Hopman Cup Wasn’t Well Attended

Written by: Staff on 10th January 2014

Hopman Cup Wasn't Well Attended

epa04007940 Jo-Wilfried Tsonga of France returns to Grzegorz Panfil of Poland during their Hopman Cup final match at Perth Arena in Perth, Australia, 04 January 2014. EPA/TONY MCDONOUGH AUSTRALIA AND NEW ZEALAND OUT |

Editors Note: Why doesn’t someone just say it … What does Paul Kilderry know about running a tennis tournament? It takes promotion. A promoter that gets the word out and the fans in. It needs a person that involves the community and keeps prices fair and the fan experience fun. Retired players know about: Playing in them? Maybe … Where’s the golf vouchers? Meal tickets and free stuff was all his group of cronies understood while they had “B” careers at best?

A dramatic fall in Hopman Cup attendance at the just-concluded edition has Tennis Australia officials going over the books in an effort to stop what they hope is not the start of a downward trend. Attendees through the doors of the Perth Arena totaled just 84,000, down by 20,000 on the figure a year ago.

The event has been through changes since founder Paul McNamee was sacked in a palace coup by tennis Australia, with much of the staff built up by the former ATP player and Australian Open tournament director given the boot over the past 18 months. The new regime had a honeymoon a year ago as the event was played in the brand-new downtown venue, increasing public curiosity.

But the other shoe landed in 2014, with a weak player field and perhaps a fall in reputational value leading to plenty of empty seats which looked particularly grim on a second-tier Australian television coverage platform, secured at the last minute after the national majors declined to bid for rights.

Local tennis bureaucrats insist all will be fine – but they are still examining a $1 ticket price rise at the latest edition for clues as to where the fans all went. Ticket prices for a single non-finals session ranged from $35 to $90.

“Ticket prices increased less than CPI (but) it’s something we’ll continue to review because we want more people in the Arena,” an official told local media. “The objective is to create a fantastic atmosphere in that Arena.”

Plans are afoot to shift seating around to make it look to television cameras that more fans are actually in place at the 12,500-capacity arena. The Perth event was the only summer tennis tournament to suffered an attendance drop.

This year’s draw cards included Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Australians Sam Stosur and Bernard Tomic. That contrasts with 2013 when Novak Djokovic and Ana Ivanovic headed the field at the eight-nation team event.

Topics: 10sballs, Ana Ivanovic, Atp, Australian Open, Bernard Tomic, Hopman Cup, Jo-Wilfried Tsongsa, Novak Djokovic, Samantha Stosur, Tennis, Tennis News