What’s being served at tennis this summer
Tennis tournament is offering more music and food for fans
Auckland’s annual tennis tournament ASB Classic is back and this year it has extended its off-court offerings with a fan event to be held at Auckland Domain.
Pop-up entertainment precinct The Serve, for a $15 entry cost, will offer eateries and bars, big screens streaming the tennis, and live entertainment, music from Shapeshifter’s Sam Trevethick and Boh Runga.
ASB Classic tournament director Karl Budge said the off-court fan experience would be 80 per cent bigger this year, offering more space, more food outlets and more enter- tainment such as a Q&A panel with shoe designer Kathryn Wilson.
“We understand that tennis isn’t necessarily everyone’s favourite sport in New Zealand and so we needed to broaden the entertainment offering,” Budge said.
“I’m not sure if there’s a more competitive thing to fight for than people’s disposable time and income, and so our thinking was, ‘If people are going to make the decision to come to a sporting event then it needs to be a great day out’.
“We’re continually trying to provide a better fan experience.”
Big-name tennis stars Caroline Wozniacki, Agnieszka Radwanska, Jack Sock and Juan Martin Del Potro will be competing at this year’s event. The “next wave” of young players would also be coming through, Budge said. “Bringing in new faces is always one of those challenges we try and beat.
“We’ve had the biggest names in the game each year over the past couple of years, and we’re absolutely thrilled with the tournament this year.”
Budge said the event was important to the viability of tennis in Auckland. “All profit is going towards grassroots tennis.
“The tournaments are our biggest fundraising tool so they play a pretty critical role in making sure that we’re not only getting kids into the game but that we’re also providing a pathway once they are in the game.”
The men’s ATP tennis tournament has been running for 80 years in New Zealand but has picked up in popularity and seen significant growth over the past five years. “We’ve had a 230 per cent increase in profitability in five years so it’s been a great run for the ASB Classic, and I’m sure that is set to continue.” Last year a record 72,000 people attended the ASB Classic — up 80 per cent compared with five years ago — and Budge said he expected similar numbers again this year. ASB Classic partnered up with SkyCity, offering food from a number of its restaurants including soon-tobe opened Spice Alley, The Grill by Sean Connolly, and Bellota. Five years ago the fortnight-long event made $1.2 million in sales of food and beverages. This is now up to about $2.8m today, with more than 19,500 flutes of Moet & Chandon champagne sold there last year. Budge said he was proud of the event’s food and beverage strategy.
“You hear a lot that food is too expensive at events and I’ve never believed that. I don’t think there is a cost problem with the food we get at events — I think there is a value problem, and I wanted to change that,” he said.
“Our burger is probably the most expensive burger at any sporting event in Auckland but it is from The Grill and it’s an amazing wagyu burger.
“So, for us, we wanted to create something that was different and what you’d expect to eat while catching up with friends on the weekend.”
All profits go towards development for not-for-profit organisation Tennis Auckland and grassroots tennis programmes in schools and clubs.