Journalists of German publication Bild fear that the Masters tournament in Hamburg will not be organized in 2009 due to Romanian rich businessman Ion Tiriac's scheduling, in the same time frame, of the Madrid Masters tournament with prizes of over 15 million euro.
Ion Tiriac, head of the Madrid tournament scheduled the mixed competition in the same time the Hamburg tournament is organized. The Transylvanian vampire, as Tiriac is sometimes called is considered a very powerful man in the tennis industry, German newspaper Bild reads, quoted by Romanian news agency NewsIn.
ATP announced that it would withdraw the Masters status of the Hamburg tournament next year and the Madrid one will be organized on May 7-17 as compared to 13-19 October as its current schedule. The Madrid tournament will have a special competition for women and total prizes will amount to 15 million euro, as Tiriac declared.
