Brad Drewitt, the CEO of the ATP Tour's International Group, tells the Age that he doesn’t see the China Open becoming the fifth Grand Slam. ''The Grand Slams have many things, but they have something you can't replace, and that's a great history and tradition over 50, 100 years,'' said Drewitt. ''So the four Grand Slams are the four Grand Slams, but I believe that these type of tournaments can become extremely significant events on the world stage, just by the very fact they've got these absolutely world-class facilities, together with the biggest growing market in the world - one billion-plus people that companies are trying to sell to, which is a great platform for sponsorships, and they've got great television support.''
The Chinese press spent part of the week asking players whether or not they thought the combined tournament in Beijing should have that type of lofty designation. The WTA side of the event is a Premier Mandatory tournament, but the men’s is only a non-mandatory ATP 500. China has invested a lot of money in the facilities. '
"Well, the main difference is that it's a grand slam and this is not," Ivan Ljubicic said. "Facility-wise, this is big. There are a lot of courts, and the facilities are here to be a bigger tournament. [But] the fact is that we have a very limited number of big tournaments that it's very difficult to be one of. I'm sure that the China Open in Beijing would love to have a bigger tournament like a Masters 1000 or hopefully bigger than that. But it's really schedule-wise difficult to become part of it once you're not.''
Drewitt also told the Times of India that there is room for tournament growth in that country. India currently only has one ATP tournament, the season-opener in Chennai.? "India was a huge potential market for the sport," he said. "The way I see it, India can have two ATP Tour events.” Drewitt mentioned Bangalore and Mumbai as potential sites.