Ljubicic, Blake Chosen to Lead ATP Player Council

World No. 3 Ljubicic appointed President, top American Blake as Vice President

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Contact: Alison S. Kim
akim@atptennis.com

08/29/06 - New York, NY--The ATP, governing body of the men’s international tennis circuit, announced the appointment of Ivan Ljubicic as the ATP Player Council President and James Blake as Vice President. The Top 10 players will serve in their new leadership positions for the next two years.
Ljubicic and Blake were re-elected to the representative body for ATP player members earlier this year at Wimbledon, alongside players Olivier Rochus and Thomas Johansson (1-50 Singles), Paul Goldstein and Davide Sanguinetti (51-100 Singles), Bob Bryan and Kevin Ullyett (1-100 Doubles), and Martin Garcia (At Large). David Adams and Ricardo Piatti were selected as the non-voting Alumni and Coach representatives, respectively.
"I’ve been in the Council for three-and-a-half years now, and it’s a very, very important period in front of us," said Ljubicic. "I’m looking forward to see how we can bring the game up and make improvements because there are a lot of things to do."
Said ATP Executive Chairman and President Etienne de Villiers: "What perfect choices: Ivan and James command not only respect from the ATP players but they also bring creativity and vision to these critical positions. They are role models and ambassadors who already are helping us reshape the future of tennis for the game as a whole."
The Player Council is the representative body for player members of the ATP. It consists of 10 player members, as well as one non-voting Alumni member representative and one non-voting Coach member representative. The Player Council reviews all matters related to players and makes policy recommendations to the Board representatives, who the Council elects.

About ATP
With 64 tournaments in 30 countries in 2006, the ATP showcases the finest athletes competing in the world’s most exciting venues. From Australia to Europe and the Americas to Asia, the stars of the INDESIT ATP Rankings and the world’s best teams in the Stanford ATP Doubles Race contend for prestigious titles at ATP Masters Series and other ATP tournaments. The season's top eight singles players and doubles teams will earn coveted berths at the elite 2006 Tennis Masters Cup, the year-end championship held in China from Nov. 12-19. For more information, please visit www.ATPtennis.com

Media Contacts:
ATP Europe: Nicola Arzani, narzani@atptennis.com, +377-9797-0404
ATP International Group: Stephen Duckitt, sduckitt@atptennis.com, +61-2-9250-2300
ATP Americas: Pete Holtermann, pholtermann@atptennis.com, +1-904-285-8000
ATP Mundo Latino: Benito Perez-Barbadillo, bpbarbadillo@atptennis.com, +377-9797-0404

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