Ferrero to Open Tennis Academy in Shenzhen
Posted: 04/23/2014 4:09 pm
Former top-seed and winner of the 2003 French Open Juan Carlos Ferrero will open a tennis academy in Shenzhen in September, ATP Tour reports.
The Grand Gemdale-Ferrero International Tennis Academy will be located in the Pingshan New Zone and will be opened in conjunction with Ferrero’s long-time coach, Antonio Martinez Cascales.
The academy will feature a 5,000 seat stadium and facilities that include 20 hard courts, four indoor hard and four indoor clay courts.
During an opening ceremony, Ferrero shared his pride at being able to cooperate with China on this joint initiative. Ferrero said, “I feel that Shenzhen is becoming a very important city in China for tennis, and together with the work ethic [Chinese] have plus our training philosophy, I am confident that we can improve players and develop future champions.”
Shenzhen is known on the international tennis circuit for having hosted an ATP World Tour 250 event, and is set to host an ATP Challenger Tour and the Shenzhen Open this September.
On his official website, Ferrero re-iterated his enthusiasm for mutual development. “I [am] really surprised that [Grand Gemdale] has [so many] female scholar players and that the company is so committed to tennis. I hope to make my contribution with the Asian continent to continue promoting competition tennis.”
Another high-profile sports training camp set to be hosted in Shenzhen is the AC Milan Children’s Football Training Camp set to be held this summer at Soccerworld in Shekou.
Photo: Juan Carlos Ferrero.com, SZ News
