Tournament director Peter Johnston was still feverishly trying to find an opponent for Brandon Nakashima deep into Wednesday to lock in a fourth match on tomorrow’s Kooyong Classic schedule.
Jannik Sinner’s Australian coach Darren Cahill informed Johnston earlier in the day that the Italian star was prioritising rest ahead of next week’s Australian Open for the left hip he hurt in Adelaide.
Andy Murray of Great Britain signs autographs for supporters on Wednesday at Kooyong.Credit:Getty Images
Such is life for the Australian tennis summer’s unique event – the only one not run by Tennis Australia – if it is to survive among a heavyweight batch of January tournaments offering about $100 million in combined prizemoney.
Johnston already lost his biggest attraction, world No.1 Carlos Alcaraz, last week after he suffered a leg injury that caused him to withdraw from the grand slam, while Croatia’s Marin Cilic pulled out with a knee complaint.
Emma Raducanu and Venus Williams were also on the radar before suffering injuries.
There are no ‘lucky losers’ in exhibition events. Johnston just has to get to work to find someone else, scouring tournaments to see who exited early this week, might need matches and had a ‘story’ he could sell to international broadcasters.
He has about 25 active WhatsApp groups based solely on recruiting players for Kooyong.
The beloved Kooyong Classic is back from a two-year COVID-19 hiatus and having two years before that missed out on being part of TA’s new broadcast deal with Nine, as was the case again when that partnership was renewed.
“I think we’ve clawed back well to a good position, but we focus a lot on international exposure – and we have a great partner in Mediapro Asia,” Johnston said.
“They help us with international broadcast rights; we have [baby formula company] Care A2+ for five years [as major sponsor]; the calendar has settled down – I think United Cup is a long-term proposition – and the [Kooyong] club’s as good as it can look.”
Johnston is a Melbourne-based gun for hire who worked for 17 years as a TA administrator, previously serving as the No.2 behind Paul McNamee and Craig Tiley at the Australian Open before a stint at the WTA.
He has long overseen the ATP tournaments at Zhuhai and St Petersburg, which he subsequently helped sell to Kazakhstan. He first steered the Kooyong Classic ship in 2015.
Johnston’s friend, former player Kristin Godridge, is married to then-SBS soccer analyst and ex-Socceroo Craig Foster’s brother, and that relationship led to the broadcaster signing a deal with the Kooyong Classic.
Crisis averted. SBS also came back on board when the tournament resumed, giving Johnston a platform to sell sponsorship and broadcast internationally. More than 20 overseas countries are tuning into the tournament, including China’s streaming service iQIYI and Tennis Channel.
But Johnston needed to sign some big-name players, too. He noticed Alcaraz opted not to compete in any grasscourt events before last year’s Wimbledon, other than signing up for the exhibition at Hurlingham.
Johnston saw an opportunity. “We’re always looking for the scenario that could work,” he said.
Team Alcaraz agreed soon after, while local star Alex de Minaur also committed after a pitch revolving around a new way for the world No.24 to lead into the Australian Open, on top of conditions being on his terms.
TV appeal: China’s Zhang Zhizhen.Credit:AP
Johnston is always keen to have women’s players as well, but is familiar with a little-known WTA rule around exhibitions that impacts who he targets.
A top-three player from the previous year who violates the rule cops a $100,000 fine if they play an exhibition, down to a $15,000 sanction for players ranked 21-50, but there is no penalty for those outside of that.
As such, Johnston picks the best options from the lower crop, hence his interest in the marketable Raducanu and Williams. He convinced Maria Sharapova to play in 2020 after she returned from her WADA ban.
But there are still complications on the men’s side. Players need to receive a waiver if they play an exhibition event the same week they are knocked out of a regulation tournament.
Johnston organised one for Alexander Bublik on Tuesday night, only to find out the Kazakh withdrew from his Auckland doubles commitment and the tournament could no longer agree to the waiver for perception reasons.
Even with all this, Johnston cobbled together what he believes is the best group of players anywhere this week, including strategically American Taylor Fritz and China’s first top-100 man Zhang Zhizhen for broadcast appeal.
Others include de Minaur, Andy Murray, Dominic Thiem, Frances Tiafoe, Grigor Dimitrov, Borna Coric and Donna Vekic.
The hard work will continue and so, too, will the Kooyong Classic.
