ATP Barcelona: LS Sports Media Students get an Inside View.

During the last week of April, the ATP World Tour returned to Barcelona for the official Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell tournament. Some of La Salle's fourth year students were lucky enough to get behind the scenes to see some of the more secretive off court action. The ATP is the biggest test tour in the World, and the tour returns to Barcelona annually. This year promised to be one of the most fiercely contested, with some of the biggest names in world tennis and €1,845,585 prize money up for grabs. With this in mind, La Salle's sports media students were able to receive their own behind the scenes tour to take a closer look at some of the sponsorship and business activity taking place. Rolex are one of the official partners of the ATP tour, and can often be seen around court side. San Miguel were local drinks providers and sponsors of the Barcelona Open, as were Banc Sabadell who purchased the naming rights for the tournament, hence the name 'Barcelona Open Banc Sabadell.' The students even managed to get a sneak peak of Spanish legend Rafael Nadal, who has previously won the Barcelona open eight times! This year however, the tournament was won by Kei Nishikori, who beat Santiago Giraldo in straight sets, 6-2, 6-2.