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HUAJIN SECURITIES ZHUHAI CHAMPIONSHIPS

September 26, 2019

Alison Lee

Zhuhai, China

THE MODERATOR: Any questions?

Q. Very simple question. Could you first talk about your emotions that you went through with the match you just watched.
ALISON LEE: Oh, it was a very exciting match, wasn't it. Zhang Zhizhen played very well, he showed that he deserves to be there with the top guys. He's played a lot of Challengers this year, he's coming back from injury, I believe, he's starting to get that confidence up. Today, even though it's going to be a very hard loss for him, hopefully he will learn from it, take away a lot. We still have Beijing and Shanghai, hopefully he'll be playing at, get more confidence, more Challenger events, I think he's going to be on a roll from here on.

Q. China is obviously a very important market for you. Can you just talk a bit about that, about why it's so important and perhaps what we can see in the months and years ahead in terms of growing the game here.
ALISON LEE: Yeah, look, it's a long-term game to grow a market like China. And we have been here probably in a very successful way since the early 2000s with the Masters Cup. And Rome wasn't built in a day, it does take time. I started working here in '98 at the Heineken Open Shanghai when Michael Chang was playing. To see the crowds in Shanghai, how much they have learned about the game and grown to enjoy it, it is a very long process, we're big, we're becoming bigger in the really big cities like Shanghai and Beijing, coming to places like Zhuhai, they have had tennis here for a number of years now, through the Challengers and the WTA Elite Trophy. It's great to be here with men's tennis.

Yeah, it's a very long game, but to have success in China, when we get the Chinese champions coming through, it's going to totally change the landscape of the game. And I've said that a number of times, but I truly believe it.

Q. Until those local players do come through the biggest draws remain Andy Murray this week and then Roger, Rafa and Novak, same as ever. How important is it to do a lot of the work now and what work's being put in place for the years to come, which we have been predicting for ages, when they won't still finally be playing?
ALISON LEE: Well I think our current chairman Chris Kermode has been very conscious about the next players coming through and promoting them, which is why he created the Next Gen ATP Finals in Milan; and guys like Tsitsipas, de Minaur I mean are famous now because of that platform and then the results that they have produced prior to and after playing those events.

So I wouldn't say it's just Andy Murray, I think it's been a very exciting draw you've had here in Zhuhai. It's great to have the younger generation here, so I mean everything's cyclical.

Q. It's interesting you mentioned the Next Gen series and Chris Kermode, because obviously he's leaving at the end of the year. It seems like there's a bit of, a lot of infighting amongst tennis, amongst the ATP, between the ATP and the ITF, at a time when tennis could be about to go through a major transition in terms of relying on those younger players to sell tickets. Are you confident that the right strategies are being put in place amidst all the immediate political bickering?
ALISON LEE: Well, just focusing on the ATP, we have never been in a stronger position, I don't believe. Chris is leaving ATP in a very positive situation. With the Nitto Finals finishing up after 12 years in London, Next Gen Finals, the ATP cup, some really big sponsorships. I mean we just keep doing our thing. There will always be noise on the sidelines and that's politics in the game, but I think Chris has done tremendously well with his strategies and working with management and what lies ahead for us. January ATP Cup, it's going to be a game changer.

Q. How important is it when a great male player for China in order for the future and second question is this particularly area strategic for the future? I mean the Bay Area, Hong Kong, Macau and Zhuhai and all the other cities?
ALISON LEE: Sorry, the last bit of your question.

Q. Is this area in China, Hong Kong, Macau, Zhuhai and then the Bay Area, is it important for also for, is it a strategic one for sports and tennis in particular?
ALISON LEE: I think that Beijing, Shanghai, obviously we're there. Zhuhai is an important move for us, it is great to be here. Yes, this tournament moved from Shenzhen, also an important area, but Zhuhai is amazing what it's provided us in terms of the facility, the management know-how that existed here and that Leon Sun brought with him with the tournament.

The Challenger that they have had since 2016, they have done it the right way, the promoters in Zhuhai, to, A, attract an ATP tournament here in this region. The best thing I tell cities and promoters who want an ATP event is to have a Challenger event, do it really, really well, and when an opportunity comes along that you might be able to get an ATP event to your city, you've already got runs on the board that people know you can run an event well.

So the Zhuhai promoters had that in their favor. Us being here -- it's great to be in Zhuhai. As I said, I mean the facility, the facility is one of the best in the world, it really is. So I know the players have really enjoyed their time here between the hotel, the site and how well they have been treated, everything that they could want. And it's great because that message will get out internationally amongst the tennis world and also what Zhuhai is receiving through the international broadcast with the ATP TV pool, social media, internet, this is a great way, the ATP tournament, for Zhuhai to put itself further on the international map.

Q. How do you see the fact that Zhuhai and Chengdu both are in the same time having the ATP events?
ALISON LEE: Well, China's a big country, and, yes, it is in the same week, but we have other tournaments that are separated by maybe a hundred kilometers, 150 kilometers Geneva and Leon, Adelaide and Auckland, not very far away from each other there. So I mean Chengdu to Zhuhai, yes, it's the same China country, but they are different markets and I think China's big enough to be able to have two events in the same week. And they have got some exciting matches and players going on in Chengdu as well. And it's great for China and the Chinese players to have the opportunity to get wild cards, to get matches into these tournaments, a leg up. So it's a very good opportunity for China and its players.

Q. The WTA final will be held in Shenzhen this year and do you think China will have a chance to hold an ATP Final one day in the future?
ALISON LEE: Why not? You had Shanghai for five years, tennis Masters Cup 2002, '05, '06, '07 and '08. For sure we could come back.

Q. We have a few Chinese players this week that they now have come to compete with the top-100 players, but the problem is they can do it for only one match, they cannot put many wins in a row. However, consider they win the ATP Challengers this month, before coming to Zhuhai, do you feel maybe the change is happening?
ALISON LEE: Yeah, I think so. I mean if you look at Zhang Zhizhen winning Jinan and beating all those players day-in, day-out, coming, taking the confidence, coming here, and winning his first match -- and that was so close, the match that we all just watched, it was so close, it could have gone either way. As I said at the beginning, I think he could take this and turn it into a roll upwards. I mean, he's already at his highest ranking, he's probably going to go to, what, 210 after yesterday's win, around that place. So, yeah, I'm very excited to watch his career progress.

Q. Welcome to Zhuhai. One question you guys were talking earlier about entering the Chinese market and it's been awhile. Rome doesn't get built in one day. But are there specific challenges that of course you're foreseeing, seeing and foreseeing in China and are there things that you want to innovate in terms of broadcasting or media in China that is a little bit separate in strategy from the rest of the world and ATP?
ALISON LEE: No, I don't think that's really -- we have a TV, ATP Media and they would be much better to answer that last bit of the question.

But in terms of the first part of your question, I think that, yeah, Rome wasn't built in a day, but if you have a look at -- my favorite topic is Challengers, right. And China has done it so well. 10 years ago there were no Challengers in China. There's 12 now. There will probably be 13 or 14 next year. And you're seeing the players from China take advantage of that and gain the experience winning each week, losing each week, as you said, backing up, I mean seeing the discipline of the other international players they're playing against. They are -- it's all coming together. I do think we are coming to that point.

Q. I guess in China everybody wants to do something big or even bigger, like Shanghai wants to be the Super Masters. Beijing wants to have the Masters. Maybe in a few years Chengdu and Zhuhai want to have the ATP 500?
ALISON LEE: This is not just China.

Q. Is that pressure, is there pressure to, for ATP and your job?
ALISON LEE: You know, I've always said that we need the players first before we go those next steps. And once you get more players -- imagine if China had a whole lot of top players. The pressure then to have more events in China, I mean that's when the ball will really start to gather speed. But without those top players I don't think that we can get the momentum of more events or higher than we have now, but it comes with the players. That's why Challengers are so important, it's a long-term game.

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