China National Tennis Center

The China National Tennis Center[1] (国家网球中心) is a tennis center in the Olympic Green in Chaoyang, Beijing, China. It was opened in October 2007 and has been the home of the China Open since 2009.

China National Tennis Center
国家网球中心
The Diamond Court in 2024
Map
Former namesOlympic Green Tennis Center
Beijing Olympic Green Tennis Court
LocationChaoyang, Beijing, China
Coordinates40°01′08.88″N 116°22′24.44″E / 40.0191333°N 116.3734556°E / 40.0191333; 116.3734556
Public transitLincuiqiao Station
OwnerBeijing Shiao Forest Park Development & Management Limited
OperatorBeijing Shiao Forest Park Development & Management Limited
Capacity
Individual court capacities
  • 15,000 (Diamond Court)
  • 10,000 (Lotus Court)
  • 4,000 (Moon Court)
  • 2,000 (Brad Drewett Court / Court 1)
  • 200 (Court 2–8 / Court 3–9)
  • (Previous courts name are currently used)
SurfaceHard, outdoors
Construction
Broke ground2003
Opened1 October 2007
Expanded2011
Tenants
China Open (2009–present)

The venue hosted the tennis preliminaries and finals of singles and doubles for men and women at the Beijing 2008 Olympics and Paralympics.

General information

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Aerial view of the center in 2019
 
Lotus Court during the 2008 Summer Olympics

The center is located in Beijing, just 1.7 miles (2.7 km) from the National Stadium (a.k.a. The Birds Nest Stadium).

The tennis center covers an area of 41.22 acres (166,800 m2) with a floor space of 285,394 sq ft (26,514.0 m2). The center currently has 12 competition hard courts and 35 training courts, including 20 hard courts, 10 indoor hard courts, 2 artificial grass courts, 2 indoor clay courts, and a mini hard court.

The main court, named Diamond Court (nicknamed National Tennis Stadium), has a capacity of 15,000. The Lotus Court (10,000 capacity), Moon Court, and Brad Drewett Court all have 12 stands, which represent petals of lotus flowers, one of the emblems of the 2008 Summer Olympics. Lotus court has a capacity of 10,000. Moon Court has a capacity of 4,000 and Brad Drewett Court has a capacity of 2,000. The courts have been specially designed for natural air ventilation to reduce the amount of air pollution entering the courts, ensuring optimal health for both athletes and spectators. It also allows the courts to be cooled and with an installation of cooling machines, the courts' temperatures can easily be reduced to five degrees Celsius. Curtains attached to the roofs of the courts also allows them to be cooled in the heat of the sun.

The project embodies the concepts of Green Olympics, Hi-Tech Olympics, and People's Olympics. It integrates design experience of world sport architecture and will be a tennis competition venue of the state of the art design in keeping with international standards.

In 2009 the China Open, which is an ATP World Tour 500 series event and a WTA Premier Mandatory tournament, moved its location to this center from its former location, the Beijing Tennis Center.

Rename

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The National Tennis Center was opened on 1 October 2007.[2] It was named The Olympic Green Tennis Center (北京奥林匹克公园网球中心)[3] after the Beijing 2008 Olympics. Since it started to host the China Open, the venue was renamed to China National Tennis Center (国家网球中心) in 2009.

Timeline

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Before the Olympics

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All courts except for the National Tennis Stadium were opened on 1 October 2007 and were tested between 6 and 20 October 2007 in the Good Luck Beijing 2007 ITF Pro Circuit, where 36 men and 44 women competed.

During the Olympics

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Olympic Green Tennis Center during the 2008 Summer Olympics

The Courts hosted the 2008 Summer Olympics in Beijing. The following competitions were played:

The winners

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Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men's singles
details
Rafael Nadal
  Spain
Fernando González
  Chile
Novak Djokovic
  Serbia
Men's doubles
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  Switzerland (SUI)
Roger Federer
Stanislas Wawrinka
  Sweden (SWE)
Simon Aspelin
Thomas Johansson
  United States (USA)
Bob Bryan
Mike Bryan
Women's singles
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Elena Dementieva
  Russia
Dinara Safina
  Russia
Vera Zvonareva
  Russia
Women's doubles
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  United States (USA)
Serena Williams
Venus Williams
  Spain (ESP)
Anabel Medina Garrigues
Virginia Ruano Pascual
  China (CHN)
Yan Zi
Zheng Jie

During the Paralympics

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The Courts also hosted the wheelchair tennis competitions of the 2008 Summer Paralympics in Beijing. These were played between 8 and 15 September 2008.

112 athletes (approximately 64-80 male and 32~48 female) were classified into disability group.

The competitions played included:

  • men's singles
  • women's singles
  • men's doubles
  • women's doubles
  • quads singles
  • quads doubles

The winners

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Event Gold Silver Bronze
Men's singles
details
Shingo Kunieda
  Japan
Robin Ammerlaan
  Netherlands
Maikel Scheffers
  Netherlands
Men's doubles
details
  France (FRA)
Stéphane Houdet
Michaël Jeremiasz
  Sweden (SWE)
Stefan Olsson
Peter Wikstrom
  Japan (JPN)
Shingo Kunieda
Satoshi Saida
Women's singles
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Esther Vergeer
  Netherlands
Korie Homan
  Netherlands
Florence Gravellier
  France
Women's doubles
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  Netherlands (NED)
Korie Homan
Sharon Walraven
  Netherlands (NED)
Jiske Griffioen
Esther Vergeer
  France (FRA)
Florence Gravellier
Arlette Racineux
Quad singles
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Peter Norfolk
  Great Britain
Johan Andersson
  Sweden
David Wagner
  United States
Quad doubles
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  United States (USA)
Nick Taylor
David Wagner
  Israel (ISR)
Boaz Kramer
Shraga Weinberg
  Great Britain (GBR)
Jamie Burdekin
Peter Norfolk

After The Olympics/Paralympics

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After the Beijing Olympic and Paralympic games of 2008, the center remained standing. It did not host the 2008 China Open Tennis tournament, despite rumours it would. However, it became the new home of the China Open from 2009 onwards.[1] A new center court, National Tennis Stadium, was completed in 2011. Featuring a retractable roof, this new court possesses a capacity of 15,000 spectators, making it the world's fifth largest tennis stadium by capacity. Lincuiqiao Station on Beijing Subway Line 8 opened in the same year, providing the closest public transport access to the tennis center.

See also

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References

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  1. ^ "China National Tennis Center". Beijing Municipal Bureau of Culture and Tourism. Archived from the original on 2 September 2024. Retrieved 2 September 2024.
  2. ^ "Archived copy". Archived from the original on 1 June 2015. Retrieved 10 October 2007.{{cite web}}: CS1 maint: archived copy as title (link)
  3. ^ Beijing2008.cn profile. Archived 9 August 2008 at the Wayback Machine
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