The winner of the inaugural World Tennis Thailand Championship will receive the King's Cup trophy, organisers said yesterday.
The event will be held to celebrate the New Year from Dec 31-Jan 2 at Hua Hin Centennial Park and will feature six top-20 players in the world, said Suwat Liptapanlop, president of the Lawn Tennis Association of Thailand (LTAT).
Those six are world No.5 David Ferrer of Spain, No.6 Milos Raonic of Canada, No.7 Tomas Berdych of the Czech Republic, No.14 Richard Gasquet of France, No.15 John Isner of the US, and No.17 Fabio Fognini of Italy.
Apart from the top prize of US$40,000 from a total purse of $100,000, the winner will also get the King's Cup trophy, Suwat said. Also, each participant will receive $10,000 per match.
The six players will also take part in several activities to help promote Thailand's tourist attractions and cultures.
Thai players Prachya Issaro and Nuttanon Kachapanan will join the tournament and Suwat hopes they will gain enough experience to become key members of the national side.
Tickets starting from 1,500 baht are available at Thai Ticket Major (thaiticketmajor.com).
Meanwhile, Rafael Nadal's uncle and lifelong coach Toni Nadal believes Roger Federer and not his 14-time Grand Slam champion nephew deserves to be considered the greatest tennis player of all time.
Federer holds the record for Grand Slam titles with 17 and added his first ever Davis Cup title to his list of achievements last month.
"I think he is [the best of all-time], the numbers say so," Toni Nadal said. "Federer is the best in the history of the game alongside Rod Laver and, unfortunately for us, it is like that."
However, Nadal has consistently had the upper hand on the world No.2 throughout their illustrious careers. The Spaniard holds a 23-10 lifetime record over Federer and hasn't lost to him in a Grand Slam since the Wimbledon final of 2007.
"I don't know why that is. Federer's game doesn't affect Rafael as much. In any case, one is the best for the titles they win,'' he said. bangkok post/agencies