After completing her own career, she managed to build an above-standard international reputation as a television expert. The week before last, at the Australian Open, she played the doubles of legends with the Chinese Na Li. Now Daniela Hantuchová is adding a prestigious managerial post to her portfolio of activities.
She received an offer from the second largest European clay court event, the Mutua Madrid Open, last summer, as she specified for SPORT.sk: “They approached me if I would be interested in helping with the women’s part of the tournament.”
SYNERGY OF EXPERIENCES
President and CEO Gerard Tsobanian suggested the cooperation to her. “I have had a great relationship with him for many years. He reserved a free card for me in the 2017 season when I wanted to play my very last tournament. I finally couldn’t because of a broken rib.”
In addition, the director of the event is Feliciano López, whom Daniela has known practically since childhood: “So for me, it’s like a family environment based on mutual trust.”
Gerard Tsobanian (left) and Feliciano López (right) with the legendary Manolo Santana. Source: EFE
Given the context, Hantuchová happily nodded and will act as a player/media relationship representative and ambassador: “It’s a huge challenge, I’m looking forward to it. That – just like now when moderating and commenting on tournaments – looks like it’s still only about tennis. At the same time, it is a completely new robot.”
The former member of the TOP 5 world rankings in both singles and doubles will synergistically combine her knowledge from the courts and subsequent media coverage of tennis: “I will be able to use my own experience not only from a player perspective, but now also from a television perspective.”
The 40-year-old native of Poprad realizes that it will be quite difficult to smoothly fit into the wheel of an important tournament at the very beginning of her managerial career: “We quite often have meetings, under the influence of which I am beginning to understand more and more what it takes to organize such a large event. I really appreciate that I can be a part of this great team.”
LIKE INDIAN WELLS OR MIAMI
The Mutua Madrid Open tournament has “thousand” status within the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) and the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) with the generally used categorization designation Masters. The most recent champions are Arina Sobolenková from Belarus and Carlos Alcaraz from home.
In its current form, the tournament has been held on clay under the open sky at the Caja Mágica complex in Manzanares Park since 2009. The exception was the 2020 edition, which was canceled due to the new coronavirus pandemic. The predecessor in the Spanish capital was the men’s autumn indoor event on a hard surface in the period 2002-2008.
Caja Mágica complex. Source: Mutua Madrid Open
The experiment of the blue clay tournament in the 2012 season remained in the memory. The total premium package last year was worth 15,411,560 euros, which meant a year-on-year increase of 17.2%.
The current edition of the Mutua Madrid Open will take place from April 22 to May 5. For the second year, it will be in a version extended for two weeks and for 96 names in the main singles competitions, such as the American “hard” events in March in Indian Wells, California, respectively in Miami, Florida. For women, the expansion began already in the 2021 season, when there were 64 actors in the Madrid “spider” (for men, 56 before last year).
RESEARCHED ON WIKIPEDIA
Coincidentally, seventeen years ago, Hantuchová played at the WTA Finals selection championship in Madrid at the Recinto Ferial Casa de Campo. On this occasion, the Spaniards presented the Caja Mágica project, or Magic Box…
“The year 2007 already looks like in another life. I’ve always wondered how ex-players can’t remember their own results, but I’m getting to that stage too. Recently, I had to fill in my achievements in a form, and I really had to go to Wikipedia,” the holder of the career Grand Slam in the mix admitted amusedly.
The year 2007 already looks like in another life. Source: Pedro Reina
Hantuchová reached the furthest in the WTA clay tournament in Madrid in 2013: in the 3rd round of the eight finals, she was stopped by Estonian Kaia Kanepiová.
“When Spain and my tennis are mentioned, the year 2002 and the Fed Cup triumph immediately come to mind,” reminded the co-holder of the current Billie Jean King Cup of the women’s representative teams. The final tournament was then hosted by the holiday destination of Maspalomas on the island of Gran Canaria.
By the way, in the mentioned 2002 season as well, Hantuchová won a place at the WTA Finals (she laid the foundations with triumphs in Indian Wells), in this case to Los Angeles.
BY CARLOS A RAF
“The final WTA tournament in Madrid 2007 was, in my opinion, the best of all the championships in previous years. Gerard had already organized it there, the atmosphere was amazing and at the moment this element is a bit missing. That is why we have the idea and vision to transfer it to the current tournament,” declared Hantuchová, also known as the author of the podcast The Real DNA.
The mission is that – figuratively and often literally – the fans are willing to stay in the stands for the women’s match after Carlos or Rafa: “The primary prerequisite is positive and healthy communication between the players and the tournament. That’s exactly what I’ll be there for.”
A magic cabinet. Source: Mutua Madrid Open
In this sense, the intention for the first year of cooperation is primarily to improve communication and relations between the top players and the event in terms of media coverage: “From an internal point of view, the goal is for the female tennis players to feel good about being with us, as I felt in Melbourne, for example.
It is not easy to meet all their requests and demands, but we want to make Madrid a tournament that they will look forward to and feel comfortable in.”
The 2008 Australian Open singles semifinalist warned that it will be a long run: “Not everything can be done in a few months. It will take time. If in a few years the women’s part of the tournament was on the same level as the men’s, I would be very pleased.”
DINNER FIRST
Part of the fun, even for the spectators, are matches that go well past midnight. Both WTA and ATP have recently modified the rules for setting and applying daily schedules – the so-called Schedule aka Order of Play. However, the Grand Slam tournaments are under the jurisdiction of the International Tennis Federation (ITF), and the Australian Open 2024 brought several new extremes.
“Debates on this topic have been going on for several years. It is not easy to find a solution that would suit players, fans, media and organizers. However, I recognize that something needs to be done about the start time of the evening meetings,” said Daniela Hantuchová and promised with a smile: “When we come up with something clever, you’ll know.”
Europe, especially Spain, faces an operational problem – people want to have dinner before the night session: “It means it shouldn’t start before 8:30 p.m. But then it is questionable whether one match or two. We run the risk that if there is only one, it could be in an hour after the whole night session…”
They want to have dinner first. Source: Mutua Madrid Open
Hantuchová is against format changes that would lead to a more predictable and moderate length of meetings: “Speeding up or shortening matches just because today’s world forces us to hurry and speed up and shorten everything is a no go for me. One of the nice things about tennis is that its history is respected.”
2024-02-05 14:55:00
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