by Kevin Craig
@KCraig_Tennis
Plenty of Attractions Bring Fans to Australian Open
According to The Australian Financial Review, fans have many reasons other than tennis to attend the Australian Open this year. “A luxury day spa, seven new fine-dining restaurants and upgraded corporate facilities that include butler service and a personal tennis commentator,” are just a few of the amenities that Melbourne Park has to offer to fans while they attend the first grand slam of the year. The 2015 edition of the tournament set a new attendance record, yet prior to the 2016 edition beginning, ticket sales were actually up by 6 percent, making it seem that the attendance record will be broken for a second year in a row. The higher ticket sales combined with sponsorship deals with KIA, ANZ Banking Group, Blackmores, and new broadcast deals have Tennis Australia approaching the $300million revenue mark, according to the report. Craig Tiley, Tennis Australia CEO, is sure that even if they are unable to reach $300million this year, that they will be able to reach it next year.
Tennis Australia Improves Programs for Women
The Sports Campus has announced that Tennis Australia plans on revitalizing women’s tennis in their country in hopes of getting more women to play for longer periods of time. Nicole Pratt, the former No. 1 Australian tennis player, is currently the Head of Women’s Tennis for Tennis Australia and is recruiting a new Women’s Professional Tennis Coordinator in an attempt to properly identify talent better and provide those young players with the necessary resources to stay in the game and develop their skills. This initiative stretches much further than tennis, though, Tiley will be hosting the inaugural Australian Open Celebration of Inspiration Women event on women’s semifinal day, according to The Sports Campus.
BNP Paribas Open Extends Partnership with Fila
FILA will continue to have a noticeable presence at the BNP Paribas Open in Indian Wells thanks to a contract extension, tournament Raymond Moore announced. FILA will continue to be the main sponsor of the event, as well as having a presence at the Indian Wells tennis garden throughout the year, supplying outfits for the staff of the tennis center, as well as for local college and high school teams, according to a report from the USA Today. FILA plans to announce their new line of clothing and shoes at the 2016 edition of the BNP Paribas Open, beginning of March 7th.
BBC and BuzzFeed News Team Up to Drop Match Fixing Report
The biggest news around the tennis world in this week was not the beginning of the first slam of the year, but rather a lengthy report released by the BBC and BuzzFeed News claiming that there is a growing problem of match fixing within tennis. Though this is not breaking news to the majority of tennis fans, it still came as a shock to many people around and within the sport. According to the report, 16 players who have been inside the Top 50 at some point in recent years, eight of which have participated in this year’s Australian Open, including grand slam winners have been involved, yet no players have been definitively named as being involved. The report does examine the infamous match between Nikolay Davydenko and Martin Vasallo Arguello that took place in Sopot, Poland in 2007, in which Davydenko is heavily suspected of fixing the match, yet it has never been proven. While both players denied being involved in match fixing whatsoever, claiming so much as they have never met each other before, it was found that Vasallo Arguello had a contact of “Davydenko” in his phone, to go along with many suspicious text messages to phone numbers that have been linked to gambling rings. While the president of the ATP, Chris Kermode, and the head of the Tennis Integrity Unit, Nigel Willerton, both claim that the situation is not being taken lightly, it is clear that there has been a major problem of match fixing for over a decade now, yet minimal efforts have been taken to find players guilty. Since the report was released, many players have made their voices hear on the issue, including a few who have claimed that they have been approached about fixing matches. If you are interested in reading the entire lengthy report, which you should if you have the time, it can be found at http://www.buzzfeed.com/heidiblake/the-tennis-racket#.dxooZm6Jox.
Players Have Mixed Views on Gambling Sponsoring Tennis Events
With all of the talk being about match fixing and gambling in recent days, players have gotten in the discussion. According to a report from Reuters on Tuesday, Stan Wawrinka, 2014 Australian Open champion, claims that gambling sponsorships help protect tennis’ integrity. Wawrinka claims that if gambling companies are sponsoring events, they would like to see those events as clean as possible and avoid corruption at all costs. Andy Murray, though, had the opposite opinion as he stated that it was “hypocritical” how tournaments can be sponsored by gambling companies while players do not have that liberty. William Hill, a British bookmaker, became a sponsor of the Australian Open in 2015, while the International Tennis Federation has cooperated with Betway in recent years, to go along with a few tournaments in Europe who have other various betting companies as their main sponsors.
