Istanbul Cup: The First, Hopefully Not Last

This week was my lucky week as a tennis fan/coach. I witnessed history in the making. It included a lot of "firsts" for a country that has never been host to a major calendar ATP/WTA Tour event prior to this week.

I am talking about Istanbul Cup, a $200,000 WTA Tier 3 clay-court tournament taking place this week in Turkey. Held in a picturesque city that connects two continents together, the Istanbul Cup is drawing much interest from fans, media, and sponsors. It's the first Sony Ericsson WTA Tour organized by Turkish people, despite a few aches and pains, the effort put forth by the organizers is remarkable.

For those who have never been to Istanbul, this giant city, with a population nearing 15 million, is situated on the northwest quarter of Turkey and is divided between two continents with a slight majority of its area in Europe. It is connected by two suspension bridges that hold more traffic daily than perhaps Manhattan's busiest street.

Ask any two tennis players in the world, past or present, if they ever held a rally on a court hitting the ball back and forth across two continents. You would think that is a silly question, correct? After all, we are not in the Star Trek era where we can beam people or objects back and forth at warp speed, right?

Ipek Senoglu of Turkey and Venus Williams of the USA can tell you otherwise.

In an incredible promotional event on Sunday morning, one side of one of the two bridges was closed (last time this happened was a few years back when George Bush visited Istanbul and crossed the bridge under extreme security) and a temporary tennis court was set up mid-way on the bridge, effectively allowing Ipek and Venus to play tennis across two continents, literally hitting the ball back and forth between Europe and Asia.

Ipek was full of joy, expressing her hope to the cameras that the event would result in all the Turkish boys and girls watching the event to take up a tennis racket and one day become champions. A graduate of Pepperdine University and now living in Turkey, she is doing a lot to help the cause herself. Last year, she became the first Turkish female tennis player to have played main draw in Grand Slams, in fact reaching the third round in the U.S. Open doubles draw with partner Laura Granville.

Venus was absolutely ecstatic about the event, giving ball boys high-fives and waving at people watching, holding a grand smile. She was an excellent sport overall and had nothing but positive things to say to the cameras about the event, the city, and the country. Never mind that she is receiving a six-figure appearance payment to play the event, she was genuinely happy about being part of history.

Also, during the tournament, she has been going out her way to accommodate the endless number of kids who want her autograph wherever she walks, always smiling at the cameras during interviews, and even doing an extended version of her on-the-court usual swirl immediately following the handshake after her match while sending kisses to the crowd.

People have their opinions of Venus Williams, but rest assured, she has been a top-class act so far this week. Tournament organizers were especially happy when they watched Venus lose only three games in her first two rounds to move on to the semis. The draw for the tournament is solid. At the time of this article, Venus was scheduled to play qualifier Tsvetana Pironkova (who defeated three top-100 players, including sixth-seed Meghann Shaughnessy) in one semis, while second-seed Czech teen star Nicole Vaidisova is scheduled to play third-seed Anna Smashnova of Israel in the other. Already out, are fourth-seed Lisa Raymond and Anna Lena Groenefeld.

We know some people who will be happy to see Venus go all the way: Turkish tennis fans, the tournament director Ilyas Islamoglu, and the sponsors of the tournament.

Yet the most important figure in this equation, Ahmet Kurtulus Birader, deserves a lot of credit. Backed by a major construction and banking firm, he had the vision to back such tournament financially, though most of the groundwork was done earlier that summer with major help from Pat Cash, who spent a whole summer in Turkey during 2004. Cash was instrumental in obtaining the date to hold the tournament through WTA in the early stages of the tournament's birth. Following few major disagreements, he later distanced and separated himself from the tournament's developmental project.

Ahmet's vision is actually bigger than this first time around. The tournament is taking place at a beautiful site in the city, right by the sea, on the tennis courts temporarily built at a major hotel. Nevertheless, the location itself is also temporary. A very social and friendly man, Ahmet's vision includes building the event up even more, eventually opening up a major facility with multiple courts as a permanent home for Istanbul Cup.

A few problems inevitably exist, such as the fact that anyone wishing to buy tickets on site has to go through one person selling tickets through a laptop and a slow connection, which means if you are the 13th person in line, it could take you about 20 minutes to get your ticket and go in. Also, the sponsors tent leaves a lot to be desired, along with the organization for accreditation of passes and people sitting in their seats. We could cite a few more minor conflicts, however, these are all expected when you are hosting a tournament of this magnitude for the first time and possible to overcome when people's intentions are "all good."

Also happy about Turkey hosting of this tournament is Erhan Oral, the Turkish Fed Cup coach, who is also coaching Pemra Ozgen, a rising and talented star from Turkey. In singles, Pemra lost first round along with the only other Turkish player in singles, Cagla Buyukaycay. Oral believes in these two Fed Cup players (Senoglu is another one), they may have lost their matches, but gained a world of experience, too.

"Pemra (Ozgen) is a tremendous talent who needs more competition of this kind. Barring unfortunate injuries, it is a matter of time before she can compete at this level," he explains. "We have made a full schedule for the summer and have high expectations."

Ozgen herself admitted that she was a bit nervous in the beginning of the match but, "felt better as the games went by." As to Buyukakcay, Oral remained very positive, but cautiously added that, "just this time around, young Cagla may have been overwhelmed by the occasion and the skill level present in the tournament."

The Turkish contingency is faring better in doubles with Ozgen and her partner still in the tournament and Senoglu having reached the quarterfinals in doubles with her partner before losing in three sets to the Austrian Klemenschits sisters.

One can only hope that this week results in complete success by all accounts, that Mr. Birader is happy, that Coach Oral sees more opportunities develop for his players, that for the sake of ticket sales and attendance (i.e. no disrespect to Pironkova) Venus goes to the finals, and that Ozgen and her partner reach the finals in doubles. More importantly, one hopes that the financial figures add up in a positive manner when it's all said and done, resulting in the ultimate decision to turn the event into an annual happening and grow in popularity since all the ingredients are already present.

Once that occurs, perhaps you the reader could make plans in 2006 to attend this wonderful WTA Tour event in this fantastic, historical city that will leave you breathless, while enjoying top-level tennis competition.