[NH Nonghyup·Akyung Rookie Tennis] "A Dream Stage for Beginner Tennis Players"

"Among rookie tournaments for tennis beginners, this might be the best major tournament."

Jang Han-seop, head of the NH Nonghyup Bank Sports Team, described the status of the 2024 NH Nonghyup Bank·Asia Economy All One Rookie Tennis Festival in this way.

Jang explained that in rookie tournaments where tennis beginners with little experience participate, the prize money for the winner does not exceed 1 million KRW.

The winning men's and women's doubles teams of the All One Rookie Tennis Festival were awarded Shanghai Masters tour tickets as prizes. The Shanghai Masters is an ATP (Association of Tennis Professionals) Tour 1000 series tournament, the tier just below the four major Grand Slam tournaments.

The second day of the 2024 NH Nonghyup Bank·Asia Economy All-Won Rookie Tennis Festival was held on the 9th at the Nonghyup University Tennis Courts in Goyang-si, Gyeonggi-do. Jang Han-seop, Head of Sports Division at NH Nonghyup Bank. Photo by Hyunmin Kim kimhyun81@

"Both golf and tennis define the nature of tournaments based on the scale of prize money, but the All One Rookie Tennis Festival is the first rookie tournament to award Masters tour tickets as prizes. This is equivalent to the prize given for winning a nationwide A-level tournament. In terms of money, it is a tournament with prize money exceeding 3 million KRW, which can be a dream tournament for beginner tennis players."

NH Nonghyup Bank has long contributed to expanding the base of tennis in Korea, having established a soft tennis (Jeonggu) team in 1959 and a tennis team in 1974. Since 2018, it has held nationwide amateur tennis tournaments. With the COVID-19 pandemic, the number of young people enjoying tennis increased, and in 2020, a rookie division was added to the amateur tournaments. Last year, following the amateur tournament held every May, a separate rookie tournament was held in September. This year, the second rookie tournament was co-hosted with Asia Economy, aiming to support the tennis industry, and the scale of the tournament was further expanded.

Jang said, "The biggest difference from last year is the scale of the prize money," adding, "At last year's first rookie tournament, the winner's prize money was 700,000 KRW." He emphasized that the All One Rookie Tennis Festival, which awards Masters tour tickets as benefits for winning, is a rookie tournament of a different class, considering that typical rookie tournament prize money ranges from 300,000 to 700,000 KRW.

This content was produced with the assistance of AI translation services.