Tennis, anyone? ATP Tour courts sponsors in Indonesia
Tennis, anyone? ATP Tour courts sponsors in Indonesia
By Bruce Emond
JAKARTA (JP): Russell Barlow slumps down in an empty chair in the lobby lounge of a Jakarta hotel, offering a weary smile after a full day of meetings.
The 32-year-old Australian pauses to order coffee and take stock of his mission to bring men's tennis to the fore of the Indonesian public's consciousness.
Barlow is bullish on the prospects for the growth of tennis both as a spectator and participant sport in the next few years to reach the same level of popularity of badminton and soccer, which Indonesians follow with unmitigated passion.
"Tennis is soaring in popularity all over the developing world, and Indonesia is no exception," the former world-ranked tennis player says.
"There is already a tradition of racket sports here with badminton, and I think tennis can become as popular among Indonesians."
Barlow is a senior member of the ATP Tour, the governing body for the men's tennis circuit, which is opening a representative office in Jakarta.
The presence of the office will enable the ATP Tour to work closely with Pelti, the national tennis association, to ensure the smooth running of various ATP Tour events, including the year-ending ATP Tour World Doubles Championship in November.
He is facing his biggest obstacles, more daunting than any blistering forehand or cannonball serve he confronted on a tennis court, trying to sell tennis to local sponsors.
The main problem, he says, is that sports marketing is new to Indonesia and its long-term benefits are still not fully understood.
"Sports marketing is still in its early days here and we have to get across to sponsors about what they will reap over time from their involvement," he explains.
"They have to realize, as many major corporations have in the West, that the greatest gains will come from their association with a sport over the years. What we are talking about is not patronage, but partnership."
There is no better event for this to be tried and tested than with the ATP Tour World Doubles Championship, the richest and most prestigious non-Grand Slam doubles tournament of the year. It is being held in Jakarta for the second consecutive year and will be the only end-of-year championship played in Asia.
"It is a long process of getting sponsors involved and I know that we cannot expect miracles overnight," Barlow says cautiously.
"I call last year's tournament our teething period because we tried to iron out all our problems in making things work for 1995.
"I am confident that many companies will come to realize that this tournament is good for them and their image," he added.
Controversial
There has been a flood of negative media attention on tennis over the past few years. Authoritative Sports Illustrated jumped on the bandwagon of gloom by asking "Is Tennis Dying?" in a 1994 cover story which bemoaned the supposed dearth of engaging tennis personalities.
Tennis equipment sales and television ratings for the sport are down in the United States, the biggest market by country size alone (although the European market is three times larger).
Barlow finds fault with many of the criticisms of tennis. He counters that it is illogical to focus solely on the U.S. as indicative of trends in the sport.
"Sure, the U.S. is the most substantial market, but it is dwarfed by the potential in countries of Latin America, Africa and Asia.
"The interest in these countries is offsetting any slight downturn in the U.S. The growth centers for tennis are the developing nations."
He also discounts charges that lower tennis ratings translate into diminishing popularity of the sport. "Ratings points appear smaller compared to five or ten years ago but that is a skewed perception," Barlow explains.
"You have more cable and satellite stations so the share (of the market) is, of course, smaller because it is spread over many more channels."
Reports of the demise of tennis are greatly exaggerated, Barlow says.
He points to the efforts of the ATP Tour to pump money back into emerging markets through grass-roots tennis development programs and recent moves to enhance the enjoyment of spectators, including reducing the time allowed between points, as evidence of its commitment to all aspects of the game.
"It is the old cliche of peaks and valleys," he muses. "Tennis has had its great high points in the 1980s, with the McEnroe-Borg and Lendl-Becker rivalries, and a few years where perhaps the clashes were not quite as exciting. And now that is starting to change again."
He sees an ascent in the fortunes of the game with the race for number one between Pete Sampras and Andre Agassi.
"Agassi puts an end to all the talk about the game becoming a slugfest of hard-servers. He's a counterpuncher, but he's won at Wimbledon on grass, the fastest surface in the world. Then there is Pete, with the world's best all-court game."
Barlow also finds it ironic that Sports Illustrated, barely a year after it heralded the imminent demise of tennis, put Agassi on its cover and championed him as the new life blood in the game.
This enduring popularity of the game's top personalities is evinced in a Barlow anecdote.
"I glanced at a local TV quiz show the other night, and there happened to be a question asking the name of the flamboyant tennis star who won the U.S. Open," Barlow says with a smile.
"This little boy, no more than 8 years old, shouts out `Andre Agassi.' If that isn't clear evidence of the popularity of the sport, I don't know what it is."