Jakarta lacks tennis lovers

Jakarta lacks tennis lovers

By Arif Suryobuwono

JAKARTA (JP): This year's Indonesia Open Tennis Championships
is indeed open -- to question.

From the women's event which started the tournament on Jan. 2
to its men's event finals on Jan. 15, the 3,000-seat Senayan
Indoor Tennis Stadium was never filled to capacity.

The Indonesian Tennis Association (Pelti) organized the two-
week tennis extravaganza to celebrate the country's 50th
anniversary. Private bank Danamon, title sponsor of the event,
injected US$600,000 for both the men's and women's competitions,
plus the Martina Navratilova-Yayuk Basuki exhibition match.

There were only 55 spectators in the stadium on the first day,
tournament director Eddy Katimansah told The Jakarta Post. And on
the last day? Certainly no more than 200 people were in the
stadium even though it was Sunday.

"I have worked hard to win the game. The many empty seats made
me feel my efforts weren't appreciated," said Paul Haarhuis of
the Netherlands who pipped Czech Radomir Vasek in Sunday's final.

What was wrong with the tournament that there were so many
empty seats?

"The tournament would have perhaps been overcrowded had the
players played with nothing on," Eddy quipped.

The obstetrics surgeon said a series of bad breaks seemed to
be the factor discouraging people from attending.

American world number six Michael Chang, twice champion of the
tournament, did not come. He previously made two trips here for
the tournaments which offer a whopping $250,00 appearance money.

Australian former Wimbledon winner Pat Cash who registered for
the tournament failed to sign-in. Indonesia tennis queen and
triple champion Yayuk was forced to give up her semifinal battle
due to acute diarrhea.

Then all the Indonesian men's players, who entered the
tournament through wildcards and qualifiers, were ousted in the
qualifying rounds. To add insult to injury, top seeded Bernd
Karbacher of Germany had to pull out of the tournament due to
stomach problems.

Common

However, Pelti new chairman Sarwono Kusumaatmadja told the
Post that "such poor attendance is currently a common phenomenon
in the world, except in places where tennis is traditionally held
in high esteem such as Wimbeldon."

Many believe that inviting top-notched world players is a
passport to a considerable raise in ticket sales. Facts has shown
that this is true. The Kemayoran Tennis Court in North Jakarta
was fully packed when Gabriela Sabatini played Yayuk in an
exhibition match last year.

According to Amy Yus, a treasury official of Pelti, most of
those who came to the stadium were not really interested in the
match. "They bought tickets because they wanted to meet Sabatini
in person and see for themselves whether she was really as
beautiful as her photographs or TV appearance," she said.

The same may be said for former tennis great Navratilova who
played Yayuk in an exhibition match here on Jan. 4 which was
attended by a record 2,400 people.

But they didn't all necessarily come to see the match. Many
came just to be photographed with Martina.

Eddy showed me photographs of all-smiling very important
ladies with Martina in their midst. And a man told me how proud
he was to have Martina's personal signature.

However, Sarwono dismissed the idea that world top players
would guarantee a filled-to-capacity stadium because today's
tennis tends to be mechanical, particularly due to the big
serving names, and impersonal. Players with attractive
personalities are rare nowadays and this makes tennis less
interesting to watch, he added.

Hero

Another factor responsible for the poor turnout, according to
Sarwono, was that, except for Yayuk, Indonesia lacks tennis heros
the public need.

People were also reluctant to come to the tournament because
"our players are not in the same league as their opponents,"
Sarwono added, pointing out how Indonesia's number one Benny
Wijaya was forced to run helter-skelter before his first-round
demolition by Markus Zoecke of Germany.

Two economic students from the Tarumanegara University, West
Jakarta, and two employees who skipped work to see Benny said it
was bad timing that was to blame for the empty seats. Most of the
matches were held during working hours and students were
undergoing exams.

Moreover, January is not a good month for organizing such
"extravaganza" as the organizer called it, because January has
the blue Monday effect. "People were sated with entertainment
last month and are too full to enjoy the event," said one of the
employees.

The ticket prices, Rp 5,000 for rounds and Rp 10,000 for
quarter finals, semifinals and final matches, were certainly not
expensive given that tennis is a middle to upper class sport.

Yet two civil servants from Sumatra who are in a training
program here claimed Rp 10,000 was too much. They believed the
stadium would be crowded if the entrance was free, an idea which
Eddy quickly rejected.

"Everyday we distributed 500 free tickets to all the city's
tennis clubs but almost none of them came," said Eddy.

The empty seats spoke not only of a lack of interest. They
also showed who the true tennis lovers are, who, it seems, are
few and far between.