Perfecting the Pitch
Building a tournament field is no easy task
On the Sunday before Wimbledon, all is calm at the All England practice courts.
Without the gaze of fans and media, top players are centered and relaxed and accessible. It’s a window of opportunity for those attempting to lure talent to their tournaments.
So Anne Worcester and Bob Moran walk the court and the talk to players, coaches and agents: Worcester pitching for her WTA event in New Haven, Moran for his women’s tournament in Charleston, S. C. Rather than a hard sell, they mingle and schmooze, reminding folks of what they can offer players.
“The two of us go and make a walk,” said Moran, tournament director of the Volvo Car Open. “I wouldn’t say it’s active recruiting. I would say it’s more just checking in, seeing how players are doing, letting them know that we’re around and that we care.”
Moran’s tournament, like the Connecticut Open, is a WTA event that’s not a mandatory stop for players. Building a deep and talented roster of players is no easy task and requires 12 months of phones calls, text messages and face- to- face chats.
This year, the stroll through the Wimbledon complex planted seeds for Worcester as she happened upon the No. 1 player in the world, 2013 New Haven
champion Simona Halep. Sitting on a patio above the court, relaxed and chatty, Halep was happy to see Worcester and the two spent about 10 minutes talking — Worcester describing how thrilled she was when Halep won the French Open earlier this year, reminding her of just how revered she is in Connecticut and that the tournament would love to have her back.
Halep thanked her for the invite.
“It was an amazing conversation … it’s nice to look into a player’s eyes and connect,” Worcester said. “But I didn’t think there was any chance she’d come.”
But six days later, Halep was upset by Su- Wei Hsieh in the third round at Wimbledon. Thirteen days after that loss, Worcester got a call from Halep’s coach, Darren Cahill.
After a few minutes of small talk about the Connecticut Open field, Cahill asked for a wild card into the main draw. Halep, after losing early in Wimbledon, needed matches and was ready to commit to New Haven.
Less than 24 hours later, the deal was secured on a Saturday afternoon. The top player in the world was coming to Yale. Just like that, everything changed.
“You could have knocked me over with a feather,” Worcester said. “I did not expect it. But you just never know.”
In 2018, the world of women’s tennis is all about the names. There are Serena and Venus Williams; there’s Maria Sharapova. Caroline Wozniacki, a four- time champion at New Haven, has star power. And Halep, as the No. 1 player in the world, carries some cachet.
But even if the lineup of the top 20 players is a list of rather anonymous names to the casual fan, tournament directors remain focused on saturating the draw with as many top- ranked names as possible. For the likes of Worcester and Moran — whose tournament is held the first week in April — the pursuit of players is allconsuming.
“There’s a little art to the science,” said Bill Oakes, tournament director at the men’s event in Winston-Salem, N. C.
Oakes’ event, which moved from New Haven eight years ago, faces the same monumental challenge as the Connecticut Open — held the week before the U. S. Open, when top players are resting or committed to off- court appearances.
So like Worcester, Oakes pitches the players on the serene atmosphere that contrasts with the chaos of New York City. He sells them on the numerous practice courts, the fact that the court surfaces and the tournament- supplied balls are the same as those at the U. S. Open, that the community is full of good restaurants and players can decompress before the Grand Slam event.
Sound familiar?
“It’s very similar to what Anne offers,” Oakes said.
With one exception: Worcester sells New Haven as part of the New York market, an easy drive to the U. S Open site. OK, an
down the Merritt Parkway is taking some poetic license in describing the commute … but, it works.
And it’s recited so often that one agent mimics it when he sees Worcester. Max Eisenbud, agent for Sharapova and Madison Keys, starts as soon as he sees Worcester approaching: “Same surface, same climate, same time zone, same ball … 90 minutes. Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know.”
Worcester, the former WTA head, has known Eisenbud for years. Cahill, Halep’s coach, is a longtime friend. The relationships with agents and coaches, sometimes decades in the making, are crucial as new generations of players cycle through.
“Relationships matter,” said Oakes, who texts players and coaches throughout the year.
The communication is constant. Holiday and birthday wishes, congratulatory texts after victories, comments on Instagram stories and photos, steady chats with coaches and agents.
On and on, often intensifying as the tournament approaches. Worcester estimates player recruiting demands about 20 percent of her overall time as tournament director, although there is more time devoted in the summer.
“Wild cards take over my weekends, my evenings,” said Worcester, who lives in New Canaan. “Sometimes I have to pull over on the Merritt Parkway to have a conversation with an agent. I can’t even make it through the 45- minute drive to the stadium.”
Worcester and her staff begin closely monitoring activity at the event in San Jose ( July 30- Aug. 5) and keep . close tabs as the tour schedule moves through Washington D. C., Montreal and Cincinnati before New Haven. This is where the science trumps the art — they track not only how far the top players advance in those tournaments, but how many sets they are playing.
The more matches and the more strenuous matches top players experience, the more likely they will rest before the U. S. Open. Players bounced early from tournaments may need matches.
“I hate to be the vulture … but if somebody loses,” Worcester said.
Halep not only lost early at Wimbledon, but did not play between the French Open and Wimbledon. She needed matches, she was fond of New Haven and recalled her success, and she had that nice chat with Worcester at Wimbledon.
Each ingredient of the recipe likely led to the commitment. That’s why recruiting players is a multilayered endeavor. Tournaments must convince players their event is a pleasant experience to just put themselves into consideration. Then if a top player needs matches, the tournament is a viable option.
“You have to make a good impression,” Moran said.
Still, the week before the U. S. Open will narrow options. The Williams sisters and Sharapova often have too many commercial demands to fit New Haven into their schedules. Petra Kvitova, a perennial top player and former Wimbledon champion, is not a fan of New York City and prefers the setting in New Haven as she prepares for the Open.
What do players such as Kvitova love about New Haven? Worcester talks year after year about the city’s restaurants. She’s not just saying that to promote the New Haven food scene — players are apparently motivated by their palates.
“The thing we hear most is food — it has to be good … believe it or not, that’s probably No. 1 on the list,” Moran said.
Said Oakes: “There’s a top- 25 player who loves a particular restaurant in our town and we give that player an unlimited dining card at that restaurant. His agent and people on his team have told me, he just loves this place. He eats there every day in town, they treat him well … It makes a difference.”
Lure them with the cuisine, but keep them by treating them like royalty. Player services are important, gifts and a shiny locker room, easy access to the hotel and an easy exit to the airport or next event. New Haven, of course, can offer proximity to New York. The renovated player’s lounge at the Connecticut Tennis Center is appealing and those downtown restaurants are worth bragging about.
Yet if a highly ranked player with an affection for New Haven is saddled with a series of grueling matches in Montreal and Cincinnati, they’re resting before New York. The finest New Haven food is not bringing them to the Elm City.
And that’s what makes the art and science of building a field so difficult. So much is beyond the control of the tournament director but this year things fell into place for Worcester throughout the summer — threetime champion Kvitova committed in May, as the tournament eventually secured four of the top 10 players in the world along with past champions Daria Gavrilova ( 2017) and Agnieszka Radwanska ( 2016).
“There is only so much you can do,” Worcester said. “While friendships and relationships come into play, ( Halep) decided that this was the right thing for her to go in and win the U. S. Open. ( Cahill) said to me, she’s coming to New Haven to win. It’s about winning.”