12th – 18th October .Tianjin Open 2015 .
Growth and Global Scale
Interview with Stephen Duckitt
Tournament Director
by Nadia N.
The Tianjin Open is an international WTA tournament, which will be held in the Tianjin TuanBo area in October 2015. Last year, the event hosted many great tennis players, ran a lot of promotions and activities during the tournament. This year it’s going to be even bigger.
Stephen Duckitt, as The Tianjin Open director, has a lot of experience in working with the WTA in China – he started in 2005, and he began working for the Tianjin Open since the birth of the tournament – from 2014. Since last year, the Tianjin Open has been upgraded and improved, and Stephen is ready to share all the news with Business Tianjin.
Tianjin Open was a great success last year, and it’s been upgraded for 2015. What new features will be applied at this year’s tournament?
We always look for new ways to make our tournament better. And, this year we made two large commitments for tennis in Tianjin. The most important one is doubling the prize from USD 250,000 to USD 500,000. This will provide us with an opportunity to have 2 of the TOP 10 players in the world in our tournament. It’s not only an achievement for us, but also encouraging new players to come in. The second commitment is the decision to implement the Hawk-Eye technology –complex computer system to track the game. Hawk-Eye not only takes away the doubt and uncertainty from players during the game, but also provides a new-dimension to broadcasting and absolutely another experience for fans.
Still, a lot of our readers don’t know much about the Hawk-Eye technology. Can you tell us more about it?
Certainly, The Hawk-Eye is gaining more and more popularity, and different kinds of high-level tournaments are starting to use it. For a tournament of our size and level within the WTA structure, it is something very rare. Making this investment is very significant for us. Hawk-Eye reassures players during the game, gives them certainty, that they get a right line call. Hawk-Eye cameras are made to track the trajectory of the ball for replay purposes – they are extremely precise. For fans it is an experience of better, detailed broadcasting. It’s going to be great for players and fans of the Tianjin Open 2015.
We have seen superstar names in a list of players participating in Tianjin Open 2015. Could there be any surprises in the following weeks?We announced already that Poland’s Agnieszka Radwanska will be featuring in the tournament this year. Surely, this is a wonderful result for the Tianjin Open. It shows that our efforts are rewarded by players participating in the tournament in 2015. Agnieszka is a world-class athlete – a finalist of Wimbledon, she has 14 titles, and, as one of the WTA top players, she is very popular. This week she slipped out of WTA Top 10. But it is natural for tennis players - they go up and down all the time. Her participating in the Tianjin open is a big achievement. We have some other exciting news: we have got 2 rising stars to add to our player list. Firstly - Carolina Pliskova, a player from the Czech Republic. Recently she joined the Top 10 for the first time. If Agnieszka Radwanska’s results improve in the next couple of weeks, it will mean will be hosting 2 of the WTA top 10 players. This is incredible! Also, we are happy to announce the return of Belinda Bencic - she was a finalist of the Tianjin Open 2014. That makes 3 players from Top 20. Also, of course, for the Chinese perspective and fans we added Zheng Sai Sai to the field. Tianjin Open will also be highlighted by the return of Martina Hingis - champion of Wimbledon and a global superstar. It means that every single day of the tournament, high-quality tennis will be played, and fans are going to enjoy the tournament and mention its growth.
Tianjin Open is growing very fast, and you mentioned that you “would like to put the Tianjin Open on a global scale”. What are the plans to fulfil these ideas?
Every tournament needs to grow. We’ve already made significant investments in increasing the prise money, offering Hawk-Eye technology; we’ve also done a lot of marketing. All this gets the word out, that this year Tianjin will host an international level tennis tournament. Now people don’t need to go to the China Open to see world-class tennis, they can just stay right here in Tianjin. In the long term, surely there are plans within the Tianjin Health Industry park – to build a new central court, as a tournament begins to grow. We also plan for the Tianjin Open to grow within the WTA, to become a premier level tournament. That means better players, bigger prize money and more facilities.
There are several changes and additions to the sponsors from last year. Can you tell us about some of the sponsors of this year’s tournament?
Certainly, a tournament can’t survive without the support of the corporate community. So it is very important that we are actively speaking with companies, both- in Tianjin and overseas. At our press-conference this week we announced sponsors for the Tianjin Open 2015 – there are some old and new ones. We welcome back the Crown Plaza Meijiang as an official hotel – players will get to stay in 5 star facilities. We also welcome China Merchants Property Development – real estate and property development firm. During the tournament we will have “Head” as an official ball provider with Tianjin Open branding on it. And, we will have “Fiji” water as our official tournament water; it is a new international brand. Of course there are many more. It showcases that the level of investment is very serious and the tournament is an important event for the city.
Tianjin Open has become an important event, and after doubling the prize money, it becomes one of the richest WTA international tournaments of the year. What makes Tianjin Open so special?
In the WTA structure there are 3 categories of the tournaments. Premier Mandatory contains tennis events like Beijing Open, premier level – tournaments like WuHan, and, finally, international level- tournaments like Tianjin Open.
International category – this is the current position of Tianjin Open. And prize money somehow dictates the “status” within the group. So, USD 500.000 as the prize puts our tournament at the top, which allows us to grow even further. For us it is showcasing to the world that Tianjin is serious about tennis and the Tianjin Open will be here for a long time. Tianjin has great potential so our tournament will grow bigger with every year.
You were in London for Wimbledon. And, of course it’s hard to compare it with Tianjin Open, as a young tournament, but what are the major differences between them? How can you make Tianjin Open to become one of the top tennis events?
Wimbledon has been around for a while – 138 years, and, of course, players and fans love it. It has great facilities, bigger fields for men and women, singles, doubles and mixed doubles. So, Wimbledon is a tournament that has a magical buzz to it! Tianjin Open is only in its second year. And legacy and tradition- this is exactly what we want to build. I have been in China for quite a long time – from 2005. At that time, there was only the China Open and I observed for a decade how it grew from a small tournament to the big tennis event, that it is today. Right now there are a lot of important tournaments all around China – in Shenzhen, Shanghai, and Wuhan etc. There are also tournaments in Hong Kong, Macao and Taiwan. Tennis culture is growing in China – so will the Tianjin Open. Within 30-40 years, the tournament will develop, as well as its location- Tianjin Health industrial park. And, we will have it all- better facilities, bigger names and more superstars coming to play here in Tianjin.
Tianjin Open is a young tournament, but it did already host great players in 2014. What is their opinion about Tianjin Open?Players always attend new tournaments with a feeling of trepidation- they are not sure what to expect. But participating in the tournament with such great facilities (stadium, that was built only 3 years ago, and general infrastructure), is a great experience for players. Now participants are sure – they are going to play on well-surfaced court in a new stadium, full of tennis fans. Plus, I should mention the unique Chinese touch that the staff and fans bring to the tournament. They really care about players, and love having them playing in Tianjin. It’s very important, as players feel special getting tonnes of attention, which they probably don’t get during some other tournaments. Chinese fans are some of the most passionate. Of course players love it; it is very different from other countries, where fans are more relaxed and easy-going. Also, this year we will make an arrangement to promote Tianjin to players as well. We plan to show them some key landmarks – Tianjin Eye, Haihe River, the Railway station etc. Players should see that Tianjin is a beautiful and cultural city.
There are obviously a lot of tennis fans in Tianjin. How will the Tianjin Open team encourage people to attend the tournament? What kind of ticketing system will be applied this year?
We are very active in promoting the tournament. Last year we didn’t really get out the message about Tianjin Open– our team had quite a short time to prepare for the tournament. This year, we will make surethat a lot of people will know about Tianjin Open and join us at the stadium. We are focused on reaching out to different community groups- talking to media, working with schools etc. Also we have an ongoing promotion to the Wimbledon players training for kids and hosting summer camps.
We started our advertising campaign in the middle of August – put promotion videos on Chinese TV and much more. We want people to know, that tickets are already available! It means people can already start to book the best seats in the stadium for the Tianjin Open.
Last year, we used a local ticketing agency. Its certainly not convenient- people need to go to the ticket office to get one. But this year people can buy tickets online. It puts us on a national ticketing platform – people all around China will know about the Tianjin Open. Now to buy a ticket for the tournament, you can simply use WeChat wallet – the transaction can be done within a minute. Another initiative is reducing the ticket price – starting from CNY39! Moreover, we added student and family discounts. Making the young generation interested in tennis – this is how we want to get tennis “growth”. And obviously we would like to make our tournament a “family affair” – mom, dad and their kids can enjoy tennis together.
Could you give us your opinion about the facilities? What is the capacity of the centre court?
The Tennis stadium capacity in the Health Industrial park is 3,400 seats. We are also going to have 3 skyboxes – it is kind of “behind the scenes” investment that we are making in terms of upgrading the tournament. We would like to have the stadium full every day, especially from the quarter-finals onwards. If all the tickets for the Tianjin Open get sold out, it will be a great achievement for the tournament in its 2nd year.
The stadium is located in Tuanbo area, a little far from the city. Are there going to be some transportation arrangements?
Last year we didn’t have any arrangements for transportation- we learnt from that. Tuanbo area is a little far from downtown, but we want to make sure that everyone can easily participate in the event. So, closer to the tournament we will implement shuttle buses in several locations across the city. There are no final details, but later we will surely make an announcement through the media. We welcome people all around to come and join us at the Tianjin Open- even Beijingers, if after Beijing Open they will still be hungry for tennis.
Tianjin is a "key city" in China and has a wonderful tennis background. What's your opinion about Chinese and Tianjin tennis players?
Tianjin won its position at the National Games – the women’s tennis team has been champions for over 14 years. Obviously, it shows that the direction taken is right. Tianjin Tennis Centre is incredible – more than 20 courts, 12 indoor courts, facilities for kids, theatres, lecture halls and dining facilities. And in Tianjin, as with everywhere else in the world, there are many outstanding athletes as well as players that need to work hard to succeed. But, when you visit children training and see that passion and drive, you can be sure that the tennis culture will grow year after year.
We need to take care to promote future tennis players, new star names. Could you tell us about the activities that you are planning to help children celebrate during the tournament?
Tianjin Open 2014 has collected a lot of positive media attention, and there are a lot of hopes for this year’s edition. What are your expectations for future Tianjin Opens?
We will continue to be better every time the tournament is held. We want to grow our attendance, media coverage, and level of tennis players. Also, we want to develop with our sponsors. Promoting the tournament as well as Tianjin, having a full stadium, excellent TV and media coverage and showcasing how great the Tianjin Open is– this is the short-term plan. In the future, it will be nice to grow to the level similar to Wuhan, or even the China Open. Our tournament is located in the Tuanbo area, facilities are new and there is a real possibility to develop. In the long term, the Tianjin open has many opportunities to expand.
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