Unable to land a title sponsor, the Connecticut Open is leaving New Haven

and will be played in China this year. By Bob Phillips

NEW HAVEN— Professional tennis has left Connecticut. After 21 years of hosting some of the biggest names in women’s professional tennis, New Haven will no longer stage a WTA Premier tournament after the Connecticut Open sold its sanction on the WTA calendar. The reason? The tournament’s inability to land a name sponsor.

It wasn’t always that way, of course. Volvo sponsored the tournament in the ’90s and the first decade of the 2000s when it was part of the ATP (men’s) Tour. And Pilot Pen was the name sponsor until 2010. From 2005-2010, the Pilot Pen was the name title for both men’s and women’s tournaments in the Elm City. In 2011, the tournament dropped the men’s tournament, and Pilot Pen dropped its name sponsorship of the tournament which became known first as the New Haven Open at Yale and later the Connecticut Open, remaining a premiere event on the WTA Tour and part of the US Open Series.

However, during the five months since the conclusion of the 2018 tournament, The Tennis Foundation of Connecticut (TFC) Board conducted an extensive analysis of the financial model of the Connecticut Open and deemed it is not viable without a Title Sponsor. Following an exhaustive, albeit ultimately unsuccessful, search, the TFC Board has made the decision to sell the Premier WTA sanction to APG, a leading Sports and Entertainment company with a strong footprint in Asia. This year, the tournament will take place Sept. 9-15 2019, in Zhengzhou City, China. Ergo, the tournament will no longer be a final tune-up before the US Open, but rather commence play the day after the US Open concludes.

Furthermore, the likelihood that the Legends event featuring prominent retired men’s stars such as John McEnroe and James Blake, taking place in New Haven without a concurrent professional tournament being held, are minimal.

While the sale means that the tournament will not take place in New Haven in August 2019 and beyond, the TFC Board is maintains that it is committed to exploring whether another WTA or professional tennis event can be drawn to the city at a more sustainable level.

Attendance is certainly not the issue. Indeed, in 2018, the Connecticut Open was the third-best attended tournament on the WTA Tour. The tournament has also been a boon for the local economy, generating in excess of $10 million annually. In addition to lost revenues from ticket sales, local restaurants—one of New Haven’s biggest calling cards—are expected to take a major hit.

In 2018 alone, the Connecticut Open raised more than $20,000 for the Breast Center at Smilow Cancer Hospital at Yale New Haven (it has donated more than $150,000 since 2011), it collected $8,152, plus 25 pounds of food for ShopRite Partners in Caring Food Drive supporting the Connecticut Food Bank and Partnered with Yale University to host the annual Salovey-Swensen Extravaganza fundraiser which supports Yale’s community-based activities and this year set a record by raising more than $1.6 million ($19 million since 1998).

The Connecticut Open is best known for being a launching pad for the WTA stars of tomorrow. The 2018 Connecticut Open title was won by Aryna Sabalenka of Belarus, who collected her maiden WTA trophy in New Haven and this week entered the Top 10 for the first time. Caroline Wozniacki and Simona Halep also won their first Premier titles in New Haven. Past champions include Steffi Graf, Lindsay Davenport (2 titles), Jennifer Capriati, Venus Williams (4), Justine Henin, Wozniacki (4) and Petra Kvitova (3).

Kvitova, the Australian Open finalist and WTA world No.2, said: “The Connecticut Open was always one of my favorite tournaments and continued to get better every year. On behalf of the players, I would like to thank Anne Worcester, the City of New Haven, Yale and most important the fans who came to watch us, who supported us through the years and who made us feel welcome in their beautiful city.”

“It has been an amazing 21-year run for women’s professional tennis in New Haven and we are truly grateful to all the fans, volunteers, players, media and sponsors involved,” Tournament Director Anne Worcester said. “While we remember our great champions, we are most proud of the benefits the tournament has brought to the local community. In particular we would like to thank the State of Connecticut, City of New Haven, Board of Alders, Yale University, Yale New Haven Health, WTA, USTA and USTA New England, all of whom have supported and contributed to the Connecticut Open for more than two decades. We have many memories to cherish both on and off the court.”

The WTA is looking at several opportunities for new International-level events in the United States in the week prior to the US Open, one such event could begin as early as this year, with a second in 2020.