Copyright © 2016. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.

The ATP 250 event in Qatar isn’t aiming to climb up a level and become a 500 event — it wants to move all the way at least to Masters status.

Tournament director Karim Alami told Brazilian website Break Point, “Making it a 500 would not produce any difference… since we have better fields than a lot of events in this category. This year, we had four top ten players. The fifth- Richard Gasquet, was injured. Our vision is a Masters 1000 or bigger. Our intention is to grow the tournament event more.”

Alami sees the tournament’s title sponsorship, by a subsidiary of ExxonMobil, as secure, despite current problems within the industry. Other sponsors, like Qatar Airways, have been expanding their presence in the sport.

The tournament is played in the first week of the season. It could be difficult for Qatar to obtain Masters status, given the limited amount of tournaments with the elite designation and the amount of other events also wanting to move up to that grade. But it is looking to bring its facilities up to Masters level, building a 12,500 seat center court, expanding to 40 practice courts, and planning a new fitness center and indoor courts.

Qatar also holds a WTA event.

Copyright © 2016. No duplication is permitted without permission from Bob Larson Tennis.