Alison Lee and the ATP

Written by: Bob Larson Tennis on 11th October 2013

Alison Lee and the ATP

epa02930984 Picture showing a ball passing over the net, which is labeled with ATP logo, during the quarter final match between Juan Ignacio Chela of Argentina and Adreas Seppi of Italy, at the 'BRD Nastase Tiriac Trophy 2011' tennis tournament, in Bucharest, Romania, 23 September 2011. EPA/ROBERT GHEMENT |

Alison Lee, the Executive Vice President, ATP International Group, has put a significant amount of time helping extend the tour’s reach in the Asia- Pacific region.

Lee has been working for the ATP since 1998 and has managed the Tennis Masters Cup in Sydney and Shanghai and has also helped oversee the current Barclays ATP World Tour Finals in London.

But her role has become even bigger since the passing of former CEO Bard Drewett, who was also responsible for helping drive growth in the Asia Pacific. Lee also oversees the ATP’s business affairs in the Middle East, Russia and Africa.

This week at the Masters Series Shanghai, it was Lee who addressed the press for the first time. She praised the Shanghai tournament up and down, calling the facility beautiful and saying that the corporate hospitality, merchandise areas and courts are all impressive.

“There’s a reason that Shanghai keeps winning the ATP player award,” she said. “They love playing here, they really do. It’s a warm environment. They go in the player restaurant. It is far and away the best player restaurant and player lounge in the world.”

However Li says that contrary to rumors, there will be no Masters 1000 tournament in Beijing. There are currently nine Masters 1000s and none of them are planning on going anywhere soon. But things could change in the future.

“There are no licenses for sale,” she said. “The ATP is not increasing that number of tournaments. There are four Grand Slams, nine Masters 1000 tournaments, 11 or so 500s, and the rest are 250s.

“Beijing is not in the process of acquiring a 1000. But one day things might change because who knows? When we get players from China and other parts of Asia, we get the momentum moving forward with lots of players, more challenger tournaments, more ATP tournaments, of course we should have another Masters 1000 tournament one day.

It’s not happening right now.”

What Lee does find critical to the overall success of tennis in China is adding to the tournament structure landscape. While the WTA has some notable elite women players from China, the ATP has none from that country. But she believes that by creating more playing opportunities that eventually the pipeline will begin to pour out solid pros.

“Challengers are one of the vital stepping stones for creating talent,” she said. “I think China needs to focus on getting the right structure of tournaments because you can be top‑heavy and then not have anything in the middle. We are working with the Chinese Tennis Association who have done a great job. They’ve gone from having no Challenger tournaments to having one in Beijing, run by the China Open, to six last year. That’s a very good number. They’ve committed to six next year, as well. In Asia we now have 28. That includes Australia. In Asia/Pacific China, 17. In Italy, 15. They used to have 25. Economic problems, they don’t have so many. But countries that have a very good structure of tournaments, juniors, Futures, Challengers, ATP World Tour events, countries like Spain, France, Brazil, they’re the ones creating the top players. France has 10 players inside the top 100. That’s where we need to go.”

Lee is the only high-level female executive in the ATP and is widely respected throughout the game. An intelligent go-getter who spends hundreds of hours on planes jetting from one tournament to the next, she adds fresh voice to ATP leadership.

“I do think it’s true that women add a different perspective when you’re in a room full of men,” she said. “I really do believe that. Apart from that, I just consider myself a regular employee, the same as anybody else.”

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