{"id":11741,"date":"2017-01-09T09:13:45","date_gmt":"2017-01-09T01:13:45","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/?p=11741"},"modified":"2017-01-09T09:15:44","modified_gmt":"2017-01-09T01:15:44","slug":"france-lift-the-hopman-cup-trophy-in-2017","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/news\/2017\/01\/09\/france-lift-the-hopman-cup-trophy-in-2017","title":{"rendered":"France lift the Hopman Cup trophy in 2017"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Richard Gasquet<\/strong> and <strong>Kristina Mladenovic<\/strong> have won France\u2019s second Hopman Cup title tonight.<\/p>\n<p>The duo defeated <strong>Jack Sock<\/strong> and <strong>Coco Vandeweghe<\/strong> of the USA 2-1.<\/p>\n<p>Gasquet saved a match point to beat Sock 6-3 5-7 7-6(6) in the men\u2019s singles rubber before Vandeweghe posted a 6-4 7-5 win over Mladenovic.<\/p>\n<p>France then prevailed 4-1 4-3 in the FAST4 Tennis mixed doubles, ending America\u2019s bid for a record seventh Hopman Cup crown.<\/p>\n<p>After seven days of sizzling tennis action,\u00a0a total of <strong>103,167 <\/strong><strong>fans<\/strong> visited Perth Arena for the 29<sup>th<\/sup> annual staging of the event with a further <strong>6,000<\/strong> attending 17-time Grand Slam champion <strong>Roger Federer\u2019s<\/strong> first open practice session.<\/p>\n<p>Over the weekend\u00a0it was announced the <strong>Mastercard Hopman Cup<\/strong> has been secured for Perth for at least the next five years, thanks to the State Government, through Tourism WA.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>This is the tournament\u2019s final word:<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>On-court action<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>World No.18<strong>Richard Gasquet<\/strong> and world No.42\u00a0<strong>Kristina Mladenovic<\/strong> defeated world No.23 <strong>Jack Sock<\/strong> and world No.36 <strong>Coco Vandeweghe<\/strong> of the USA to win France\u2019s second Hopman Cup in the tournament\u2019s 29-year history<\/li>\n<li>Seventeen-time Grand Slam champion<strong> Roger Federer<\/strong> made his return to the Hopman Cup for the first time in 15 years<\/li>\n<li>Eight countries including<strong> France<\/strong>,<strong>USA, Switzerland<\/strong><strong>,<\/strong> <strong>Germany<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>Great Britain<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>Czech Republic<\/strong>,<strong> Spain <\/strong>and<strong> Australia <\/strong>were represented at the event<\/li>\n<li>The field included <strong>ten current top 50 players<\/strong>: Roger Federer, Richard Gasquet, Nick Kyrgios, Jack Sock, Alexander Zverev, Daria Gavrilova, Feliciano Lopez, Coco Vandeweghe, Kristina Mladenovic and Belinda Bencic<\/li>\n<li>Ten players returned to the Hopman Cup, including five from last year: <strong>Roger Federer<\/strong> \u2013 2001, 2002; <strong>Kristina Mladenovic<\/strong> \u2013 2011; <strong>Richard Gasquet<\/strong> \u2013 2012; <strong>Andrea Petkovic<\/strong> \u2013 2013; <strong>Adam Pavlasek<\/strong> \u2013 2015; <strong>Heather Watson<\/strong> \u2013 2015, 2016; <strong>Nick Kyrgios<\/strong> \u2013 2016; <strong>Daria Gavrilova<\/strong> \u2013 2016; <strong>Jack Sock<\/strong> \u2013 2016; <strong>Alexander Zverev<\/strong> &#8211; 2016<\/li>\n<li>Six players made their Hopman Cup debut: <strong>Belinda Bencic, Dan Evans, Feliciano Lopez, Lara Arruabarrena, Coco Vandeweghe <\/strong>and<strong> Lucie Hradecka<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Three former Hopman Cup champions <\/strong>were present in 2017: Roger Federer (2001), Nick Kyrgios (2016), Daria Gavrilova (2016)<\/li>\n<li>The field included<strong> four Olympic medallists<\/strong>: Jack Sock (Rio 2016 mixed doubles gold, men\u2019s doubles bronze), Roger Federer (Beijing 2008 men\u2019s doubles gold, London 2012 men\u2019s singles silver), Richard Gasquet (London 2012 men\u2019s doubles bronze), Lucie Hradecka (London 2012 women\u2019s doubles silver, Rio 2016 mixed doubles bronze)<\/li>\n<li><strong>Nick Kyrgios\u00a0<\/strong>(AUS) clocked the fastest men\u2019s serve of the tournament at<strong>223km\/h<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Lucie Hradecka <\/strong>(CZE) recorded the fastest women\u2019s serve at<strong>198 km\/h<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Off-court action<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p>During the event the world\u2019s best have had the chance to experience various parts of Perth, Western Australia:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Roger Federer<\/strong> visited <strong>Cottesloe Beach<\/strong> and played beach tennis with Tennis Hot Shots kids before meeting a group of Cottesloe SLSC nippers. He also met a baby joey named Casper at <strong>South Perth<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Belinda Bencic<\/strong> took in the sights around <strong>Elizabeth Quay<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Nick Kyrgios<\/strong> met three dogs from the Dalmatian Rescue Association of Western Australia at <strong>Sir James Mitchell Park<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Thrillseeker <strong>Coco Vandeweghe<\/strong> took a jet ski ride around <strong>Hilarys Boat Harbour<\/strong> and swam with sharks at the <strong>Aquarium of Western Australia (AQWA)<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Lara Arruabarrena <\/strong>and<strong> Feliciano Lopez<\/strong> went swimming at <strong>City Beach<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>Daria Gavrilova<\/strong> and <strong>Jack Sock<\/strong> fed kangaroos and patted koalas at <strong>Caversham Wildlife Park<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The<strong>Mastercard <\/strong><strong>Hopman Cup New Year\u2019s Eve Gala Ball <\/strong>at Crown\u2019s Grand Ballroom was attended by 350 guests and saw all 16 players walk the blue carpet. The event featured a Q&amp;A with <strong>Roger Federer<\/strong> and a special performance by Aria award winner <strong>Anthony Calea<\/strong> and DJ <strong>Boston Switch<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Prior to the NYE Gala <strong>30 guests <\/strong>attended a VIP meet and greet with <strong>Roger Federer <\/strong>at the new Crown Towers Perth.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong>\u00a0<\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Tournament initiatives<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>The innovative<strong> FAST4 Tennis<\/strong> format was introduced for the first time with the mixed doubles matches showcasing the fast-paced scoring method<\/li>\n<li><strong>$5 kids tickets<\/strong> were introduced in 2017, offering junior fans the opportunity to watch some of the world\u2019s best compete at all day sessions<\/li>\n<li><strong>DJ Boston Switch<\/strong> played at all night sessions<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Attendance<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>A total of<strong>103,167 <\/strong><strong>fans<\/strong> attended the Mastercard Hopman Cup, the second largest attendance in the event\u2019s history<\/li>\n<li>An additional <strong>6000 fans<\/strong> visited Perth Arena to see Roger Federer\u2019s first open practice session<\/li>\n<li>Friday 6 January\u2019s night session between<strong>Switzerland <\/strong>and\u00a0<strong>France <\/strong>saw\u00a0<strong>the event\u2019s largest session attendance in the Hopman Cup\u2019s 29 year history <\/strong>with\u00a0<strong>13,917<\/strong>\u00a0attendees packing into Perth Arena to watch\u00a0<strong>Kristina Mladenovic <\/strong>and\u00a0<strong>Richard Gasquet <\/strong>defeat\u00a0<strong>Belinda Bencic <\/strong>and\u00a0<strong>Roger Federer<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The tournament saw three record night session attendances this week; <strong>13,684 <\/strong>(Mon 2 Jan), <strong>13,785 <\/strong>(Wed 4 Jan) and <strong>13,917 <\/strong>(Fri 6 Jan)<\/li>\n<li><strong>41,386<\/strong> people in total attended Switzerland\u2019s three sessions, the highest combined attendance for a nation\u2019s group matches in the tournament\u2019s history<\/li>\n<li><strong>83,000 country hand waver flags<\/strong>were handed out to fans during the tournament<\/li>\n<li>Famous faces in the crowd included 24-time Grand Slam champion<strong>Margaret Court<\/strong>,\u00a0former Davis Cup captain <strong>Neale Fraser<\/strong>, Powderfinger\u2019s <strong>Darren Middleton, <\/strong>Eskimo Joe\u2019s<strong> Stuart MacLeod <\/strong>and<strong> Kavyen Temperley<\/strong>, Fremantle Dockers <strong>Nat Fyfe, Michael Johnson <\/strong>and former player <strong>Matthew Pavlich<\/strong>, West Coast Eagles <strong>Sam Mitchell <\/strong>and <strong>Andrew Gaff<\/strong>, Perth Wildcat <strong>Matthew Knight<\/strong>, Australian cricketer\u00a0<strong>Adam Voges<\/strong>, Western Force\u2019s<strong> Matt Hodgson<\/strong>, Hockeyroo<strong> Georgina Nanscawen <\/strong>and comedian\u00a0<strong>Joel Creasey<\/strong>.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><strong><em>\u00a0<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Media and broadcast <\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>More than\u00a0<strong>80 print, radio and broadcast media<\/strong>provided extensive media coverage of the event to media outlets around Australia and internationally<\/li>\n<li>The tournament was broadcast live and free across Australia by the Seven Network for the fourth consecutive year<\/li>\n<li>For the first time, Seven\u2019s primary channel broadcast live all six night sessions and the final across the country. The rest of the tournament was broadcast across 7TWO and 7mate<\/li>\n<li><strong>Roger Federer v Alexander Zverev <\/strong>match on Wednesday 4 January night saw audiences peak at over <strong>550,000 viewers<\/strong> on Channel Seven, with the average TV audience for the tournament up over <strong>40%<\/strong> from 2016<\/li>\n<li>Tennis Australia managed the host broadcast of the tournament for the third\u00a0straight year. Commentators for 2017 included <strong>Alicia Molik<\/strong>, <strong>Roger Rasheed<\/strong>, <strong>Mark Petchey<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>Louise Plemming<\/strong>, <strong>Peter Marcato<\/strong>, <strong>Bojana Bobusic<\/strong> and Seven\u2019s own <strong>Basil Zempilas<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Internationally, the tournament was broadcast to more than <strong>200\u00a0countries by 14 different broadcast partners<\/strong>. Recent renewals of Australian Open agreements with existing broadcasters have incorporated AO Series events for the first time<\/li>\n<li>Broadcasts included China (<strong>IQIYI<\/strong>) and Japan (<strong>WOWOW <\/strong>and<strong> SoftBank<\/strong>), along with Europe (<strong>Eurosport<\/strong>) Africa (<strong>SuperSport<\/strong>), Latin America and the Caribbean (<strong>ESPN<\/strong>).<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Digital and social media<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><a href=\"http:\/\/www.hopmancup.com\"><strong>Hopmancup.com<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0had <strong>935,000 unique visitors<\/strong> (up 83% from 2016) and <strong>3.2 million page visits<\/strong> (up 70% from 2016)<\/li>\n<li>As of 7 January<strong><a href=\"http:\/\/twitter.com\/hopmancup\">@hopmancup<\/a><\/strong>\u00a0on Twitter grew by\u00a0<strong>20 per cent<\/strong>, to\u00a0<strong>5K followers<\/strong>\u00a0and generated\u00a0<strong>5.6 million impressions<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>260,000 profile visits<\/strong>\u00a0during the event period<\/li>\n<li><a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/hopmancup\/?fref=nf\"><strong>Hopman Cup \u2013 Australian Open Series Facebook<\/strong><\/a>page grew by over\u00a0<strong>85 per cent<\/strong>\u00a0to almost\u00a0<strong>34,000 followers<\/strong>\u00a0and featured exclusive behind the scenes content<\/li>\n<li>The Hopman Cup Facebook Live video of Roger Federer\u2019s open practice session received <strong>173,000 views <\/strong>with<strong> 1400 people <\/strong>watching the session live at any one time<\/li>\n<li>The <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/hopmancup\/\"><strong>@hopmancup<\/strong><\/a> Instagram was launched in October 2016 and grew to <strong>5000 followers<\/strong> by the conclusion of the tournament<\/li>\n<li>The<a href=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/user\/perthtennis\"><strong>Hopman Cup YouTube<\/strong><\/a>\u00a0channel generated almost <strong>596,000 views<\/strong>, with a clip of Roger Federer\u2019s Hopman Cup NYE Gala Q&amp;A the best performing with almost <strong>30,000 views<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>Video of the young girl who tossed the coin for the SUI V GER mixed doubles match generated <strong>1018 retweets<\/strong> and <strong>185,000 impressions <\/strong>on Twitter and <strong>466,000 views <\/strong>and reached <strong>3 million people <\/strong>on Facebook.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>A total of<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>3,240 Wilson tennis balls<\/strong>were used throughout the Mastercard Hopman Cup while\u00a0<strong>220<\/strong>\u00a0racquets were restrung for players<\/li>\n<li><strong>1,500 towels<\/strong>including\u00a0<strong>120<\/strong>\u00a0personalised embroidered player towels were used during the event<\/li>\n<li><strong>66 ballkids<\/strong>aged 12-15 made up the Mastercard Hopman Cup 2017 squad<\/li>\n<li>Matches were officiated by<strong>32 linespeople<\/strong>,\u00a0<strong>five chair umpires<\/strong>\u00a0and\u00a0<strong>one referee<\/strong>\u00a0from around Australia and the world<\/li>\n<li>Players were transported by a fleet of<strong>25 Kia cars<\/strong>\u00a0during the event<\/li>\n<li><strong>19,609 Mount Franklin water bottles<\/strong> were consumed by players, tournament staff, volunteers and officials<\/li>\n<li>Fans enjoyed<strong>5,172 ice creams<\/strong> and <strong>13,194 cups of coffee<\/strong> while watching the tennis at Perth Arena.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p><strong><em>Community tennis and fan engagement<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Daria Gavrilova <\/strong>was the special guest atthe <strong>Mastercard <\/strong><strong>Hopman Cup\u2019s family and friends day<\/strong>\u00a0on Saturday 31 December which saw a group of children given the exclusive opportunity to watch her practice session on centre court before she answered questions and signed autographs for fans<\/li>\n<li>Activations around Perth Arena included <strong>RAC Rescue Experience<\/strong>, <strong>Club Aperol<\/strong> and <strong>Heineken Friday<\/strong><\/li>\n<li>The<strong> Have a hit on us <\/strong>initiative offered all ticketholders one hour of free court hire at participating clubs in WA<\/li>\n<li><strong>3000<\/strong>visited the Tennis West\u00a0activation on-site and took part in mini tennis, Speed Serve and face painting activities<\/li>\n<li><strong>7,500 <\/strong>photos were taken at the Tennis West photo booth<\/li>\n<li><strong>144<\/strong>Tennis Hot Shots and <strong>10<\/strong> Fitbit Cardio Tennis participants took part in the on court initiatives held in between the second singles and doubles matches of every day session.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>-ends-<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Mastercard Hopman Cup is the official mixed team competition of the ITF and is proudly supported locally by the State Government, through Tourism WA. The tournament will take place at Perth Arena from 1 to 7 January 2017.<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>Mastercard Hopman Cup is part of the\u00a0<strong>Emirates Australian Open Series<\/strong>, which also incorporates Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, Apia International Sydney, Hobart International and World Tennis Challenge (Adelaide).<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>For all tournament information please visit\u00a0<a href=\"http:\/\/www.hopmancup.com\/\"><strong>hopmancup.com<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Richard Gasquet and Kristina Mladenovic have won France\u2019s second Hopman Cup title tonight. The duo defeated Jack Sock and Coco Vandeweghe of the USA 2-1. Gasquet saved a match point to beat Sock 6-3 5-7 7-6(6) in the men\u2019s singles rubber before Vandeweghe posted a 6-4 7-5 win over Mladenovic. France then prevailed 4-1 4-3 [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5812,"featured_media":11744,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-11741","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-news"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11741","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5812"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=11741"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/11741\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/11744"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=11741"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=11741"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.tennis.com.au\/wa\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=11741"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}