History
The SAP Open began in 1889 as the Pacific Coast Championships at the Old Del Monte Lodge in Monterey, California. It is the second-oldest tennis tournament in the United States, second only to a predecessor tournaments to the modern US Open. The tournament predates the Australian Open and the French Open. It was held at the Berkeley Tennis Club in Berkeley for a number of years and at what is now the Bill Graham Civic Auditorium in San Francisco for a number of years. The tournament came to San Jose in 1994, shortly after the HP Pavilion was built.
Before tennis' open era, the tournament had both men's and women's events. During World War II, it had special servicemen competitions.
Earlier title sponspors include Redwood Bank, Fireman's Fund, Transamerica, Volvo, and Comerica. More recently, it was the Sybase Open from 1994 through 2001 and the Siebel Open from 2002 through 2004. The tournament has been known as the SAP Open since 2005.
The tournament was until 2013 owned by Silicon Valley Sports and Entertainment who bought half of it from Barry MacKay when the tournament moved to San Jose and the other half in 1995. SVS&E also owns the San Jose Sharks. MacKay ran the tournament from 1970 until then.
The 2013 event was the last held in the Bay Area. Future tournaments will be held in Rio de Janeiro. After McKay sold the venue, the SAP Open was downgraded to an ATP 250-level event with fewer highly ranked players entering. The highest ranked player for the 2013 SAP Open was Milos Raonic, ranked 13th.
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