Marbella tournament director Ronnie Leitgeb: "At the moment the market is on the move"
Sun, beach and tennis was the motto in Marbella, Spain, where the European clay court season started with an ATP Challenger and an ATP 250 event as part of the AnyTech365 Andalucia Open. As tournament director , Ronnie Leitgeb is jointly responsible for this double event. With his Vienna-based company Champ Events, Leitgeb has been involved in international top-class sport management and the organization of events for over 30 years.
by Florian Heer from Marbella
last edit: Apr 12, 2021, 12:03 pm
We met the 61-year-old former successful coach of Thomas Muster and Andrea Gaudenzi, who was also trained as a mental coach, before the final weekend of the tournament on the Costa del Sol in the Club de Tenis Puente Romano to talk about the special challenges of the organization speak. A look at the situation in professional tennis in his home country should not be missing.
Mr. Leitgeb, 14 days of tennis in Marbella are behind you. What is your conclusion?
It feels like a kind of mini-grand slam, on the one hand from the playful side and on the other hand from the challenges that the coronavirus crisis brings with it. We had to set up a complete bubble that made no difference between the ATP Challenger and the ATP 250 tournament. In addition, we are in the south of Spain and there is a widespread disease called manaña. When we say we have to do this or that, it doesn't mean it is happening today or tomorrow.
The Challenger in Marbella took place for the fourth time, with which you could already gain some experience. The ATP Tour event is new and is based on a one-year license. What are the main differences in how these two events are organized?
These are two different worlds. The professionalism required by the ATP is two steps higher for a 250 tournament. This is understandable because the events have to do with a different player potential. Everything is much more strictly regulated. The space for movement for the players as well as for the organizer is smaller. As someone who has been organizing tournaments of this size for 30 years, these requirements are not entirely unknown to me. The challenge, however, is to work in a country where you have not grown over many years, to find the right potential in employees and implementation aids.
You are connected to the city of Marbella but you also have a residence here.
When I wanted to retire from the scene six years ago, the original plan was to play golf here unmolested. However, the tennis world is a very small one. The owners of the Hotel Puente Romano approached me and asked for my help. In the past there were ATP and WTA tournaments here. However, in order to be able to start again, you should first start with a challenger. After the first year, some problems became apparent and we are now in the process of working through them systematically and developing a long-term project. This year's 250 tournament is a step in the right direction.
Does this mean that more tournaments of this magnitude are planned in Marbella?
That depends on the ATP. In other words: on the one hand from the players, who were able to gain an impression of the local conditions this year, and on the other hand from the tournament board. At the moment the market is on the move. There are no licenses, but some tournaments are tough to contend with and severely constrained economically. I am also affected by this with my own original tournament in Lyon. In addition, there is the announced postponement of Roland-Garros as additional uncertainty. The next few weeks will be very exciting for everyone involved. We have delivered here for the past two weeks. We had a great challenger with an excellent safety concept that we were able to transfer to the ATP event. Now you have to see how things develop.
In times of pandemic, the tendency to hold tournaments at one location for several weeks increases. How do you see this development?
I see this very positively, as travel and vacation behavior will probably change overall in the next few years. With Björn Borg and Wojtek Fibak, I have two guests here who can judge it very well, and we discussed it intensively. In the past, the tournaments held in vacation destinations were especially popular, at times when people were free and could go. These include, for example, the tournaments in Gstaad, Kitzbühel or Umag. These events have their own value and identity, as they are not held in large cities. In the future, a balance should be found again between places that are of tourist interest for tennis and the metropolises, where there is a basic audience due to the size of the city.
The current ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi is a former protégé of yours. To what extent can this prove to be an advantage?
That can be positive as well as negative. I don't want to burden Andrea in any way. In addition, he is not in a system in which he has the opportunity to make decisions on his own. There is an ATP board for this. Of course I have been able to build up a network over the decades and this has resulted in synergies. But in the end you have to deliver. We tried this in Marbella this week. Overall, the tournament was very well received and the atmosphere was excellent. Of course, we also live from the weather and the ambience. This could be a bit of a sign of the future to redefine the ATP tour.
The regional authorities have also allowed a limited number of spectators as part of a security concept.
We worked closely with the regional government of Andalusia. Here the tennis tournament was also seen as an opportunity. This year they are the "European Sports Region" and in times of Corona they are particularly happy and grateful to have an ATP 250 tournament that is broadcast live in 32 countries around the world. This is a great opportunity for a tourist region like Andalusia to present itself. I hope that this partnership will continue and that we can make a difference with it.
There are some countries on the Challenger Tour, such as Italy or Spain, where many tournaments are held. In Austria it looks rather meager in this regard. How do you assess this situation?
Challenger tournaments are probably the most elementary building block of a tennis association or a tennis nation in order to get players onto the international scene. For example, if I am a player from Kazakhstan who is on the Challenger Tour, I lose around four training days when I participate in tournaments abroad, only because of the arrival and departure. However, if I have a challenger in my own country, I can train every day and go to the next event. I was able to experience this up close during my five years as the coach of the Italian Gianluigi Quinzi. We were able to play Challenger tournaments in Italy all summer long. If we look at players like Jannik Sinner, Lorenzo Musetti or Matteo Berrettini today, then a whole generation has emerged that benefited from this concept of the Italian Tennis Association. When we talk about Austria now, we should look to have more challengers in the country again. However, the market for sponsors and supporters is very small.
But there is also a tennis boom in Austria at the moment.
The tennis boom and the tournaments are closely related to Dominic Thiem. I can well remember my time with Thomas Muster. Every tournament in Austria at the time claimed to have him at the start. It looks similar with Dominic today. He plays in Kitzbühel, Vienna and maybe the Davis Cup and so his time potential is exhausted. All other organizers would then be constantly confronted with the question of why Dominic is not playing for them.
Which young Austrian players do you trust to have a career similar to that of Dominic Thiem?
I don't want to name any names, but a kind of “second division” has to develop behind Dominic, and that's happening right now. In Germany it was also thought that after Boris Becker there would be a long hole and suddenly Michael Stich won Wimbledon. There is of course the hope that another player will also stand out in Austria. It can be observed that it is less the classic association that trains the players. There are increasingly private initiatives and private tennis academies. College tennis is also playing a major role again. It remains to be seen.
You also deal intensively with the mental side of sport. What final difference does it make to make it into the top 20 or top 10 as a player?
The exciting thing about tennis is the complexity. You have to try to coordinate several large areas and process them correctly in your head. Björn Borg confirmed to me in a conversation that fewer and fewer players nowadays regard the court as a chess field. What happens when I make a certain move? It is less about the severity of your own stroke than anticipating what can happen next. This can mean the difference between absolute world class and players on the Challenger Tour. However, good coaches can have a positive influence on these areas.
Thank you for the interview.