http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/tennis/6104184.stm

I personally find this very bad and greedy, to be honest, London is already lucky and honoured enough to hosst the biggest Tennis event in the world! and now trying to get the Masters Cup here as well? to me this really deosnt sit well because I see the hosting of the Masters Cup as being a chance to have it in a place where people arent usualyl the rest of the year lucky enough to see such good quality tennis i.e Shanghai the current host, and Hanover and Lisbon previous hosts, I accept that Sydney and Houston have been past hosts but neither are Grand Slam cities like London!

Rather than this craziness of trying to get the Masters Cup to london, wouldnt money on such a bid be better spent trying to get a Masters Series event here and on Grass OR maybe with the grass roots or covereage of the sport in Britain.

I agree with you here Ark. London already has Wimbledon and Queen's - which is one of the more pretigious non-masters events, it really doesn't need the master's cupe too. I know the article mentions having it in the run-up to the Olympics, but surely the fact that London will also have olympic tennis as well, is argument against having it in London.

Surely there's lots of better places to have it in Europe - maybe one of the emerging tennis nations in Central and eastern Europe - if they have places big enough. And if they choose to have it in the UK, then there are places other than London which i'm sure could host it....

I don't think you can blame any country for wanting to host it. But quite why the ATP guy wants to give it to London is highly questionable. I'd be much happier seeing it go to Prague, it is not always realised just what a great contribution the Czech Republic has made to tennis over the years.

Prague would be an excellent option, you are totally right they have contributed so much to pur sport by way of all the world class players they have turned out over the years, and continue to do so. Also Prague isnt fortunate enough at the moment to host any top level event, so it wold be a wonderful oppurtunity to re pay for the locals to see their heros court side.

Another option I was thinking that would be better than London in Europe is Moscow.

One stop closer it seems.

Hopefully London will get the YEC. Reading through the posts on this thread earlier, I can't really see a valid reason why London shouldn't get it. Yes we have Wimbledon and Queens etc but other than those few weeks, the British public don't even know tennis exsists!
This would be a great boost for coverage of the game and I for one hope it happens.. anyway, it may be coming around because of this..

China gets Masters Series event
Shanghai has finalised a deal to become the first Asian city to host an ATP Masters Series tournament.
The move could pave the way for the season-ending elite Masters Cup to be played in London from 2009.

Shanghai's agreement to stage the Masters Cup expires after the 2008 event, and ATP boss Etienne de Villiers wants London to become the host city.

He would like the event to be renamed as the ATP World Tour Finals, with the 0² Dome seen as a potential venue.

This year's Masters Cup takes place in the Chinese city from 5-18 November.

I'd rather have it in Pyongyang.