03.06.2014 10:53:01 | UniCredit Bank, former Zivnostenska Bank, has been one of the most fundamental building stones of the Prostejov Challenger for twelve years. In 1995, the bank showed up at the tournament for the first time. In 1998, the bank became the titular partner of the tournament. “Looking back, it really was one of the key moments in our tournament’s history,“ said Miroslav Cernosek, head of the tennis club in Prostejov. “Zivnobanka has always appreciated those who have been successful in some area and who have made great achievements. We can tell a lot of work has been done in the Prostejov tennis club. The club has made its way to the very top and the fact that Martina Hingisova and Petr Korda are included on the players’ list is quite revealing.
We don’t like to use the Zivnobanka’s name where we cannot expect quality and a hundred-percent effort. In our cooperation with the Prostejov club, we do not have to worry at all. The local tennis club and their officials have proved to be top class professionals many times,“ said Jiri Kunert, general director of the bank in 1998 when the bank appeared in the name of the tournament for the first time. “In 1995, when Zivnostenska Bank first presented itself as a sponsor of the Czech sport. We invested two hundred thousand Czech crowns in the tournament. We were careful. As a bank, we have to be careful. Three years later, we became the titular partner of the tournament and it surely was a good decision. We have found exactly the kind of professionalism here that we, as a bank, require.“ Kunert met Cernosek in Prague a year earlier. “He told me about their plans in Prostejov and what they would like to achieve. I started to play tennis at that time. I really enjoyed it very much and I told him we would give it a go. Let alone, Zivnobanka was strong in Prague, but we needed to strengthen our position in Moravia. We succeeded thanks to the tournament in Prostejov.“ Did Cernosek persuade Kunert? “Our Prostejov partners persuaded us by their achievements in the club and in their other activities. True, we were careful at the beginning. But then we realized that we had found a very good partner who tried hard to make continuous improvements. They seek new forms of addressing other companies and to attract people from business, culture, and politics. The tournament has always been perfectly organized by professionals and that was why we decided to provide more support to the tournament.“ UniCredit Bank has supported it for twenty years!
