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18-567: The tournament was created in 1990 and was played on indoor carpet courts . From 1990 to 1996, it was held in December but was moved to the middle of autumn from 1997 to 1999. From 1990 to 1997 the tournament was limited to male players. A women's Cup was added in 1998 and was held simultaneously with the men's Cup. Throughout its existence, the Grand Slam Cup was famous for paying out the highest prize money of any tournament in tennis. The winner for

36-452: A player based on his Grand Slam performances, and after all four Grand Slam events had concluded the 16 players with the most points – 12 in 1998 and 1999 – qualified for the Cup. Grand Slam champions were not assured of a berth in the event. In the men's tournament the first two rounds of the Cup were the best of three sets while the semifinals and final were the best of five sets. There

54-427: Is a textile surface of nylon or rubber matting laid out on a concrete base. They came in many kinds of synthetic materials, from different sources, which led to the tennis tournaments and organizers (WTA/ATP) typically identifying and labelling carpet courts by their brand names such as Greenset, Supreme or Taraflex. Carpet courts have been used in venues which are not normally used for tennis or other sports, such as

72-459: Is a type of tennis court . The International Tennis Federation describes the surface as a "textile or polymeric material supplied in rolls or sheets of finished product". It is one of the fastest court types, second only to grass courts . The use of carpet courts in ATP Tour competitions ended in 2009. In women's tennis, no WTA Tour tournaments have used carpet courts since the last edition of

90-594: The Royal Albert Hall in London. Players usually approach such courts as they would a grass court due to both being similarly fast surfaces. The ATP Finals , WCT Finals , U.S. Pro Indoor , ECC Antwerp , Kremlin Cup , Paris Masters and Zagreb Indoors tournaments were all once played on carpet. In 2009, the governing body for men's professional tennis, the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP), decided to end

108-594: The Tournoi de Québec in 2018. ATP Challenger and ITF circuit level tournaments with carpet courts continue to exist up to the present (2024). There are two types of carpet court. The most common outdoor version consists of artificial turf with a sand in-fill. This type of carpet court became popular in the 1980s in British and Asian tennis clubs for recreational play as they were easier and cheaper to maintain than grass courts. The other type used predominantly for indoor tennis

126-576: The WTA Tour , the Tournoi de Québec , ended after the 2018 edition. In the 2019 WTA 125K series , the only tournament played on carpet was the Taipei Open . The developmental ATP Challenger Tour still has several carpet court events. Tournoi de Qu%C3%A9bec The Tournoi de Québec was a WTA Tour International level tennis tournament held in Quebec City , Quebec, Canada. Held from 1993 to 2018,

144-506: The ATP Champions Race, was excluded from the event in favor of Gastón Gaudio , who had won that year's French Open but was ranked tenth at the end of the year. Pete Sampras was the most successful player at this event winning two titles out of three final appearances. Qualification and seeding for the Grand Slam Cup were not related to the ATP computer rankings. Points were allocated to

162-674: The Cup with the ATP Tour World Championship, the ATP's year-end tournament also held annually in Germany, giving birth to the ATP World Tour Finals , an official tour event. A direct result of the merging of the two competitions can still be seen in the qualification rules for the ATP World Tour Finals, which included one notable difference from those of the prior ATP Tour World Championship. The Tour World Championship

180-494: The first double bagel in a WTA Tour final for 13 years. Other players who have won the event and gone on to win Grand Slam titles include 1999 champion Jennifer Capriati , 2003 champion Maria Sharapova , who both went on to become world No. 1. American Lindsay Davenport , a three-time Grand Slam champion, won the event in 2007, in only her third event after returning to the tour after giving birth to her son. The last edition of

198-423: The first three years of the Cup received U.S.$ 2 million in prize money, which dipped to $ 1.625 million in 1993, rose to $ 1.875 million in 1996 and back to $ 2 million in 1997 before falling to $ 1.3 million in 1998. If the Cup was won by a player who had also won a Grand Slam event that year they received a bonus of $ 1 million. Prize money for the winner of the two women's Cups was fixed at $ 800,000. The Grand Slam Cup

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216-452: The only woman in the history of the tournament to do so. The following year, American Tara Snyder won her first WTA Tour title with a hard-fought victory over fellow American and former top 10 player Chanda Rubin (Rubin was also runner-up in 1999 and won the tournament in 2000), as she saved two match points during the match. In 2006, top-seed and future Wimbledon champion Marion Bartoli of France defeated Russian Olga Puchkova 6–0, 6–0,

234-457: The top seven players in the computer rankings. The eighth ranked player, however, qualifies only if all Grand Slam singles champions are among the top eight. Any Grand Slam event champion who is not in the top eight but is still in the top twenty is included to the detriment of the eighth ranked player. This situation occurred at the 2004 Tennis Masters Cup , where Andre Agassi , the No. 8 ranked player in

252-710: The tournament was the last women's professional tennis tournament still played on indoor carpet courts . It was held at the PEPS stadium. The event had several sponsors and the tournament name changed accordingly. The tournament was known as Challenge Bell from the first edition to 2013, and was later sponsored by Coupe Banque Nationale and called the National Bank Cup . In 1997, Dutchwoman Brenda Schultz-McCarthy defeated Belgian Dominique Van Roost to win her second title in Quebec City (also won in 1995 and finalist in 1994),

270-476: The use of carpet courts in top-tier tournaments. ATP spokesman Kris Dent said the most important reason for the change was to standardise indoor competitions to hard courts which he said will reduce the risk of injury. A number of players, including Mario Ančić and Jo-Wilfried Tsonga , criticised the move stating that professional tennis needed carpet courts for players to develop their ability for playing on fast courts. The last event played on carpet courts on

288-413: Was meant to include the top eight players on the ATP computer rankings at the end of a season, even though this could mean the exclusion of a Grand Slam champion who had not been able to earn sufficient ranking points in the rest of the year. Present Finals rules ensure the participation of a Grand Slam champion who is unable to earn a top eight ranking at the end of the season and automatic qualification for

306-495: Was no tie-break if a match went over the full distance. In the women's tournament all rounds were best of three sets. Date: December 11 – December 16 Date: December 10 – December 15 Date: December 8 – December 13 Date: December 7 – December 12 Date: December 6 – December 11 Date: December 5 – December 10 Date: December 3 – December 8 Date: September 23 – September 28 Date: September 29 – October 3 Date: September 27 – October 4 Carpet court A carpet court

324-482: Was not recognized by the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and participants did not receive points in the ATP computer rankings nor have it credited as an official career title. Following the discontinuation of the Cup in 1999, the ATP decided to give the event retroactive recognition and added it to players' record of official titles. A compromise between the ITF and the ATP was announced on December 9, 1999 which merged

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