Not since King Kong rocked Skull Island has Southeast Asia witnessed such a big force. The Watsons Water Champions Challenge returns to Hong Kong and has managed to rake in a prime field thanks to some good old fashioned cash. As Ella Fitzgerald’s classic goes, “It Don’t Mean a Thing, if You Ain’t Got That Bling.”
Lindsay Davenport, Elena Dementieva, Maria Sharapova, Kim Clijsters, Svetlana Kuznetsova, and Nicole Vaidisova have all committed to playing the event, which starts on January 3 and serves as a warmup to the Australian Open. But all those glittery names don’t come without an equally ritzy price tag.
As is common with exhibition events, the players are receiving compensation just to show up and commit to the event, earning sizable paychecks regardless of how well they play.
The China Daily reports that Sharapova alone commanded a seven-figure payout to show up. "It is not getting any cheaper to convince Sharapova to come here. But by hook or by crook, we have managed to get her to come to Hong Kong. It took a bit of discussion to get her to agree," Ian Wade, president of the Hong Kong Tennis Patrons Association (HKTPA), told the paper. It appears, the paper says that this year, the Russian is demanding more money now that she has added the US Open crown to her résumé.
Meanwhile, slightly south of Asia and in a continent all its own, the Kooyong Classic is being contested again for the 19th consecutive year in its namesake Melbourne suburb, making it an attractive training and preparation location for the nearby Australian Open.
But as in Hong Kong, money is also a prime attraction. 2005 champion Roger Federer and defending champion Andy Roddick have already committed, and other big names in the top 10 include David Nalbandian and Ivan Ljubicic. Local favorite (sometimes) Lleyton Hewitt, however, has yet to confirm his participation in the event and may play an ATP tour event in Sydney that week.
Colin Stubs, tournament director of the Kooyong Classic, alluded to the payoffs players receive for their participation in the exhibition event, although no financial terms have been disclosed.
"We always do Lleyton the courtesy of a phone call and, look, we've got a finite budget down here and when people who've supported you on a regular basis and supported you well put their hand up early in the year, like Federer and Roddick did, it doesn't leave a lot of money in the kick," Stubs told the Sydney Morning Herald.
"We made an offer to Lleyton, which he chose to decline - that's OK, we'll have another crack next year. But he's got to stick his hand up earlier in the year if he wants to command some of the bigger money here because we don't have any trouble getting confirmed commitments from the likes of Federer and Roddick."
Lleyton, raise your hand, mate!
The Kooyong Classic is set to begin on the 10th of January.