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Revamped China Open anchor for growth in key market

(Agencies)
Updated: 2009-09-10 20:18

BEIJING - The China Open, which starts a new era as one of the 'crown jewels' of women's tennis next month, will become one of the biggest tournaments in the world in the next 10 years, according to WTA President David Shoemaker.

The women's professional tour has identified China as a key strategic marketplace and the elevation of the tournament to one of four $4.5 million elite events is an important plank in the strategy "to grow the sport in China as a whole".

"They have extremely bold plans for this event, it's pretty easily the biggest tennis event in Asia now and I think 10 years from now it will be one of the biggest tennis events in the world," Shoemaker told Reuters in an interview on Thursday.

Shoemaker set up the tour's Asia-Pacific operations in Beijing last year and will retain responsibility for the region when he moves to Florida after his recent promotion to president. In his time in Asia, Shoemaker has watched Chinese women like Li Na and Zheng Jie break into the world top 20 and is looking forward to the atmosphere when they play in Beijing -- even the possibility of a local winner. "I think it would be fabulous to see a Chinese player win, although officially I will remain impartial," he grinned.

Organisers will not be banking on local success to get the Chinese public through the doors, however, particularly as the tournament is now mandatory for the top 50 in the world.

"We've shown around the world that we're not reliant on local players to draw fans," he said. "When a Serena Williams or a Maria Sharapova or an Anna Ivanovic comes to town, that sells tickets."

One of the attractions of Beijing when the WTA were discussing where to place their Asian 'crown jewel' event, he said, was the proposed venue, the Olympic Green Tennis Centre.

ASPIRATIONAL SPORT

The complex was purpose-built for the Beijing Olympics and ground has already been broken on an additional stadium court with a retractable roof.

"Anybody who had the chance to watch the tennis at the Olympics quickly realised that this was a jewel in and of itself, which merited a top level tennis tournament," said Shoemaker. At its former venue, the China Open sometimes had thin crowds, often bolstered by bused-in students and elderly local residents with little or no knowledge of the game.

Shoemaker accepted that China was by no means a mature tennis market and on Friday will head down to Guangzhou to oversee a "tennis festival" aimed at raising excitement for next week's WTA event in the southern city and, of course, for the China Open.

"Our vision is for this to be the most successful sporting event in all of China and I think that's quite attainable," he said.

"But there does need to be some amount of education and effort put into what the sport's about, to get people excited about playing it, about watching it, about buying tennis equipment and the like."

Shoemaker said the revamped China Open was a "shared vision" with the government in Beijing, where popularity of tennis among the top Communist Party officials has given the sport something of an elitist image.

"I think it's aspirational, rather than elite," said Shoemaker. "Our statistics show the average tennis fan is younger, more wealthy and better educated than the average tennis fan around the world and that certainly helps us."

That would certainly be attractive to companies considering sponsorship, which along with ticket sales provide the bulk of revenue for tennis tournaments.

Many international sporting events have struggled to get Chinese corporations to invest in sponsorship but Shoemaker's belief that the China Open would be around for "many, many years to come" meant it could afford to build relationships over time.

"Sports marketing as a concept is still a little bit in its infancy in China and as a result we're taking a very patient approach," he said.

"I see the China Open as the real anchor for the growth of tennis in China, and I see that event continuing on a steady progression of success, more and more sponsorship, more and more fans and and more and more international media coverage."