stadium is full. So it's really important for any organization, and especially for ours. Q. Not only Rafa, also Federer, Djokovic, all of them talk about this tournament as a world reference. MANOLO SANTANA: Perhaps that's the best way to continue selling tickets for Madrid, continue with the success we have right now. The masculine and feminine players we had are at a really high level here. We have to try to do it better and better and see the errors we commit in a tournament like this and try to minimize those errors. Between all of you, between the press, I have friends, and when they have to say something they tell me something, they also say thanks. That's what we have to try so that our name, the Mutua Madrid Open, is recognized worldwide. Q. I wanted to ask you why don't we see Ion Tiriac so often this week when he normally comes to press conferences? Does it have something 20th with ought pressure we had last year, the problems? MANOLO SANTANA: No, no, he just asked me, Manolo, can you please go and talk with all of the press? Well, every single year he's done it. Not only here, he in other Grand Slams, and he also has some other business that doesn't allow him to be here. But that's all. He's not here because he cannot attend all of the things that he has to attend. Also, I'm here to do this and I'm here to answer your questions, but it has nothing to do with what happened last year. All that is already forgotten. The most important thing is that when things happen, we've tried to be better, tried to amend it. We know that we have to look at the errors so that they don't repeat again. The important thing is this year's tournament has had a really good atmosphere. Talking about the players, you, spectators, everything. Q. You said that the tournament doesn't pretend to be the fifth Grand Slam. Where would you rank this tournament? MANOLO SANTANA: Well, between Indian Wells and Madrid, they're really the best tournaments we have of Masters 1000. Not only the because of the prizes, because we are the first tournament talking about prizes because we give out more prizes than Indian Wells and Miami. What's obvious is we have to keep online all the great effort we have made to be able to achieve the recognition of everyone. I like that the WTA recognized all the five years that we have been working together. Q. Congratulations for everything, for the tournament. I also wanted to ask you, after five years on clay here in the Caja Mágica, everyone says this year is the best year of the clay here in Madrid. I just wanted to ask you if the people that are here laying the court, have they been the same ones in Roland Garros and Paris? Why didn't you decided that since the first day? Why didn't you go to those people from the beginning in order to have perfect courts? MANOLO SANTANA: Well, the change that we made from fast courts here to clay, well, the courts were already laid down before we came. You know, they've never been the way they are this year. I don't want to say that our technicians are good or bad, but we have tried to bring here the best of Europe, to bring the clay from the best part of Europe. During seven months we've been working see the seat errors that were about. Last year it was not the color, even though there was a lot of talk about that. Simply the courts were not in proper conditions. We didn't find a good way of getting the courts in the condition we have them today. The reality is that the courts are in perfect condition, and we're going to keep on with that perfection. For the next 12 months the courts are still laid down and we'll try to maintain them. Madrid is pretty complicated. It's complicated to maintain it because we have a lot of cold nights and so on. But we are going to try to continue with what we have learned from the people that lay down the courts in Monte‑Carlo and Paris. They have been doing it for a long time, so we will try to keep it up. Q. I would like to know what possibilities there are that the tournament lasts longer like Indian Wells and Miami. When do you think the tournament is going to grow? 2014? 2015? MANOLO SANTANA: Yeah, well, we're trying to have more days, because some players ‑‑ we have so few days, well, they have to play a match that perhaps finishes, like yesterday at 1:00 in the morning, and the next day they have play again. So the players and us believe, and we're going to try to have more days so that we can have a more calm tournament and don't force a player finishing really late to play the next day, even though he's already had 16 hours rest. So that's our next goal, to be able to have more days so that the tournament is easier to continue and that it's not very complicated, so the players don't have so many problems. Q. I would like to ask you this: In this crisis that we have right now the tournament has done a really big investment in the courts and all the facilities. I don't know if you're happy about that, because that investment is also reflected in the people over here. They also can see that. MANOLO SANTANA: Well, you know, the economically responsible people of the tournament have given us all the figures, and the first week we dropped prices. The first weekend we did. That's why we had so many people coming here. Especially with this tranquility they had to see if the courts were laid down properly because of all of the controversy we had last year. All of that joined to the fact that we have dropped prices, well, many more people have been able to attend. You know, we're very, very thankful that the people have answered in that way, even though we are right now under a big crisis here in Spain. We are very happy about that. Q. Congratulations for the tournament. It's lovely. Is there any possibility that you will include mixed doubles in the future? MANOLO SANTANA: No, not right now. Sorry. Because the agreement that we have with ATP and WTA are already there. You know, look, with the days that we have problems to finish matches, and some cannot play against each other. So I think that for now, the mixed games are reserved for the Grand Slams. I don't know if you know of another tournament that is not a Grand Slam that has mixed doubles. I think that women's tennis has a lot empowerment, because today even though it was so hot, the court was nearly full. It's the first time that that happens in all the time that we've been here. Q. I think that it would be good, if it's possible, in the area of press if you can put plugs to be able to charge the cell phones and computers. MANOLO SANTANA: Yeah, yeah, we're going to try, because you're right. You have to be all the time on the phone. Thanks for joining us to all of you. Until next year. See you next year. FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports |
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