Topnotch Management, the tennis agency that reps players including top-ranked U.S. star John Isner, is in the midst of a discovery period during which it is trying to establish a WTA event in Cleveland. The agency has put down a deposit for a WTA tournament sanction, which tourneys lease from the tour for a one-time fee of more than seven figures. The sanction would give Topnotch the right to host a tournament in late August, the week before the U.S. Open. “There are a limited number of (sanctions), they are great assets and they don’t come up for sale often, if at all,” said Topnotch PR Dir Kyle Ross.
A tournament in Albany, N.Y., sat in that coveted pre-U.S. Open spot on the WTA calendar last season, but it was not held because of the pandemic. Its current status is unclear, which has given Topnotch the chance to bring an event to their home base of Cleveland. The agency has already secured a concert venue in the city’s downtown on the banks of the Cuyahoga River. Repaving work has begun to turn parking lots into tennis courts.
For more on this, please read Friday’s edition of SBJ Unpacks
