Organizers concerned but confident about Asia’s commercial future – Tennis News
Chinese tennis aces in the field of tennis has definitely increased the viewership of women tennis in Asia. The likes of Li Na, Peng Shuai and Jie Zheng have been the most prolific performers in the recent past that has boosted
the television viewership of tennis tournaments in Asia, especially China. Four more players that are part of small world class representatives from Asia include the likes of Rohan Bopanna, Leander Paes, Sania Mirza and Aisam-ul-Haq Qureshi. These are the
competitors from sub-continent; former three represents India whilst Aisam is the only hope of Pakistani fans.
It was disappointing to see the Asian stars knocked-out of the different categories of year’s first Grand Slam title without reaching the grand finale of the tournament. Only Sania Mirza along with Elena Vesnina managed to reach
the semis of the mixed doubles category and Leander Paes, along with his doubles partner Radek Stepanek, reached the men’s doubles final, whilst rest of the participants couldn’t make it to that stage. Organizers of the different tennis tournament all across
the globe were saddened by this fact because these dismal results definitely have a major impact on the viewership of this game from the Asian region.
Commercial director of Tennis Australia, Steve Ayles, was also concerned at the early exits of Chinese stars and stated, “Television ratings are enormous (when Chinese players do well) and the falloff when players are knocked out
does have an effect.” Although he knew that viewership will decrease, he was still confident that the love of game will definitely retain the viewership to considerable levels.
He added, “But it's important to remember that people watch the Australian Open for the Australian Open. It's a global event and it really balances itself out with the global broadcasting, because people will still watch their
own local players and ratings will continue to be high.” Year’s first Grand Slam tournament, the Australian Open, is marketed as the Grand Slam of Asia/Pacific region so it is important to have some players from this region to make it more interesting and
successful.
Organizers knew that the performance of the Asian players do affect the overall following of the tournament, whenever someone do good, million more people watch every time but this is not all about it, people still watch the tournament
despite their heroes being knocked-out in early stages. Asian players progressing in the tournament is always good and healthy for the global viewership but it is not necessary to ensure that people are glued to their TV sets because they already have the
best tennis to witness especially when there is a semi-final contest like Rafael Nadal vs. Roger Federer.
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