Hong Kong tennis chief hails city’s status on ATP and WTA tours, says no need to move events to Kai Tak Sports Park
- New HKCTA president Michael Cheng says hosting men’s and women’s elite events ‘a significant achievement’ that puts it alongside Tokyo and Beijing
- Cheng says Victoria Park Stadium only needs ‘minor tweaks and upgrades’ to keep it up to standard
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Hong Kong’s new tennis boss has walked back comments made by his predecessor over the state of the city’s Victoria Park Stadium, and said players and officials had praised the venue of this week’s ATP Tour event.
Michael Cheng Ming-git, who became president of the city’s tennis association last month, believed only a few changes needed to be made to the home of this week’s Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open to ensure it remained usable.
He also said the city should be proud to be one of only three in the region, alongside Tokyo and Beijing, that staged an ATP and WTA event in the same calendar year.
It was, Cheng said, “a significant achievement” putting Hong Kong alongside two capitals, and helping to raise it’s profile as a world city.
Questions have been raised about the venue, however, and last month, outgoing president Philip Mok Kwan-yat, suggested the sport should consider moving its elite events to Kai Tak Sports Park, when it was finally finished.
The ATP Tour has returned to the Causeway Bay facility for the first time since 2002, and Cheng said he expected to receive a “positive report” from officials who “like what they have seen”.
“All the comments we’re getting is that it doesn’t feel like the first time,” he said. “I think we are on a very good track.
“It’s probably the only venue that’s right in the middle of the city and the players love it. Tianjin, Shanghai, Beijing, Shenzhen, Malaysia, Tokyo, and even the four grand slam nations aren’t right in the middle of the town.”
With players staying in hotels just a five-minute walk from the stadium, Cheng said keeping them in mind had been at the centre of how his team had approached the week.
“Good balls, good courts, good bed, good laundry, good food, you put it all together and it all happens within the proximity of five minutes, they love it.”
There is plenty of evidence to suggest fans are embracing the return of some of the best players in the men’s game. The 3,700-seat centre court was sold out for Saturday’s semi-finals, as it had been at the start of the tournament when local favourite Coleman Wong Chak-lam played in the men’s doubles alongside Zizou Bergs of Belgium, in a 6-2, 6-4 loss to Russian pair Andrey Rublev and Karen Khachanov.
“Fans are showing their support with strong attendance – it’s almost full house every day and [there are] no tickets available for the final weekend and we have a very strong [television] viewership across the globe,” Cheng said.
The new tennis chief added that with some “minor tweaks and upgrades” at the stadium, everything would become much better for future tournaments.
“Over time, my experience shows me that you won’t get it right in the first edition,” he said. “You usually get it settled and right at a very good point in year three.
“So, I think we’re on a very good trajectory path, and I think we can do a lot better.”
