Aussie success proves crowd-pleaser
THE success of Australians Nick Kyrgios and Alex De Minaur drove Brisbane International crowds to a respectable total in the face of withdrawals by drawcards Rafael Nadal and Andy Murray.
A record Saturday men’s semi-finals crowd made the final total about 90,000 – down from 96,107 for the 2017 tournament, when Nadal played for the first time at the Queensland Tennis Centre.
After seven days of the eight-day tournament, 83,996 spectators had attended, with a near-capacity crowd of 5500 for the men’s finals session on Saturday night and several hundred more at the grounds to savour the atmosphere.
The tournaments headlined by Roger Federer (2014-16) and Nadal (2017) all drew more than 90,000, with Federer’s first visit in 2014 the record year with crowds of 105,730.
De Minaur will rise from No.208 to No.167 in the rankings list on the basis of his first ATP semifinal, in which he was two points from victory against American Ryan Harrison at Pat Rafter Arena.
The slightly built 18-yearold is a clean slate with the majority of the Australian sporting public, and is likely to become very popular very quickly with his game style and humble demeanour.
Smaller tournaments such as Brisbane cannot base promotional plans solely around Federer, 36, and Nadal, 31, taking up entries for events leading into Grand Slams as they try to tailor to their preparations around injuries.
Kyrgios comes close to a Big Four-style must-see player in the Australian market, even if he does polarise affections.
“It’s fantastic to see the Aussies getting some success early in the Australian summer,” Brisbane tournament director Cameron Pearson said.
“We saw again how much the fans in Brisbane love to come and support the Australian players.”