Millenium8217;s ATP Tour opener

Chennai, April 7: The Gold Flake Open tennis tournament will be among the millenium8217;s first ATP Tour events following the announcement on Wednesday that next year, it will be held from January 3 to 9.

The 430,000 Gold Flake Open will be held in the same week as the tournaments in Doha One Million and Adelaide about 300,000, said ATP tour8217;s Executive Vice-President Brad Drewett but pointed out that a Chennai stopover would be as attractive to players coming out of a six-week season ending rest period, and ahead of the Australian Open third/fourth week of January.

As regards the reasons for shifting the Chennai tournament, Drewett said: 8220;The players have been incredibly impressed. But for geographical reasons, we decided to shift the dates, and I am informed that weather in Chennai during January is wonderful.8221;