New generation shines in Shanghai
The top eight men’s tennis players in the world arrived in Shanghai
each with the dream of bringing home the coveted Tennis Masters Cup. This annual event, held in a different
city each year, culminated in a new generation of competitors. Three of the four semifinalists were the youngest
competitors of the event.
In the end, 21-year old Australian Lleyton Hewitt put a resounding punctuation mark on his season
with the win over Spain’s Juan Carlos Ferrero. Hewitt ended his dream season with five titles, including his
second straight world title. A capacity crowd of 10,000 watched the championship match.
The Tennis Masters Cup is an international competition, in which competitors vied for a share of the $3.7 million
purse in the third annual men’s professional tennis season finale.
Musco provides lighting for telecast
The Tennis Masters cup was the biggest international event ever held in Shanghai. The event was internationally
televised live on ESPN in England, Europe, Australia, China and the United States.
Musco Lighting was chosen to provide lighting at the event, held in Shanghai’s New Expo
Centre, for both the practice court and the main court. Both were lighted to international broadcast television
levels of 2000 lux vertical to the camera locations. Organizers wanted the players to
practice with the same light levels under which they would play in competition.
The light levels required 48, 1500-watt metal halide fixtures at each court, on Musco’s
Light-Bars™, some of the same lighting systems Musco used at the 2000
Olympic Games in Sydney, Australia; the 2001 Goodwill Games in Brisbane, Australia; and the 2002 Commonwealth Games
in Manchester, England.
The lighting for the Tennis Masters Cup required Musco to design the lighting positions and aiming logic to
minimize glare for the players’ vision as well as to the camera locations, a specialty Musco has developed
through extensive experience with many professional teams and leagues. These range from the UK’s England and Wales
Cricket Board (ECB) to the USA’s National Basketball Association (NBA), National Football League (NFL), and
National Hockey League (NHL).
Musco Makes It Happen
In addition to providing temporary lighting services for television and film events, Musco Lighting provides permanent
sports-lighting solutions around the globe, addressing the unique needs of players, spectators, neighbors and television
broadcasts. Musco provides indoor and outdoor lighting systems ranging from community recreation fields to collegiate
and professional stadiums.
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