Lulu Sun is the first high profile name to commit to the upcoming ASB Classic.
Piney catches up with tournament director Nicolas Lamperin to chat about how big it is to have Lulu commit, and dig into who else they're targeting.
He said that while getting Top 10 players can be something of a challenge, there are ongoing discussions, and if not a Top 10, there will be players ranking between 10 and 20 for sure.
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Speaker 1 (00:06):
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Bimbolden quarter finalist Lulu Son will play under the New
Zealand flag at the ASB Tennis Classic for the first
time this summer. LULUs On the first announcement for the
Auckland tournament starts on December the thirtieth, with the women's
tournament in rolls into the men's. Lu Lusn has twice
played in Auckland before, but under the Swiss flag. This
is the first time you'll play under the Kiwi frag flag.
(00:33):
Let's bring in tournament director Nicholas lambrin He Nicholas, how
keen were you to get lu LUs On back after
the year that she's had.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
I Lulu was clearly one of our priorities. You know,
this is the first time a New Zealand player which
is the quarterfinal Wimbledon, especially coming from Quali, so it
was really an achievement that we wanted to reward and
I do believe this is just the beginning for her.
I was in Cincinnati last week. I saw it going
(01:04):
through qualities again, winning a matchine the Mendraw and as
we speak, you know She's just won a quarterfinals in Monterey,
will be in the Semis tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
The WTA role state you can only have two players
ranked between eleven and thirty. Are you hoping that Lulu
soon stays out of the world's top thirty so that
she doesn't take up one of those spots and you
still have two available.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
We've got some flexibility. I think, you know, if Lulu
was to become a top thirty player, there would be
a good problem to have for us. But also there's
also there's another exception about national players, so she wouldn't
fall within that rule. Okay, well, we could still have
two other players ranked between eleven and thirty.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Wonderful. The other role, which is interesting is you can
only have a top ten player if she is the
defending champion. That's Coco Golf, of course, two time defending champion.
Can you give us any indication about whether she will
be back this summer.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
It's a little bit early to say. There's a lot
of a conversation going on at the moment, and I
can't really comment on Cockoo's participation at this time.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
You'd like to have her back, though, of.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Course, I mean, you know, Coco is probably one of
the best ambassador of the sport. But if she's not
able to come back, then we will also have some
really good opportunities.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah, I look at the roles and I know you're
bound by them. But there are some big name players,
aren't they, Nicholas who would be major draw cards who
are outside the top thirty, aren't there?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yes, I mean that's that's the reality. If you look
at the there's a lot of Grand Slam winners who
rank outside of the top thirty, and we're able to
go after them and bring them to Auckland. So we're
not really worried about the rules from the WTA. There's
many ways to work around them.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
The rules aren't quite so strict for the means tournament obviously.
Do you think you'll be able to get a top
ten player to Auckland for the summer?
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Top ten is always a bit of a challenge on
the men's side for a number of reasons. You know
traditionally that the top ten guys don't necessarily want to
play the week before going some Also, now we as
you know, we have a started final and you just
open start on the Sunday, which is a little bit challenging. However,
you know, we still have some some discussions going on,
(03:28):
and if not top ten, there will be some some
players between ten and twenty for sure.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
When you sit down with these players and or presumably
they are representatives or both, what's your pitch to them
to try and lure them to Aalkland.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
It's a combination of factors. I guess. The first thing
is it needs to fit within the schedule. Some players
want to play one tournament before the turn open, others
want to play two, so we we need to to
factor there in. And also, you know, we you know,
we're trying to track them. I mean not only from
(04:04):
a financial point of view, because you know the dollars
do matter in that in that regard, but also in
terms of the experience that we can offer to the
players in Oakland. We were lucky to have a great
history and players speak really highly of the tournament. We
get really good grades also from from the tool supervisors
(04:27):
both on the HPN W t A. So all all
of these factors really help to track the top talent.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
And I guess from your point of view, you can't
you can't have everybody, can you. I mean, you do
have a budget that you work with. Then how do
you do the sums in your head, you know, trying
to tract some really big draw cards, but also making
sure that the numbers work.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Yeah, we need to be selective, you know, as when
we I do the player feel trying to select maybe
four or five players on the men's side and on
the women's side, and and then I go after the
ones that I believe the funds in Aukland want to
watch and also the ones that you know, I know
(05:10):
we'll be able to deliver on the.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Court fantastic And Kiwi's I know a feature in the
early round anyway has been Kiwi involvement. They'll be there
again potentially, you know you'll get wild cards, will you
to some Kiwi plas?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Yeah, we still have that playoff system. So there's there's
a player for the men's in piano and another one
for the women's at the v Tennis Center. The winner
gets Mendro and the runner up gets qualies. On top
of this, will most likely have you know, Marcus Daniel
plays last tournament in Oakland in doubles, so we'll be
(05:47):
glad to have him.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
And you mentioned you're in the United States at the moment.
I know you spend some time at Wimbledon, so in
your travels, I mean, it feels like a dream job,
but it's probably all business for you. Is that you
actually get to watch any decent tennis.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah, I've watched a lot of tennis over the summer.
I was at Wimbledon, then I went to Paris with
the Olympics. I was in Cincinnati last week. I'm this
week in New York for the UTS in the new
short format, which is quite interesting to watch. And then
I'll be at the US Open starting from from next
week and then back back in Auckland.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
All right, and everything's in in place. You're where you
want to be in sort of. As we head towards
the end of August with the tournament, I'm sure it
will rush up quickly the back end of December.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah, everything's in place. You know, we've we've made our
first announcement yesterday. Tickets go go and sell next week
and we'll start announcing more and more players as the
weeks get get closer to the start of the tournament.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Terrific. As I said, it's always a major draw card
on the New Zealand Sporting calendar. Nicholas, thanks for having
a chat to us. All the best with your ongoing
negotiations and look forward to catching up again as the
tournament draws closer.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
My pleasure.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Thanks very much, No, thank you, Nicholas, Nicholas Lamper and
there joining us out of the United States the ASP Classics.
So it starts on December thirty. The women's week runs
through until January five, and then the men take over
from January sixth through eleven, leading directly into the first
round of the Australian Tennis Open. And it will be
here before you know it, twenty twenty five. Can you
(07:23):
believe it?
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
And justific case you missed that news, Lulusan is through
to the semifinals of the Monterey Open in Mexico. She's
cruised past Russian Erica on Dreva in straight sets sixty
four six three. It's also been confirmed that at the
US Open, Luluslan will take on Italian Lucia Bronzetti in
the opening round. That's the final Grand Slam event of
(07:46):
the year, so let's say lu Lusun can finish strongly.
Great to note that she's going to end the year
and be here over the summer at the ASB Classic
in Auckland.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk ZEDB weekends from midday, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio
You're listening to the Weekend Sport podcast with Jason Vine
from News Talk ZEDB.
Speaker 2 (00:12):
Bimbolden quarter finalist Lulu Son will play under the New
Zealand flag at the ASB Tennis Classic for the first
time this summer. LULUs On the first announcement for the
Auckland tournament starts on December the thirtieth, with the women's
tournament in rolls into the men's. Lu Lusn has twice
played in Auckland before, but under the Swiss flag. This
is the first time you'll play under the Kiwi frag flag.
(00:33):
Let's bring in tournament director Nicholas lambrin He Nicholas, how
keen were you to get lu LUs On back after
the year that she's had.
Speaker 3 (00:42):
I Lulu was clearly one of our priorities. You know,
this is the first time a New Zealand player which
is the quarterfinal Wimbledon, especially coming from Quali, so it
was really an achievement that we wanted to reward and
I do believe this is just the beginning for her.
I was in Cincinnati last week. I saw it going
(01:04):
through qualities again, winning a matchine the Mendraw and as
we speak, you know She's just won a quarterfinals in Monterey,
will be in the Semis tomorrow.
Speaker 2 (01:13):
The WTA role state you can only have two players
ranked between eleven and thirty. Are you hoping that Lulu
soon stays out of the world's top thirty so that
she doesn't take up one of those spots and you
still have two available.
Speaker 3 (01:27):
We've got some flexibility. I think, you know, if Lulu
was to become a top thirty player, there would be
a good problem to have for us. But also there's
also there's another exception about national players, so she wouldn't
fall within that rule. Okay, well, we could still have
two other players ranked between eleven and thirty.
Speaker 2 (01:48):
Wonderful. The other role, which is interesting is you can
only have a top ten player if she is the
defending champion. That's Coco Golf, of course, two time defending champion.
Can you give us any indication about whether she will
be back this summer.
Speaker 3 (02:03):
It's a little bit early to say. There's a lot
of a conversation going on at the moment, and I
can't really comment on Cockoo's participation at this time.
Speaker 2 (02:13):
You'd like to have her back, though, of.
Speaker 3 (02:16):
Course, I mean, you know, Coco is probably one of
the best ambassador of the sport. But if she's not
able to come back, then we will also have some
really good opportunities.
Speaker 2 (02:27):
Yeah, I look at the roles and I know you're
bound by them. But there are some big name players,
aren't they, Nicholas who would be major draw cards who
are outside the top thirty, aren't there?
Speaker 3 (02:37):
Yes, I mean that's that's the reality. If you look
at the there's a lot of Grand Slam winners who
rank outside of the top thirty, and we're able to
go after them and bring them to Auckland. So we're
not really worried about the rules from the WTA. There's
many ways to work around them.
Speaker 2 (02:59):
The rules aren't quite so strict for the means tournament obviously.
Do you think you'll be able to get a top
ten player to Auckland for the summer?
Speaker 3 (03:06):
Top ten is always a bit of a challenge on
the men's side for a number of reasons. You know
traditionally that the top ten guys don't necessarily want to
play the week before going some Also, now we as
you know, we have a started final and you just
open start on the Sunday, which is a little bit challenging. However,
you know, we still have some some discussions going on,
(03:28):
and if not top ten, there will be some some
players between ten and twenty for sure.
Speaker 2 (03:33):
When you sit down with these players and or presumably
they are representatives or both, what's your pitch to them
to try and lure them to Aalkland.
Speaker 3 (03:43):
It's a combination of factors. I guess. The first thing
is it needs to fit within the schedule. Some players
want to play one tournament before the turn open, others
want to play two, so we we need to to
factor there in. And also, you know, we you know,
we're trying to track them. I mean not only from
(04:04):
a financial point of view, because you know the dollars
do matter in that in that regard, but also in
terms of the experience that we can offer to the
players in Oakland. We were lucky to have a great
history and players speak really highly of the tournament. We
get really good grades also from from the tool supervisors
(04:27):
both on the HPN W t A. So all all
of these factors really help to track the top talent.
Speaker 2 (04:33):
And I guess from your point of view, you can't
you can't have everybody, can you. I mean, you do
have a budget that you work with. Then how do
you do the sums in your head, you know, trying
to tract some really big draw cards, but also making
sure that the numbers work.
Speaker 3 (04:49):
Yeah, we need to be selective, you know, as when
we I do the player feel trying to select maybe
four or five players on the men's side and on
the women's side, and and then I go after the
ones that I believe the funds in Aukland want to
watch and also the ones that you know, I know
(05:10):
we'll be able to deliver on the.
Speaker 2 (05:12):
Court fantastic And Kiwi's I know a feature in the
early round anyway has been Kiwi involvement. They'll be there
again potentially, you know you'll get wild cards, will you
to some Kiwi plas?
Speaker 3 (05:24):
Yeah, we still have that playoff system. So there's there's
a player for the men's in piano and another one
for the women's at the v Tennis Center. The winner
gets Mendro and the runner up gets qualies. On top
of this, will most likely have you know, Marcus Daniel
plays last tournament in Oakland in doubles, so we'll be
(05:47):
glad to have him.
Speaker 2 (05:48):
And you mentioned you're in the United States at the moment.
I know you spend some time at Wimbledon, so in
your travels, I mean, it feels like a dream job,
but it's probably all business for you. Is that you
actually get to watch any decent tennis.
Speaker 3 (06:01):
Yeah, I've watched a lot of tennis over the summer.
I was at Wimbledon, then I went to Paris with
the Olympics. I was in Cincinnati last week. I'm this
week in New York for the UTS in the new
short format, which is quite interesting to watch. And then
I'll be at the US Open starting from from next
week and then back back in Auckland.
Speaker 2 (06:21):
All right, and everything's in in place. You're where you
want to be in sort of. As we head towards
the end of August with the tournament, I'm sure it
will rush up quickly the back end of December.
Speaker 3 (06:33):
Yeah, everything's in place. You know, we've we've made our
first announcement yesterday. Tickets go go and sell next week
and we'll start announcing more and more players as the
weeks get get closer to the start of the tournament.
Speaker 2 (06:48):
Terrific. As I said, it's always a major draw card
on the New Zealand Sporting calendar. Nicholas, thanks for having
a chat to us. All the best with your ongoing
negotiations and look forward to catching up again as the
tournament draws closer.
Speaker 3 (07:01):
My pleasure.
Speaker 2 (07:02):
Thanks very much, No, thank you, Nicholas, Nicholas Lamper and
there joining us out of the United States the ASP Classics.
So it starts on December thirty. The women's week runs
through until January five, and then the men take over
from January sixth through eleven, leading directly into the first
round of the Australian Tennis Open. And it will be
here before you know it, twenty twenty five. Can you
(07:23):
believe it?
Speaker 3 (07:24):
Yeah?
Speaker 2 (07:24):
And justific case you missed that news, Lulusan is through
to the semifinals of the Monterey Open in Mexico. She's
cruised past Russian Erica on Dreva in straight sets sixty
four six three. It's also been confirmed that at the
US Open, Luluslan will take on Italian Lucia Bronzetti in
the opening round. That's the final Grand Slam event of
(07:46):
the year, so let's say lu Lusun can finish strongly.
Great to note that she's going to end the year
and be here over the summer at the ASB Classic
in Auckland.
Speaker 1 (07:56):
For more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine, listen live
to News Talk ZEDB weekends from midday, or follow the
podcast on iHeartRadio
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