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Speaker 1: You're listening to the Weekend Sport Podcast with Jason Vine

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Speaker 1: from news Talk ZEDB caughters to one. One of the

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Speaker 1: glamour events of the New Zealand sporting summer. Nearly upon US,

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Speaker 1: the ASB Tennis Classic underway, with qualifying today and tomorrow

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Speaker 1: for the WTA Women's Tournament. First round matches start on Monday.

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Speaker 1: The final is next Sunday. That's followed by the ATP

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Speaker 1: men's event from Monday, the sixth of January through to Saturday,

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Speaker 1: the eleventh. The women's draw incidentally takes place set around

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Speaker 1: one o'clock this afternoon. Tournament director Nicholas Lampren has taken

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Speaker 1: time out of his businesses you will to join us. Nicholas,

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Speaker 1: thanks for your time on ZB two days out from

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Speaker 1: the start of the tournament.

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Speaker 2: Do you feel ready, Yes, we're almost there. Just you know,

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Speaker 2: we've got two more days to get fully fully ready.

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Speaker 2: In terms of the setup for the site. We have

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Speaker 2: a smaller operation over the weekend for the qualifying and

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Speaker 2: then we use the full site by Monday morning.

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Speaker 1: How happy are you the women's field first of all

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Speaker 1: that you've assembled, Yeah.

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Speaker 2: Very happy. I think it's a really good combination of

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Speaker 2: you know, established talent, local talent, and you know up

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Speaker 2: and coming players. You know, it's great to be able

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Speaker 2: to welcome Lulu back to New Zealand after after what

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Speaker 2: she's done last year. She's the number four seeds, which

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Speaker 2: hasn't happened in the in the Torment history for many,

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Speaker 2: many years. And also you know we have the likes

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Speaker 2: of Naomi Zakia, Madison Keys, Radukenu like you know, proper

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Speaker 2: marquet names. In the world of women's tennis.

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Speaker 1: When you're putting the fields together and doing your planning,

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Speaker 1: how do you strike the balance between proven performers and

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Speaker 1: rising stars.

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Speaker 2: It's pretty much like a fifty to fifty split that

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Speaker 2: are trying to assemble. We do need some some market

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Speaker 2: players because these are the ones that the fans want

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Speaker 2: to see and the reason why we we we're selling

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Speaker 2: all of these tickets. But at the same time, we

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Speaker 2: need to anticipate the future and we want to start

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Speaker 2: building relationship with up and coming players and make sure

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Speaker 2: they'll be able to come in they use to come

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Speaker 2: as their rank and go up.

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Speaker 1: That's a very creded time of the year of course

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Speaker 1: for tennis players. Everyone preparing for the Australian Open a

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Speaker 1: lot of competition Brisbane, Perth, Sydney. How do you attract

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Speaker 1: top players to your tournament in Auckland.

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Speaker 2: As two main factors, you know. The first one is

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Speaker 2: everything we have to offer in Oakland. Uh, you know,

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Speaker 2: we we're trying to look after the players as best

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Speaker 2: as we can. You know, it's a really personalized service

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Speaker 2: to to to all of them. And the second one

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Speaker 2: is you know, the financial aspect. You know, it does

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Speaker 2: cost to bring the market players, but it's an investment

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Speaker 2: that we need to make if we want to remain

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Speaker 2: relevant on the in his calendar.

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Speaker 1: And something which is I guess different to what they

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Speaker 1: experience elsewhere is the close proximity of the corporates in particular.

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Speaker 1: Do you find that most of the players are okay

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Speaker 1: with that?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, I think it's a unique offering of the tournament.

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Speaker 2: The fact that we have people, you know, dining and

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Speaker 2: drinking court side is something that you only see in Auckland.

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Speaker 2: We were a little bit concerned in the first place

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Speaker 2: about this and we're not really sure about what the

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Speaker 2: reaction of players might be, but they actually love it,

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Speaker 2: you know, they think it really creates a special atmosphere

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Speaker 2: around the court and everyone's you know, very well behaved,

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Speaker 2: so we've never had any issue on that front.

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Speaker 1: You mentioned lu Luson before. You know, she was only

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Speaker 1: a qualifier last year, but what a year she's had

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Speaker 1: on twenty twenty four. How big a draw card do

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Speaker 1: you perceive her to be now that she has risen

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Speaker 1: to the heights that she has.

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Speaker 2: And she's clearly someone who could win the tournament this year.

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Speaker 2: She's in that position. You know, she she's the fourth seed.

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Speaker 2: Everyone remembers about her quarterfinal at Wimbledon, but she you know,

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Speaker 2: she she's done modern this. You know, she was also

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Speaker 2: in the final in Monterey, which is with a five

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Speaker 2: hundred event. You know, I would hope that she will

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Speaker 2: be in a position to win a first title at

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Speaker 2: some point this season, and why not in Auckland next week?

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Speaker 1: Absolutely? And I say, you have automated line calls for

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Speaker 1: the first time that she and Nicholas. Can you tell

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Speaker 1: us about that technology?

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Speaker 2: Yes, so this is a new requirement on the eighth

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Speaker 2: B side, and because we run back to back tournament,

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Speaker 2: we decided to use that technology for both weeks, so

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Speaker 2: basically no more line judges, but instead we've got twelve

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Speaker 2: cameras around the court that we use to call all

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Speaker 2: the lines, so it's a it's a lot of technology.

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Speaker 2: We have to have it on all the match courts,

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Speaker 2: so it's three courts times twelve cameras. There's a lot

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Speaker 2: of technology involved. But that's just the way that the

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Speaker 2: game is going these days.

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Speaker 1: That sounds like a big investment too, is it money wise?

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's a big investment. I mean it's it's it's

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Speaker 2: in the region of one hundred and fifty thousand US

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Speaker 2: dollars just for that technology for the for the two weeks,

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Speaker 2: so it's it's significant, but it's a it's a new

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Speaker 2: requirement from the tools.

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Speaker 1: So just the chair umpire and helped by the cameras,

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Speaker 1: that's how it works.

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Speaker 2: Now, Yes, exactly. Wow. And then we have a we

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Speaker 2: have a crew on standby of line judges just in

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Speaker 2: case the technology failed, just to make sure, you know,

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Speaker 2: we can continue the matches if there's any glitch with

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Speaker 2: the system.

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Speaker 1: As the tournament plays out across the weakerhead and then

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Speaker 1: into the means tournament, what do you find yourself doing

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Speaker 1: mainly what takes up most of your time.

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Speaker 2: At this At this stage, you know what. Once the

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Speaker 2: tournament starts, it's it's a lot of time, you know,

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Speaker 2: being spent with the players just to make sure we

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Speaker 2: catter for all the needs, you know, listening to their

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Speaker 2: requests in terms of you know, match scheduling or you

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Speaker 2: know practice, and also a lot of time spent with

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Speaker 2: all of our sponsors, you know, trying to make sure

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Speaker 2: that they get the best return on the investment.

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Speaker 1: Do you actually get to watch any tennis?

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Speaker 2: I do. I do watch some tennis, a lot of

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Speaker 2: most of it is on the screen, not not some aslive,

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Speaker 2: but are trying to get some a few games here

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Speaker 2: and there if I can.

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Speaker 1: And you keep an eye on the weather forecast, no

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Speaker 1: doubts looking okay, I think for the week you hit.

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Speaker 2: Yeah, it's looking good so far. It's pretty windy though,

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Speaker 2: which is always a bit of a challenge, but hopefully

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Speaker 2: that will come down and then I'll have a nice fortnite.

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Speaker 1: Congratulations on pulling these wonderful fields together, Nicholas, all the

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Speaker 1: best for a wonderful fortnight ahead. Thanks for taking the

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Speaker 1: time for a chat this afternoon. Thanks very much, Thank you, No,

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Speaker 1: thank you, Nicholas. Nicholas Lampa and their tournament director of

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Speaker 1: the ASB Classic. The draw for the women's competition is

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Speaker 1: only about ten minutes away. Madison Keys is the top seed.

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Speaker 1: Alise Mertants from Belgium number two seed, Amanda n Samova

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Speaker 1: of the United States third seed, and Lulu Sun the

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Speaker 1: Key week as high as any New Zealander has been

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Speaker 1: seedings why she is the fourth seed. Naomi Osaka and

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Speaker 1: Emma Rodcanu Grand Slam winners are also among the top

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Speaker 1: eight seeds. We'll bring you the draw when it is

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Speaker 1: made over the next hour or so. Seven Away from one,

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Speaker 1: News TALKSB for more from Weekend Sport with Jason Fine.

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Speaker 1: Listen live to News Talk ZEDB weekends from midday, or

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