Sharapova not a Classic priority
‘ My interest in Maria is slightly lesser than it is in a lot of players in the field, but we’ve had a conversation.’ ASB CLASSIC TOURNAMENT DIRECTOR KARL BUDGE
MARIA Sharapova appears unlikely to play at next year’s ASB Classic, with tournament director Karl Budge having other targets.
Budge met Sharapova’s representatives at Wimbledon last week and had meetings with the agents of all the leading players.
He hasn’t ruled out making a bid for the controversial Russian, who was unable to play at Wimbledon because of a thigh injury, but says he’s further down the road with other top players.
‘‘My interest in Maria is slightly lesser than it is in a lot of players in the field, but we’ve had a conversation,’’ Budge said.
‘‘She’s a marketable athlete, so she’s someone you want to talk to for sure.
‘‘But there are probably a couple of other players I’m looking to lock away first and foremost and once that’s done, I’ll look at what else we’re looking to do.’’
Budge went to Roland Garros last month for meetings with agents and says the trip to Wimbledon is to take those discussions further.
‘‘You try to lay the foundations at the earlier tournaments and cement them here,’’ he said.
‘‘I’m feeling pretty happy, there have been a couple of handshake agreements and we now have to go to the next stage of getting some ink on paper.
‘‘I’m trying to put the finishing touches on the fields.
‘‘I’m starting to get a good direction and now I’m here I’ve got to fill it out.’’
It appears Budge is close to locking in a top 10 women’s player for next year. That could be Caroline Wozniacki, who has played at the Classic twice previously.
She remains a big name drawcard and certainly has higher pulling power than other top 10 players like Elina Svitolina and Karolina Pliskova. Budge may look at bringing in higher profile players who aren’t in the top 10, like Garbine Mugaruza or Victoria Azarenka.
He would like to be able to bring back this year’s French Open winner Jelena Ostapenko, GETTY IMAGES but her success in Paris may hamper that.
As the Classic is a lower tiered WTA tournament, only one top 10 player can appear at it.
The Latvian is 13th in the world rankings, she has played at the Classic twice previously, a recipient of a wildcard in 2016 and is destined to be one of the next great stars of women’s tennis.
‘‘She’s someone we’ve got to have a detailed conversation about,’’ Budge said.
‘‘We’ve obviously got a relationship with Jelena and her team and a lot of brownie points with the investment we’ve made in her.
‘‘We’re going to have to make some decisions in that space and it’s probably the hardest decision I’ve got to make at the moment.
‘‘I had a lot offers on the table before Jelena won Roland Garros and that changed things.
‘‘I always thought she’d win a grand slam, but didn’t know it would be this year.
‘‘So that’s changed some of the conversations we’ve had and we’ll need to see where she and some of the other players we’ve had handshakes with end up.
‘‘Until that happens you have to do this dance around whether we’ll be able to have her, or have her and someone else.’’
As for the men’s tournament, Budge admits he’s finding it tough to land his one marquee player and faces the usual problem of stars not wanting to play a tournament the week before the Australian Open.
‘‘We’ve had a lot of chats with Juan Martin [Del Potro],’’ he said.
‘‘He’s a great player to watch. I’d like to see him out there but I don’t know if that’s going to happen.
‘‘I don’t have a handshake yet on the men’s side. We’ve got a lot of players who I know want to come, but until I land my big fish I’m a little hamstrung with what I can do with the others.
‘‘I’ve got some work to do on that side and I’m running around here working on that.
‘‘We need to get our marker done and then we can know what the other plans are.
‘‘Whether that marker is Juan Martin or someone else, we’ll find out.’’