Crowd attendance at the 2016 Apis Canberra International tripled that of the 2015 event as Tennis ACT sets out to establish the capital as a premium host for the second tier of international competition, the Challenger Tour.
The crowd numbers at the tournament increased from just over 3,000 in 2015 to 9,412 in 2016.
Tennis ACT chief executive, Ross Triffitt, said the Canberra Tennis Centre is a world-class facility.
‘‘Word is spreading that we have a great venue and we run good events and it’s reflected in the field we’re getting coming back for next year,’’ Triffitt said.
The tournament played host to 112 players from 17 countries, 52 male and 60 female. 150 matches were played – the longest being in the first round where Jana Fett (CRO) defeated Lizette Cabrera (AUS) 6-3, 6-7 (4), 6-4 in two hours and 48 minutes.
The players seemed impressed by the centre, with international player, Jana Fett (CRO) telling Tennis ACT she was taken back by the quality of the facility and Canberra’s beauty.
“The place is really nice, I love it,” said Fett. “The centre is the best I’ve been to in the world, except at grand slams”.
In retrospect, 55 people officiated the event, including 38 line umpires, 2 line umpire coaches, one chief of officials and 12 chair umpires (13 local, 38 interstate and three international).
75 locals volunteered their time to assist 15 tournament staff with event organisation. These people worked across a number of critical areas including transport, court services, spectator services and player services. 50 of those volunteers were ballkids, who all gained valuable experience in ball skills, at the same time improving their fitness, listening skills and hand eye coordination.
In racquets, 2 kilometers of string was used to restring 208 racquets – the fastest completed in just 9 minutes. The racquet strung with the highest tension going to Canberra’s Alison Bai with 58 lbs.
In the blustery Canberra conditions, 1,560 bottles of water were consumed, alongside 480 bottles of Powerade.
And along with valuable ranking points, a number of cheques were awarded to players. Men’s singles champion, James Duckworth took home a cool USD $7,200, while runner-up Marc Polmans scored USD $4,240.
Japan’s Risa Ozaki’s cheque was larger than Duckworth’s, a large sum of USD $7,600. Women’s runner-up Georgia Brescia secured a sum of $4,053.
The finals weekend was a fitting finale for an event that delivered local tennis fans the opportunity to attend and watch some of the world’s best from across the globe compete for a combined USD$100,000 (men’s and women’s events) in prize money and valuable world ranking points.
Tennis ACT will now look ahead to 7-14 January 2017 when they will host another men’s ATP Challenger event, with USD $75,000 in prize money on offer.
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