The Prudential Hong Kong Tennis Open (PHKTO) 2016 reached its thrilling finale last month, rounding off a tournament whose impact will resonate throughout Asia’s World City for a long time to come.
On centre court, the all-action singles final witnessed former world number one Caroline Wozniacki battle Kristina Mladenovic for three spellbinding sets to take the crown; in the fast-paced doubles final, sisters Chan Yung-Jan and Chan Hao-Ching beat British stars Naomi Broady and Heather Watson to secure their third title of the season. Congratulations to the winners, and we hope they will return to defend their titles in 2017.
The climax to a gripping week of world-class tennis action saw a packed-out stadium and outstanding performances on court, while in the schools, streets and neighbourhoods of Hong Kong, PHKTO has instilled a fresh sense of sporting culture and active lifestyles, together with a love of tennis.
According to the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA), PHKTO 2016 was recorded as one of the highest attended International Series events in the world, a tremendous achievement for the tournament’s third year. This year’s event featured the strongest player field in the history of the tournament, including Angelique Kerber (world number one, Australian Open 2016 singles Champion and US Open 2016 Singles Champion); and three former world number ones: Caroline Wozniacki, Venus Williams (also seven-time Grand Slam singles champion) and PHKTO 2015 singles champion Jelena Janković. Off the court, and in line with our vision to be “the People’s Tournament”, new community engagement activities included a Hong Kong-themed Opening Ceremony and the spectacular CAN Challenge fundraiser, while we broke with typical sports event tradition by offering free tickets not only on “People’s Monday” but also on “Students’ Tuesday”.
Attendance figures broke records for the second year running – and those who did not catch tickets in time could still enjoy the action at the revamped Tournament Village. Aside from a giant TV wall with live coverage of the on-court action, the Village included many interesting and fun-filled activities, including a mini-tennis court, speed-gun booth, 3D-action selfie photo zones, autograph sessions with the tennis stars and tricks performed by tennis artists. As our supporters well know, tournament week is just the crown of our vision of sporting excellence and community love for Hong Kong. This year, our “Let’s Serve” Corporate Social Responsibility campaign reached close to 10,000 schoolchildren with free tennis coaching, and we plan to do even more next year.
Organiser:
Our official charity partner, Friends of Asia Hong Kong, has generously agreed to match dollar-for-dollar the amount raised from two charitable events, namely “Bounce for Tennis” and “CAN Challenge”. Their matching donations will go toward InspiringHK Sports Foundation's Rope-Skipping Inspires Programme for underprivileged youth, as well as Hong Kong Adventist Hospital Foundation's Cancer Fund Programme, which provides Positron Emission Tomography–Computed Tomography scans for underprivileged children cancer patients. The amount raised is close to HK$300,000, with Friends of Asia donating a matching HK$300,000 for a total amount raised of around HK$600,000. As Chairman of the Steering Committee and Tournament Director respectively, we are privileged and honoured to lead this incredible event for sports fans and for Hong Kong, and we are indebted to our committees, teams, volunteers and sponsors for their most noble efforts. We would especially like to thank the government and the Mega Event Fund, as well as our title sponsor Prudential Hong Kong Limited which has supported the event since its inauguration in 2014. We would also like to thank our supporters who have helped us build this event into a world- class event for Hong Kong.
Looking forward to next year’s event and celebrating the 20th Anniversary of the establishment of the Hong Kong Special Administrative Region – see you in 2017!
Oscar Chow Christopher Lai Chairman Tournament Director / Chief Executive Officer
PHKTO 2016 Steering Committee Hong Kong Tennis Association