Herausforderungen » and, perhaps more importantly

The first week of October is Chinas National Holiday. During this seven-day period, tourist attractions are at full capacity and there are big crowds everywhere.Not everybody likes this so call Golden Week -- you can image what its like when nearly half a billion people are traveling at the same time in the same country.However, the China Open, which has been held in Beijings National Tennis Center for the past seven years, lives up to the weeks name.The tournament was upgraded to Premier status in 2009. It is a combined ATP-WTA event, the biggest tournament on the Asian continent. There was some ambition early on to build a fifth grand slam, and the easiest way was to copy the best. China Open organizers learned as much as they could from the US Open, from sponsorship to court layouts. In 2006, the China Open became the first tournament outside the United States to implement Hawk-Eye replay.The grand slam ambition eventually faded, replaced by a focus on making money during this Golden Week. And it has worked. For the 2015 China Open, the event attracted 244,557 fans. Of course, it still doesnt match the US Open, but the gap isnt as big as it used to be.During the 2014 China Open, I spent a week covering the tournament. By walking around the National Tennis Center, you can sense that China is building its own tennis culture and looking for its own identity.We try to create an atmosphere of family vacation, not only the tennis matches, said Zhang Junhui, director of the China Open. The average stay time for fans is five hours and 23 percent of them are from outside of Beijing. More and more Chinese families are willing to spend their money and time on these kinds of events, and the China Open is becoming a tourist attraction.All over China, the middle class is growing and prosperity is increasing, making tennis more popular -- 15 million people play regularly. Landing a tennis event is a shortcut to promote a citys image. Its usually called a citys name card.In Wuhan, Li Nas hometown, city officials spearheaded the Wuhan Open. They built a 1.5 billion yuan (approximately $225 million) state-of-the-art tennis facility.In 2016, the WTA has events in Guangzhou, Wuhan, Beijing, Tianjin, Hong Kong, and Zhuhai. The ATP has Chengdu, Shenzhen, Beijing and Shanghai. Thats a new combined record.Tennis is growing quickly in China, and the market still has room to grow. Sure, many fans are still learning the sports rules, history and culture. And too many events in a short period can create unhelpful competition. But Golden Week is becoming a new tradition -- and a golden opportunity for Chinese tennis. Chicago Bulls Gear . Dusautoir, the former World Player of the Year, sustained a torn bicep playing for Toulouse in the Heineken Cup on Saturday. The flanker, who has played 65 times for France, is expected to be out for up to four months. Bulls Jerseys 2019 . World champions Tatiana Volosozhar and Maxim Trankov of Russia won the gold medal with 237.71 points, Moore-Towers and Moscovitch followed at 208.45 and Ksenia Stolbova and Fedor Klimov of Russia were third at 187. https://www.cheapbulls.com/ . Shot outdoors against the stunning backdrop of Banff, Alta., the networks 30-minute original production airs tonight at 8pm et/5pm pt on TSN2. The four All-Star teams will play for $100,000 in prize money during TSNs annual skins game, airing live this weekend on TSN from The Fenlands Banff Recreation Centre. Cheap Bulls Jerseys . It was just business as usual for the Thunder at home. Durant scored 32 points and the Thunder beat the Bulls 107-95 on Thursday night for their eighth straight win. Wholesale Bulls Jerseys . - After leading the Saints to a fourth playoff appearance in five seasons, Drew Brees expressed confidence in the direction of his team and, perhaps more importantly, showed a willingness to listen to contract proposals if the team needs his help getting under the NFLs salary cap. PHILADELPHIA -- Jordan Price scored 24 points and B.J. Johnson added 22 points and nine rebounds and La Salle held off Lehigh late for an 89-81 win on Wednesday night.Cleon Roberts hit a 3 to put the Explorers up 85-75 with 1:03 to play, but after a timeout Lehigh scored six straight and Kahron Ross layup brought the Hawks to within four but couldnt get closer.La Salle began the second half on a 9-3 run and built a 51-40 lead on Roberts 3. The lead grew to 15 on two occasions, 65-50 on Amar Stukes jumper aand 72-57 on Johnsons dunk with 9:06 left in the game.ddddddddddddRoberts had 15 points, six boards and four assist for the Explorers. Price, Johnson, and Roberts made 22 of LaSalles 31 field goals. The Explorers shot 52.5 percent (31 for 59) from the floor.Brandon Alston led Lehigh (2-4) with 18 points, Austin Price had 15, Ross, 14, Tim Kempton, 12, and Kyle Leufroy added 11. ' ' '