Coco Gauff won the 2023 ASB Classic. Photo / Photosport
Coco Gauff won the 2023 ASB Classic. Photo / Photosport
The ASB Classic women’s event could face a battle to recruit the best players in future years, after a drastic rule change on the WTA Tour.
It’s understood Tour powerbrokers have agreed a new structure which will see top-30 players barred from competing at WTA 250 level events, the lowertier on the circuit.
There will potentially be some exemptions available but it is a significant step. Up until now the only restriction for Auckland was around top-10 players (one per event), but this is potentially more complicated.
The plan has not been finalised but is expected to be confirmed this month. While not universally popular, it’s an initiative aimed at reinforcing the biggest events, to make sure the marquee names are available.
ASB Classic tournament director Nicolas Lamperin said there was a considerable lobby from the collective WTA 250 events to resist the change, but it has gone through as part of a wider deal which will see prizemoney significantly increased in the upper-tier tournaments.
“They are still working through all the rules and policies,” Lamperin told the Herald on Sunday. “There will be some exemptions but this is the basic rule.”
However, Lamperin is measured about the move, saying it will have a minimal effect on the quality of Auckland’s field.
“I don’t think it is a very big blow at all,” said Lamperin. “If I compare my draw this year to what I could potentially get next year, there is not much of a difference, I don’t think it impacts us. With the women’s tour, there is a lot of movement in the rankings. There are lots of opportunities outside the top 30 to get some really exciting names which is why I am not very concerned about the situation.”
Lamperin points to the 2023 field, where Coco Gauff (No 7) was the only top 30 player but there were plenty of notable names including Leylah Fernandez (40), Emma Raducanu (78), Sloane Stephens (37) and Venus Williams (unranked).
“It is not so much about the ranking - it would be difficult for me to sell some top-10 players,” explained Lamperin. “The profile of the players is more important than the ranking itself.”
ASB Classic tournament director Nicolas Lamperin. Photo / Jed Bradley
Lamperin added that there will be some exemptions to the top-30 restriction. He didn’t want to go into details but confirmed, for example, that 2023 champion Gauff would be eligible to defend her title next year and expected that Auckland could still have “two or three” exemptions, depending on the application of the rules.
In 2020 the ASB Classic attracted four top-30 players, including Serena Williams.
Across the last decade there have been as many as six (2014, 2017) and five (2015, 2016) with four in 2018 and three the following year.
Tournament officials had also discussed a bid to move to a higher tier, becoming a WTA 500 event, as revealed by the Herald in January, which would require a huge boost in prizemoney but also mean higher ranking points and no recruitment restrictions.
But that won’t happen next year.
“There was an opportunity to submit an application [for 2024] and we decided not to,” said Lamperin. “In our week only one tournament could get the upgrade - either us or Tennis Australia and there was no chance we could get into a bidding war with them. That was not realistic.”
Lamperin said Gauff is the “No 1 target” for 2024 and he remains positive, ahead of a likely meeting at the French Open.
“We haven’t got into the specifics of the conversation, that will probably happen in Paris, that is when hopefully things can move.”
Raducanu would also be of interest – “if there was a way for her to come back we would love to make it happen” – but he acknowledged that was a decision for later in the year, given her struggles with injury and form.
Lamperin is yet to sign any players but has had promising conversations, saying there are some “pretty good opportunities out there”.
He will be based in Europe for nearly two months, attending the WTA tournament in Strasbourg before the French Open and Wimbledon, where the main recruitment business will be done.
