Wynne Gray: Why the fans love this little charmer

Tennis fans enjoy the day in the sun at Stanley St during a quarter final of the Heineken Open. Photo / Dean Purcell

Get down to the tennis, the boss suggested.

It was probably more of an order for someone back in the office and looking for a rugby-free worklist before the start of what will be an all-consuming World Cup season.

Several decades had sidled by since my last foray to Stanley St, a combination of being out of town or away from work since professional rugby butted into the summer season.

Kindly colleagues suggested players were wearing long whites and using wooden rackets when my journo duties last took me to the tennis centre.

Not quite true, but it was some time ago when players like Miroslav Mecir and Amos Mansdorf were collecting their titles.

Stanley St is in the same place but undergoing a massive renovation and staff have done remarkably well to have the complex tuned in for the two tennis events which start New Zealand's sporting year.

Crowds have responded with about 3500 coming daily to the ASB tennis centre to watch the Heineken Open. Very understandable.

Parking is nearby, ticket prices are reasonable, it's an audience-friendly atmosphere and, unlike many international sports arenas, everyone gets a great view.

You can move into your preferred shade or sun, stretch the legs with an amble to the back courts and snaffle a hot dog or three, chug a few cleansers, meet old buddies and soak up some serious competition.

There are three courts, a hit-up area where you can get up close and personal with your favourite players, a variety of eateries, sponsors' displays and plenty of their products.

The Rae Reynolds Garden, a small viewing area cut into the hill and under the shade of the trees out the back of court four, commemorates the life and support of the tennis devotee who died at 98 on New Year's Eve.

Saunter out the back and there are people working long shifts like Tony Ralfe. He is up from Christchurch, chipper after a recent left knee replacement, 44 years experience stringing rackets and being on his feet for 15-hour stints.

He was four floors up in St George's Hospital in Merivale last year when the building started rocking as the quakes hit the Garden City. Ralfe checked out not long after and went back to the work which has him in high demand.

"It's just in my blood," he says.

An average racket restring takes about 20 minutes but the cluster he is fixing for Arnaud Clement will take longer as the Frenchman prefers beef rather than lamb gut.

"Each player has about six to 10 rackets and the tension varies from 16 to 30kg with most round the 23kg mark," he explains. "I think I'll end up stringing about 600 rackets by the time we are done with the few weeks at these tournaments."

At the start of his career, Ralfe strung rackets by hand before shifting to machines which wound the strings to a tension, drop-lever equipment which used weights and now the highly computerised equipment.

He uses about 10m of gut on each job and admits to the rare "oops" moment when there is not quite enough left to tie off a racket.

Nearby David Nalbandian warms up using his retooled rackets.

You can lean over the fence and watch the Argentine practise techniques and drills with his coaches. It gives you a much greater appreciation of how hard these blokes hit the ball.

Nalbandian changes his tempo up and down, just getting the feel of the ball pinging off the strings, looking for the rhythm which took him to the finals at Wimbledon in 2002. He withdrew from last year's event because of injury but is looking to get some form back here en route to the Australian Open.

Unlike many of his fellow competitors, Nalbandian is stocky. He comes in at 1.80m while many fellow competitors rival the 2.06m leverage of defending champion John Isner.

They would look comfortable in the middle of a lineout though they would lack the grunt for the tight work with most carrying less than 100kg.

Top-seed David Ferrer is an exception. He is smaller at 1.75m but nimble and viciously quick round the court. The Spaniard won the title in 2007 and like the field is chasing the US$72,000 ($94,500) prizemoney which comes with the title.

Runner-up gets his disappointment balanced with a cheque for US$38,000 when he goes to sign a collection slip with tournament paymaster Tony Sangster.

He's in his first year in this job, a bloke with 25 years experience in the finance industry and now stuck under the stands in an unglamorous temporary office. No problem. Like the hundreds of staff from tournament director Richard Palmer down to the volunteers, they are at Stanley St because they love the event and the occasion.

"I get to see enough of the action and can get out and about on my other IT duties to see what's happening," Sangster explains.

"There is just such a great buzz round the place."

"It is a commitment of people to excellence in sport. Many give up their holidays to be part of the team."

Sangster believes the tournaments give Auckland a great vibe and begin the annual sporting calendar with the sort of positive push he hopes will be the springboard for similar success at another event in October.

"There is so much that is so good in sport in New Zealand, all sorts of events and sometimes I think we lose track of that," he said.

Belinda Cordwell has been around Stanley St for a few rallies, as a player and television commentator. She enthuses strongly about the arena.

"There is only one centre court which makes a big difference if you look at some of the places like the Renouf Centre or Wilding Park where there are two centre courts.

"Capacity here is about 3200. You are not trying to cater to the masses, this event has been around a long time and the venue has kept its charm in the modern era," she says.

The venue suits modern requirements but has not lost its flavour and intimacy with the players. They walk past the spectators to get into action or when they exit stage left.

"The public just love it. The players, too. Listening to them they talk about this as a point of difference. Would you rather play in front of 3200 people with everyone here or a capacity of 15,000 with 7000 there like you can get in Melbourne?

"You are going to feel like this is really cool, people are really enjoying this. You are right there, you can see the players' expressions, hear their emotions, I think that is great.

"There is some sacrifice in terms of capacity, but they have kept the great ambience."

The women's tournament was at capacity each day and while there were some empty seats for the first few days of the men it had been at capacity since.

"I know the test cricket has been on but for a fortnight, I reckon this is where you come if you want to experience several smart sporting events," says Cordwell.

Hard to argue when you wander in off the street, see the matches, wander around, smell the tennis - even if it is only every few decades.