By TERRY MADDAFORD
The overwhelming success of New Zealand's top tennis tournament will not lead to any move to take it to the next tier.
Around $700,000 was paid out in prizemoney last week - from $92,000 for winner Magnus Norman down to $6500 for the first-round losers. That will increase to
$800,000 over the next three years.
Tournament director and Auckland Tennis chief executive Graham Pearce said going up a level would mean finding $1.2 million "and we don't see any advantage in doing that."
"Our tournament is at the same level as the one we compete against at the same time in Sydney. Just increasing the prizemoney would not necessarily mean an increase in interest or the standard of players we could expect to attract."
Pearce said tournament costs exceeded $1 million but he was confident of a profit.
"All our expenses are in US dollars which, given the exchange rate, makes it very expensive. About 90 per cent of Auckland Tennis' annual turnover comes from these [Heineken Open and ASB Bank Classic] two tournaments."
Only top-20 players - in this case Tommy Haas and Norman - and "marque" players - Michael Chang - are entitled to appearance fees.
That adds to the cost but Pearce accepts that as part of the deal.
"This is the best tournament, for a number of reasons, we have ever run," said Pearce. This was due to the quality of the field, the public interest and the number of three-set matches. The venue set-up was the best yet.
"Still, we have to continually look at upgrading. We turned 500 away on Thursday night which is something we never want to do.
"You can't sit still and do nothing. That's going backwards. "We have a vision which the board will look at next month. If it is accepted it will be fantastic."
This year's Open marked the end of Heineken's initial five-year sponsorship deal. Heineken spokesman Peter Wills said he had no doubt a new five-year agreement would be signed "sooner rather than later."
