ATP chief defends no-show players

ATP boss Chris Kermode has come to the defence of the four players who pulled out of the ASB Classic, but admits it’s a bad look.

Andrey Rublev, Kyle Edmund, Ryan Harrison and Guido Pella have all withdrawn from this week’s tournament, but each of them has turned up to collect $7064 of prize money and avoid being fined by the ATP.

Kermode, the executive chairman and president of the ATP, who run the men’s game, has been in Auckland this week to check out the tournament and witnessed a farcical’s days play because of the withdrawals.

"It’s always something you don’t want to happen at an event," Kermode said.

"It’s always a possibility because in live sport it happens.

"The bigger concern would be players pulling out before they got here, that would be an issue.

"They make the effort to come to the event and that’s demonstrated the desire to play here.

"Tennis is such a physical sport that these things are going to happen, we are currently doing a whole review process of our business and plans for 2019.

"Ranking points, player withdrawals and how we deal with that is something we’ve got to and are, looking at."

Edmund from Britain has an ankle injury picked up last week in Brisbane, which appears genuine, but the Russian Rublev, who was the eighth seed, Harrison from America and the Argentinian Pella all went deep into their tournaments last week.

Rublev and Harrison have said they’re too fatigued to play, while Pella says he has a shoulder injury.

There won’t be too many tears shed over Pella not playing, but Rublev and Edmund are two of the most exciting young players in the world and Harrison had become a popular figure in New Zealand through winning the French Open doubles title with Michael Venus last year. Their spots in the draw were taken by lucky losers, who are players who lost in the last round of qualifying.

Having played lots of tennis last week and with the Australian Open next week, it could be assumed that they just want to take a rest, rather than play in Auckland.

But Kermode says he believes the players’ excuses.

"I do," he said. "The concern would be if they pulled out having not made the effort to come here.

"Once you’re here it’s much easier to play, than not play."

Given that this is just the second week of the new season, a professional player saying he’s fatigued, doesn’t sit will with tennis fans who didn’t get to see any great match ups on the second day of the tournament.

"A lot of it is about wording," Kermode said.

"You can withdraw through personal reasons, fatigue and things like this.

"We’ve just got to be clear to fans as to why something is happening.

"If there is a good concrete, obvious reason, then I think fans realise that sport is live, dynamic and there are going to be withdrawals.

"When there’s the grey area at the beginning of the year, fatigue doesn’t sound that great.

"At the end of the year people would say, ‘OK, it’s been a long season.’

"So we’ve got to clear that up, that’s part of this whole process we’re doing."

Meanwhile, Kermode delivered a warning that the ASB Tennis Arena needed a significant upgrade or risked being left behind by other ATP tournaments.

"There are some issues I spoke to Karl (Budge, tournament director) about.

"The tournament has done a fantastic job outside of the arena, all the infrastructure for the fan experience is brilliant.

"But some of the actual building needs updating for it to retain its world relevance.

"Karl I know and Tennis Auckland are on board and realise this is something they’ve got to invest in.

"It’s a big deal and we’ve got to keep up with the times and present a world class sport."

The Robinson and Yock stands are well past their use by dates, especially as the Classic sells itself as a premium sporting event,. Then of course there is the issue with the roof.

Kermode wouldn’t go as far as saying the ATP will pull out of Auckland if the improvements aren’t made, but made it clear the changes must happen.

"Like any normal business, you can’t stand still, you can’t expect [that] when everyone else is advancing," he said.

"I know having spoken to Karl at great length over the years that the ambition of the tournament will make sure this happens.

"It has to happen and it will happen."