The Toronto Indoor (also known as Toronto Molson Light Challenge from 1981 to 1985, Corel North American Indoor in 1986 and Skydome World Tennis in 1990) was a professional men's tennis tournament played on indoor carpet courts, held at Maple Leaf Gardens. It was part of the Grand Prix tennis circuit and later, for one year, the ATP Championship Series of the ATP Tour.

Toronto Indoor
Defunct tennis tournament
Event nameToronto Molson Light Challenge (1981–85)
Corel North American Indoor (1986)
SkyDome World Tennis (1990)
TourWCT circuit (1972–77)
Grand Prix circuit (1985–86)
ATP Tour (1990)
Founded1972
Abolished1990
Editions14
LocationToronto, Ontario, Canada (1971–86/1990)
VenueMaple Leaf Gardens
Skydome (1990)
SurfaceCarpet (i) (1985–86/1990)

History

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The tournament was established in 1972, becoming the second tournament held in Canada alongside the Canadian Open which alternated between Montreal, Quebec and Toronto, Ontario. The final event in 1990 was held at the Skydome.

It was held as an official tour event in consecutive years between 1972 and 1977, 1985 and 1986[1] and then again for a final time in 1990,[2] as the first event on the newly formed ATP Tour. From 1972 to 1977, it was part of the World Championship Tennis-tour.

The first winner in 1972 was Rod Laver. During the second period, Kevin Curren won the first singles event by beating Anders Järryd, with Peter Fleming and Järryd taking the doubles title. Joakim Nyström took both titles the following year with victory against Milan Šrejber in the singles and partnering Wojciech Fibak to the doubles title. After the four-year break, Ivan Lendl took the final singles title, while Patrick Galbraith and David Macpherson won the doubles.

Molson Challenge/Molson Light Challenge

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From 1981 to 1984, the tour event was replaced by an invitational competition featuring 8 players in a round-robin. It was decided to host a full tournament following the success of a standalone exhibition between Jimmy Connors and Ilie Năstase, staged the previous year at Maple Leaf Gardens in front of 12,000.[3] It was put together by Concert Productions International, a Toronto-based company that promoted another lucrative exhibition tournament, the Challenge of Champions.[4]

CPI made a substantial investment in the event's launch. The inaugural edition featured a $500,000 prize money pool, which was incorporated into its name.[3] That amount included a $25,000 bounty-style bonus for the first player who could beat world number one Björn Borg, a novelty which left the Swedish star and some of his opponents unimpressed.[5] Other expenses, including a sizeable advertising campaign, brought the budget for the five-day competition to more than $1 million. The players were contractually bound to help with promotion, and owed the promoters one newspaper, one radio and one TV appearance each. All of the Maple Leaf Gardens' 116 suites were sold, guaranteeing the event's viability. It was shown on CTV in Canada and on ESPN in the US.[3] In 1982 two separate editions were held, one at the Gardens in February, and another at the Montreal Forum in October.

Past finals

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WCT Circuit
Grand Prix Circuit/ATP Championship Series
Invitational Tournament

Singles

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Year Champions Runners-up Score
1972   Rod Laver   Ken Rosewall 6–1 6–4
1973   Rod Laver   Roy Emerson 6–3, 6–4
1974   Tom Okker   Ilie Năstase 6–3, 6–4
1975   Harold Solomon   Stan Smith 6–4, 6–1
1976   Björn Borg   Vitas Gerulaitis 2–6, 6–3, 6–1
1977   Dick Stockton   Jimmy Connors 5–6 Connors ret.
1981   Vitas Gerulaitis   John McEnroe 6–4, 4–6, 6–3, 6–3
1982[a]   Jimmy Connors   Björn Borg 6–4, 6–3
1982[b]   Ivan Lendl   John McEnroe 7–5, 3–6, 7–6, 7–5
1983   Jimmy Connors   José Higueras 6–2, 6–0, 5–7, 6–0
1984   Ivan Lendl   Yannick Noah 6–0, 6–2, 6–4
1985   Kevin Curren   Anders Järryd 7–6, 6–3
1986   Joakim Nyström   Milan Šrejber 6–1, 6–4
1990   Ivan Lendl   Tim Mayotte 6–3, 6–0

Doubles

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Year Champions Runners-up Score
1972   Bob Carmichael
  Ray Ruffels
  Roy Emerson
  Rod Laver
6–4, 4–6, 6–4
1973   John Alexander
  Phil Dent
  Roy Emerson
  Rod Laver
3–6, 6–4, 6–4, 6–2
1974   Raúl Ramírez
  Tony Roche
  Tom Okker
  Marty Riessen
6–3, 2–6, 6–4
1975   Dick Stockton
  Erik van Dillen
  Anand Amritraj
  Vijay Amritraj
6–4, 7–5, 6–1
1976   Jaime Fillol
  Frew McMillan
  Alexander Metreveli
  Ilie Năstase
6–7(3–7), 6–2, 6–3
1977   Wojciech Fibak
  Tom Okker
  Ross Case
  Tony Roche
6–4, 6–1
1985   Peter Fleming
  Anders Järryd
  Glenn Layendecker
  Glenn Michibata
7–6, 6–2
1986   Wojciech Fibak
  Joakim Nyström
  Christo Steyn
  Danie Visser
6–3, 7–6
1990   Patrick Galbraith
  David Macpherson
  Neil Broad
  Kevin Curren
2–6, 6–4, 6–3

Notes

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  1. ^ Played in Montreal.
  2. ^ Played in Toronto.

References

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  1. ^ "Query NY Times". NY Times. 1989-12-24. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  2. ^ "Query NY Times". NY Times. 1990-02-17. Retrieved 2009-03-05.
  3. ^ a b c Wayne, Jamie (February 7, 1981). "New format served up for Molson tennis". The Toronto Star. p. 15  – via newspapers.com (subscription required) .
  4. ^ "Tennis roundup". The Toronto Star. January 11, 1981. p. C10  – via newspapers.com (subscription required) .
  5. ^ "Gerulatis beats bad-boy Nastase". Nanaimo Daily News. February 6, 1981. p. 15  – via newspapers.com (subscription required) .
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