ATP 500

The new ATP calendar has been implemented as of January 2009. With the exception of the four Grand Slam tournaments, the calendar includes several so-called ‘points tournaments’, where players can earn 1000, 500 or 250 points.
 
The 2012 calendar includes nine ATP-1000 tournaments and eleven ATP-500 tournaments.
The ATP-500 tournaments are played all over the globe, with five in Europe (Basel, Barcelona, Hamburg, Valencia and of course Rotterdam), two in Asia (Beijing and Tokyo), three in North- and Middle America (Acapulco, Memphis, Washington) and one in the Middle East (Dubai).

The ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament is the first ATP-500 event of the year, and was the first ATP-500 event ever to be held, when the new structure of the ATP World Tour was introduced in 2009.
 
The status is a leap forward for all stakeholders. As the world’s best players are required to participate in a fixed number of tournaments, a higher status will make their attendance more likely. This is beneficial the tournament organizers as well as the spectators. In return, the players are able to earn more points at an ATP-500 tournament. The number of points that players can win at the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament has been doubled since the status of an ATP-500 was sealed.

For the organiser Ahoy Rotterdam and the main sponsor ABN AMRO Bank, ATP’s decision to award the tournament with an ATP-500 status crowned the tournaments 35-years history.

Back in 2009, Tournament Director Richard Krajicek siad: "The ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament has a highly successful history. I am delighted that we’ve been awarded this status; it’s an emotional moment for me personally. It is also the crowning of 35 years of hard work by all those who have been involved in the tournament since 1974. In particular late Wim Buitendijk who had the vision how to let the tournament grow into a successful international tennis event. This decision underlines that the ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament is one of the most prestigious tournaments on the international circuit".

The 40th ABN AMRO World Tennis Tournament is the 5th edition of the tournament as an ATP-500.