The 2010 PSA Super Series gets underway this week in New York with the long-established JP Morgan Tournament of Champions at the US city's iconic Grand Central Terminal. The PSA's new tournament initiative will climax with a prestigious season-ending championship in December.
"Pulling together this package of top level events as early as this in the year has been a major aim for the Professional Squash Association for as far long as I can remember," said PSA CEO Alex Gough. "I'd like to thank all of our partners and promoters for reacting as well as they have over the past months and weeks. We have a very busy end to the year once again, and it has not been easy scheduling around two major multi sport games, namely the Commonwealth Games and Asian Games.
"I'm sure our players will be delighted by this announcement, so they can structure their year around these major events. It is also imperative for our TV distribution that we have a structured calendar that we give to broadcasters as early as we can.
"Our aim is to really drive the message home that Professional Squash has a vibrant, sustainable World Tour and this is a very good start to that process," Gough concluded.
Australian Open Tournament Director Gary Hampson added: "The development of the Super Series World Tour this year has given us a great opportunity to put the Australian Open back into the elite level of championships. We've been able to move the Open to August, away from the tour break, and this will allow the best players to come to Australia.
"The Australian Open has traditionally been one of the world's leading squash tournaments with a history of great Australian champions and the best players from overseas; and now we will be able to attract over a hundred of the world's best men and women to come to Canberra in August. In recent years, Australia has not seen the whole tour competing on our soil and we are excited at the prospect of seeing the top ten men and women playing in the last three days of the Open."
David Palmer, the world No8 from New South Wales and one of the greatest Australian squash players of all-time, said: "It is great to see that the Australian Open this year will be a Super Series Event. I have been playing on Tour for 16 years and this will be the first time that I will get to play a Major Tournament back in Australia.
"I spoke to the organisers over the Christmas period and it sounds like the venue will be very exciting. I am sure that the Australian squash fans will be excited to see great Squash and all the top players compete for the title.
"The Australian Open joins a great list of Super Series tournaments worldwide that the PSA calendar is now boasting."
Of the ten 2010 PSA Super Series events, the following nine are confirmed:
JP Morgan Tournament of Champions, New York, USA, January
North American Open, Richmond, VA, USA, February
Sky Open, Cairo, Egypt, April/May
Australian Open, Canberra, Australia, August
Cathay Pacific Hong Kong Open, Hong Kong
Kuwait Open, Kuwait, November
Qatar Classic, Doha, Qatar, November
Punj Lloyd PSA Masters, India, December
ATCO PSA Super Series Final, (TBD), December
"We are currently in close communication with England Squash and are hopeful that the 2010 British Open can be added to this excellent list of events," added Alex Gough.
This year's PSA World Tour calendar also features 2010 World Open, the premier Tour event which will take place in Saudi Arabia this year and is a stand-alone event outside the PSA Super Series.