ASB Classic director promises bigger, better tournament for 2025

By Luke Kirkness

A lot goes into making a sports event successful. That’s your impression after speaking to ASB Classic tournament director Nico Lamperin.

Lamperin has been at the helm of New Zealand’s biggest tennis event since 2022. After a successful 2024 tournament, it returns from December 30 to January 11, with the ace promising it will be bigger than ever.

“We want to increase the economic impact. It’s up to us to draw more eyeballs to the tournament. We have successful broadcast partners around the world. In 2024, nearly 30 million people watched the tournament globally, with record viewership domestically on Sky,” Lamperin said.

“We’ve got to make sure we remain an attractive proposition. It’s all about innovating and bringing new elements. There’s a change of guard at the moment. We want to showcase today’s stars of tomorrow – people will always remember that Rafa [Nadal] started in Auckland.”

The 2024 event injected $3.4 million into the economy. Ticket sales were up 8% on the previous year and international broadcast audiences exceeded 12 million.

French-born Lamperin knows a thing or two about running a successful tennis tournament. Throughout his career, he has represented the likes of grand slam champions Marion Bartoli and Stan Wawrinka and served as the associate tournament director of the Croatia Open ATP 250.

Apart from great tennis from some of the world’s greatest players, Lamperin says there are unique selling points that attract players and fans to the tournament despite the tricky time of year.

“It’s a crowded time of year for the tennis players. There’s a lot of competition out there like the United Cup in Brisbane, Perth and Sydney. We’re very lucky to be in Auckland. Auckland has a positive image among players and tour officials. It’s a place they enjoy coming to because there’s a lot on offer within the city.

“It’s probably the only tournament in the world where you have all these corporates sitting courtside enjoying their drinks during the matches. In many places they would be complaining about noise, but here the athletes actually enjoy it. We know the days are challenging because it’s the middle of summer, but fans always come in force.”

There will be something slightly different when the tournament gets under way – the name change of the arena. For the first time in nearly 40 years, Tennis Auckland in November announced Manuka Doctor as the new naming rights sponsor. Previously the ASB Tennis Arena, it will now be known as the Manuka Doctor Arena, although ASB retains the naming rights sponsorship for the event.

Lamperin also understands the power of attracting non-tennis fans to the tournament that he says cannot be understated. The Serve zone is an outdoor area with bars, restaurants and viewing areas to watch the tournament unfold, appealing to the casual fan.

“The Serve is a critical part of the full picture because we appeal to hardcore tennis fans, but they probably make up just 20-25% of our audience. Then we have people who just want to come for a good time, maybe watch two or three hours of tennis and spend the rest of the time with their friends enjoying a drink or the food on offer. We always try to innovate in what we have at the Serve. For example, next year we’ll have a paddle court.”

This article was first published on nzherald.co.nz and is republished here with permission