All-round Athlete

Chapter 232: A Win-Win Situation (Part 1)

Of course, a grand slam-level event like the Australian Open has many sponsors, and there is only one top sponsor among them, and that is Qiya. Different from other sponsors, top sponsors can enjoy many privileges at the Australian Open, such as advertisements in all venues, background LOGO of press conferences, podium speeches for finals, etc.

Enterprise Asia has sponsored the Australian Open since 2002, and it has been the sixth year since 2007. In the future, Enterprise Asia will be the top sponsor of the Australian Open until 2016, so there is a relationship between Enterprise Asia and the organizer of the Australian Open. unusual relationship.

Today, Director Cui of Qiya brought Zhuge Wenbo to the Australian Open Organizing Committee at the agreed time, and they met the chairman of the Australian Open Organizing Committee, Terry, in the reception room.

"Dear Cui, it's nice to see you again. What would you like to drink? Coffee? Black tea? Or a glass of iced whiskey?" Terry said to Director Cui enthusiastically. As for Zhuge Wenbo, Terry didn't care, he It is believed that Zhuge Wenbo is the entourage brought by Director Cui.

"Coffee. Thank you!" Director Cui continued: "Mr. Taili, let me introduce you. This is Mr. Zhuge. I think you must have heard of him. He is Zhang Guan's manager."

"It's a great name I've admired for a long time!" Tai Li immediately shook hands with Zhuge Wenbo, but he was wondering what the purpose of Director Cui's bringing Zhuge Wenbo was.

"I heard from a sponsor before that Zhang Guan is in trouble recently. He seems to be banned by his country. But this has nothing to do with our Australian Open. Zhang Guan is a track and field athlete. If he wants to For public relations, you should go to the IAAF instead of our Australian Open Organizing Committee." Thinking about it, Terry called Director Cui and Zhuge Wenbo to sit down.

The beautiful female secretary served coffee for the two guests, and then left the reception room. Only Tai Li, Director Cui and Zhuge Wenbo were left in the room.

Director Cui said straight to the point: "Mr. Taylor, I am here to ask for your help. I hope that the Australian Open Organizing Committee can give us a sponsor wild card quota for men's singles."

Terry suddenly felt a little surprised, he didn't expect Director Cui to ask him for a wild card spot.

In the tennis Grand Slam tournament, 104 places are directly entered into the official competition. These 104 places are allocated according to the world ranking, so in theory, the top 104 players in the world can directly advance to the official competition of the Grand Slam. However, considering There will be some athletes who retire due to various reasons, and the players who are ranked behind may be postponed forward, so generally the top 110 in the world may directly enter the Grand Slam competition.

In addition to the 104 direct-entry slots, there are 16 qualifying slots. Players participating in the qualifying competition are also officially registered players, but due to their relatively low world rankings, they are excluded from the top 104 places. Therefore, the world rankings of the players participating in the qualifiers are also between 110 and 150, and those who are too poor will not be able to advance to the qualifiers.

In addition, there are 8 wild card entries. These 8 wild card places will be assigned to different regions. For example, in this year's Australian Open women's event, the Asian region will be allocated a wild card place. Those players who are not ranked enough in the world will compete for this place through the wild card competition.

Of the 8 wild card places in the Australian Open, 5 have been allocated through the wild card competition, so so far the Australian Open Organizing Committee still holds 3 wild card places. According to the situation in previous years, the last wild card places in the hands of the organizers will eventually be assigned to local players in Australia.

In tennis events at all levels, it is very common for main sponsors or top sponsors to ask the organizers for wild card places, and the organizers often will not refuse, after all, sponsors spend a lot of money to sponsor the competition . What's more, the players participating in the sponsorship quota will not be too strong. It is basically a one-round tour. It is considered luck to be able to enter the second round, and it has no effect on the final result of the competition.

It has been the sixth year for Qiya to sponsor the Australian Open, and it has not asked for a wild card quota from the sponsor before, so when Terry knew the purpose of Director Cui, he felt a little surprised.

"Mr. Cui, as far as I know, your country's tennis player Lee Hyung-taek should be ranked around 50 in the world. Can he directly enter the official competition? Does your country have other players who want to participate?" Tai Li asked.

"No, I want this wild card spot, not for our Korean players, I want to use this wild card spot for Zhang Guan. Our group hopes that Zhang Guan can appear in this Australian Open. This is also my goal. The purpose of bringing Mr. Zhuge here." Director Cui said.

"What? Zhang Guan? Participating in the Australian Open?" Terry couldn't hold back for a while, showing an incredible expression.

Director Cui continued: "We Qiya is also a sponsor of Zhang Guan, so if Zhang Guan appears in the Australian Open and increases the exposure rate, it will be good for our company. And if Zhang Guan participates in the Australian Open, it will also It can attract more eyes from all over the world to pay attention to this year's Australian Open. This is a win-win situation."

"That being said, Zhang Guan is a track and field athlete after all. He is not even a professional tennis player. After all, this is a Grand Slam level event. We cannot award a wild card to an amateur player." Terry Open your mouth and say.

"Mr. Taili, Zhang Guan is not an amateur tennis player, he is a professional player with ATP qualification certification." Zhuge Wenbo took out the ATP professional athlete's certificate and handed it to Taili while talking.

"This is? A certificate? A professional serious certificate! It's really an ATP certificate!" After a brief gaffe, Taili immediately said, "I'm very sorry, I didn't know Zhang Guan was a professional tennis player before, please forgive me ignorance."

"Then, there shouldn't be any problem with this wild card quota, right?" Zhuge Wenbo asked expectantly.

Taili thought for a while, and immediately said: "I heard that Zhang Guan should be suspended recently!"

"Yes, Zhang Guan is prohibited from participating in any track and field competitions, which is also recognized by the IAAF." Zhuge Wenbo smiled, and continued: "But I have never heard that the IAAF can prohibit tennis players from participating." A grand slam game."

Zhuge Wenbo picked up the coffee in his hand, took a sip, and continued: "Although Zhang Guan was banned from participating in track and field competitions, he still has an unparalleled reputation in the world. , the most successful athlete. Imagine that Zhang Guan gave up track and field to play tennis. His debut was at the Australian Open. They turned their attention to tennis matches, and the first tennis match they saw was the Australian Open!"

When Zhuge Wenbo uttered the last sentence, Tai Li was finally moved. The basis of any sports event is the audience. With more audiences, there will be more attention, more sponsors, and the competition will become bigger and bigger. As Zhuge Wenbo said, people who didn’t care about tennis at first, because of Zhang Guan’s participation, the first game they saw was the Australian Open. It is also a huge victory.

Thinking of this, Terry put a smile on his face, and he said: "The two gentlemen are right, this is indeed a win-win situation."

The fourth volume "Four Grand Slams" has officially started. The first chapter will be delivered today. Please ask for a guaranteed monthly ticket and a guaranteed recommended ticket. One chapter per hour, when I finish my work and go back, I will continue to write and post it.