Ken Rosewall Arena will acquire a roof this year as part of a 50.5-million-AUS-dollar (35.6 million U.S. dollars) upgrade to Sydney's Olympic Park Tennis Center in an effort to strengthen the city's bid to host an inaugural ATP Cup team event in 2020.

The redevelopment, announced by New South Wales (NSW) premier Gladys Berejiklian and sports minister Stuart Ayres on Friday, includes construction of a canopy roof structure over the two show courts and upgrades to player and media facilities.

Ayres said the government would work with Tennis NSW and Tennis Australia to complete the project in time for the 2020 tennis season.

The arena, which is the court of the NSW Tennis Center, is a venue at the Sydney's Olympic Park. It was built in 1999 and named after the city-born Ken Rosewall, who has won a record 23 tennis Majors including eight Grand Slam singles' title.  

The spending commitments on the infrastructure could boost Sydney's chances to be one of the three cities to host the ATP Cup, a new team competition in men's tennis season from 2020 in the lead-up to the Australian Open.

The Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and Tennis Australia in November last year unveiled the event, stating that it will be played across three Australian cities over ten days and feature teams from 24 countries (six groups of four). The 2020 ATP Cup will offer 15 million U.S. dollars in prize money and up to 750 ATP Rankings points to the winners.

"The redevelopment of Ken Rosewall Arena and Sydney Olympic Park Tennis Center is extremely exciting for tennis in NSW," Tennis NSW chief executive Lawrence Robertson said.

"Primarily, as it ensures the facilities here remain among the best in the country and allow us to bid for new world-class events such as the ATP Cup.

"Sydney has a long tennis history and these upgrades will go a long way to ensure we are in the best possible position to continue that tradition and to have the ability to host major international events in all conditions."

Currently, the existing events in Perth, Brisbane, and Sydney serve as warm-ups for the Australian Open.

The Perth-based Hopman Cup is a mixed team event in which male and female players are on combined teams from eight countries. Therefore, for the first time ever, Roger Federer and Serena Williams on January 1 faced each other in a mixed doubles match between the U.S and Switzerland. Their competition attracted a crowd of 14,064 in Perth Arena, the highest single-session attendance in the event's 31-year history, according to the Sydney Morning Herald.

The Brisbane event attracts strong fields every January, but the Sydney tournament, with a history dating back to 1885, has struggled for a profile in recent years given its position in the week immediately before the Australian Open.

(Cover: Ken Rosewall Arena in Sydney, Australia. /VCG Photo)