The only men’s top-level professional tennis tournament in Southeast Asia, the PTT Thailand Open is now in its seventh year as part of the ATP Tour and returns to Bangkok from 26 September – 4 October, 2009.

     The PTT Thailand Open is the only ATP Tour event ever to be held in the region, and has played host to some of the biggest names in men’s tennis.

     In 2003 with Paradorn-mania at its height after the Thai ace had become the first Asian player to crack the world top 10, the Thailand Open was born and the excitement surrounding “Ball” was a large part of the success of the first event.

     However, the event quickly proved that it was not just an opportunity for Paradorn to show his stuff to his home fans. Over the past six years, the Thailand Open has welcomed some of the biggest names in men’s tennis. In the inaugural event in 2003, the field was headlined by then world #1 Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero as well as fellow top 10 stars Carlos Moya and Paradorn. Paradorn made the quarter finals but in the end it was big serving American Taylor Dent who took the title beating Ferrero in straight sets in the first final, and Israeli duo Jonathon Erlich and Andy Ram won the first of their two Thailand Open doubles titles.

     In 2004 the event grew even bigger attracting more spectators as well as the world’s #1 and #2 players: Roger Federer and Andy Roddick. Russia’s Marat Safin was another top-five player who made it to the event. And after two dream semi-finals: Federer vs. Paradorn and Roddick vs. Safin, the final was a clash between the top two players in the world with Federer emerging victorious.

     The following year saw Federer return to defend his title against the likes of Aussie Lleyton Hewitt and Germany’s Tommy Haas but it was a then unheralded Scot named Andy Murray who surprised everyone by making his first ATP Tour final and taking it up to Federer all the way in the tight final match.

     In 2006, the tournament featured more top names in one year than ever before. The stellar line up included then world #3 Ivan Ljubicic, #9 James Blake as well as the returning Murray, Tim Henman, Safin, Ferrero and Paradorn. James Blake took home the King’s Cup trophy after a convincing win over Ljubicic.

     In 2007, Dmitry Tursunov beat Germany’s Benjamin Becker in the singles final but for local fans the highlight of the tournament was the unexpected breakthrough of local twins Sonchat and Sanchai Ratiwatana who collected their first ATP Tour doubles title beating Nicolas Mahut and Michael Llodra in front of an ecstatic crowd of 10,000.

     And last year saw the breakthrough of France’s irrepressible Jo-Wilfried Tsonga who captured his first ATP title beating #1 seed Novak Djokovic in the final.

     Over the past six years, the Thailand Open has grown and grown and we have been fortunate to have seen many of the world’s top players compete in Bangkok.

     And now in 2009 we are delighted to announce that the PTT Group, loyal sponsors of the event since 2003, have increased their sponsorship and from 2009 the tournament is officially known as the PTT Thailand Open. And to help commemorate the occasion we are thrilled to welcome the world’s best player Rafael Nadal to the event for the first time.