VALENCIA, October 23, 2015

The new trophy for this year’s edition of the Valencia Open was presented on Friday. Pedro Garcia was the responsible person for carrying out the work, which has taken the name of ‘Custodiando el Tenis-Guarding the Tennis’. In the words of the artist, “the trophy is willing to guard the court and the sport.” The trophy is the result of recycled glass, which has been collected in containers for the occasion and distributed at the surrounding grounds of the City of Arts and Sciences in Valencia.

Tournament director Juan-Carlos Ferrero is very happy with the creation. “It is a year full of news. We have a new Center Court, a new Court 1 and another trophy. It’s a really important season for the Valencia Open. I do not want to miss the opportunity to congratulate Ecovidrio for its fantastic initiative. We loved the idea when they explained it to us and today we have the result. A trophy, collected from ecological values ​​with sustainability is nice, modern and attractive. We are very happy.”

Juan Carlos Ferrero met the media on Thursday (photo: Valencia Open)

However, the fact that the Agora building is not able to serve as Centre Court this year, has also negative effects and the tournament will only receive limited support by the Valencian government. “The support has only been the minimum this year and we had to make great efforts,” Ferrero said and added that he hopes to have a meeting with the government soon to discuss the tournament’s future. “The calculation for the ticket sales is not the same because last year the tournament was part of the ATP 500 series and is now only 250. We hope that a lot of people will come to watch tennis this week. When there are big names on the entry list the tournament is more attractive, but the people who like this sport, will come anyway,” Ferrero is positive. In the meantime Tommy Robredo and Sam Querrey withdrew from the tournament. Nicolas Almagro, Andrey Rublev and Marcel Granollers received wild cards into the main draw.