One of the ASB Tennis Arena stands could take David Ferrer's name
The curtain has fallen on another ASB Classic in Auckland and it was a wide open event with no seeds reaching the semi-final, leaving Cameron Norrie and Tennys Sandgren to fight for the title. The next year's edition of the ATP 250 tournament will take place between two big events, the ATP Cup and the Australian Open and the organizers are ready to undergo the improvements on the ASB Tennis Arena, offering the crowd more enjoyable experience during the matches. The Yock Stand on the central court will be taken down in March as a part of the redevelopment that has been going on in Nez Zealand's biggest stadium for more than ten years now.
The plan includes the removing of the Robinson Stand after the 2020 edition and chasing extra funding for a retractable roof that would take the leading tennis arena in the country to another level. Both Yock and Robinson Stands were built in the 50s when the tournament began and they are more than ready for the renovation, with the Yock Stand getting buckets seats and better bathroom facilities underneath by the time of the next edition of the ASB Classic at price of cost $10 million.
Robinson Stand will experience redesign as well and the work on both stands will undergo with a retractable roof on the mind of both the organizers and the engineers (it would cost around $18.5 million to replace the stands and build a roof). Also, one of the mentions stands could be named after the four-time Auckland champion David Ferrer who played his last match at this tournament against the fellow Spaniard Pablo Carreno Busta in the second round before he retires from tennis in May.
"In March we're planning to go ahead and redevelop the Yock Stand and the facilities underneath," Tennis Auckland CEO Marcus Reynolds said. "So we've got a project plan in place, but it's going to be a staged approach. So Yock this year, the plan will then be doing the Robinson in 2020 and then we'll continue to fundraise and the roof is part of the project plan. It will be bucket seats, the capacity will go up slightly. The ASB Classic is growing, it's been pretty chocker, everyone's having a great time, so we've got to improve the experience alongside that. It's really important you take the fans into account when you do that. So there will be bucket seating for them and nicer bathroom facilities underneath.
As the tournament grows and we continue to maintain our position as a premier event, we've got to keep progressing and staying ahead of the curve in everything we do and the facilities go hand in hand with the tournament. All things going well, we should be done in October, so ready to pack in, start preparing and testing in November. We've hopefully got the advantage of the January 6 start date next year, which is penciled in. Plans for the Robinson Stand haven't been finalized, but like the Yock Stand building will be done with the roof in mind. We can knock it down and start again, or we can look at growing what we've got on the foundations that currently exist. The preference would be to start again, bring it down and refresh everything. We can go higher, but it's got to be equal and engineered for the roof, so that it doesn't look strange."
from Tennis World USA http://bit.ly/2FwsvSe
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