For the 24th consecutive year, BNP Paribas sponsored the BNP Paribas Masters from 7 to 15 November 2009 at the Palais Omnisport de Bercy in Paris.

Since 2007, BNP Paribas has been a partner of Sunday Start, the opening event of the tournament, which this year, took place on Sunday, 8 November. The Bank invited 11,000 young people between the ages of 18 and 29 to watch the two matches in the first round of the main draw. This was followed by a concert featuring the French pop group Superbus. Allocating the tickets through different channels (e.g. Students’ Offices at partner schools, organisations supported through the underprivileged neighbourhood initiative “Projet Banlieues”, and a competition on www.bnpparibas.net) ensured genuine diversity in terms of those attending.

Building on its success of the previous years, BNP Paribas continued its support of Unicef through its “Ace for Unicef” initiative: each time a player hit an ace, €10 was donated to the organisation.

In addition, the Group reserved tickets for various partner organisations:
• Fête le Mur, an association founded by Yannick Noah which aims to foster the social integration of young people through tennis
• AFEV, an association that provides educational support and mentoring
• ADIE, an organisation that supports job creation through microcredit

… in short, an event that combined the excitement of the sport with social commitments.