Relationship with tennis: “I never imagined that one day I would work in tennis”
“I've been playing tennis since I was little. I've played interclubs everywhere I've lived, in the United States, in Singapore, in Australia. I peaked at a very modest level of C15 in Belgium (laughs). I love this sport but I never imagined that one day I would work in tennis. I studied civil engineering in Louvain-la-Neuve, and then I started my career. Very quickly, I realized that I wanted to work in business more than in engineering. So I completed my training in the United States. After that, I was launched more into the business world, I did strategy consulting, and then I worked in different industries, in airlines, in digital.”
Travel: “The ambition with my wife to discover the world”
“I started my career in Belgium, but my wife and I met very young, and we always had this ambition to discover the world. We promised ourselves that as soon as opportunities presented themselves, we would would take. We were in Singapore when an opportunity presented itself with Qantas in Australia. We took a bit of a gamble thinking that it would be a two or three year adventure in Australia, and then eleven years later, with our three. boys who were born in Belgium, we are always there.”
Belgian-Australian rivalry: “The heart is in Belgium”
“The heart is still in Belgium. As a family, we get up at night to support the Red Devils. I know that Belgium can meet Australia in the Davis Cup in September (Editor's note: if Belgium beats Chile and Australia beats Sweden in early February). This would be a bigger dilemma than in football, since my role includes promoting tennis in Australia. The performances of the Davis Cup team and the Billie Jean King Cup team have a great impact on the popularity of tennis in the country. But I'm not dreading this match. It might be nice.”
Australian situation: “Tennis growing”
“Tennis is growing in Australia: we see it in terms of participation, course reservations, affiliations. We have good dynamics, we are helped by the performances of the players. For the moment, mainly on the men's side We have 10 players in the top 100. On the women's side, we have the world number 1 in juniors which helps enormously with the popularity of the sport, but obviously having a Grand Slam also helps. Australian Open, including 10% from overseas and 25% from other Australian states It’s a fantastic showcase to promote the sport.”
Tennis Australia: “A winning bet”
“At the end of the pandemic, I was fortunate to be able to meet Craig Tiley, CEO of Tennis Australia and director of the Australian Open. He was very worried about the future of tennis and major events. of Tennis Australia were empty. He wanted to have a business strategy in place so he could get back out there as quickly as possible and redevelop the program. One thing led to another and he brought me in to meet his management team, and the conversations deepened after several. conversations, they asked me if I wanted to implement everything I had talked about. It was a bit of a risk at the time, given the end of the pandemic and the empty coffers. But it turned out to be a winning bet. .”
gullJanuary is a very busy month. My Christmas celebrations are very short.
Job (1): “A dream job”
“It's a dream job. I'm in a job that allows me to combine this passion for discovering the world with that for tennis. The objective of the federation is that more people play tennis. And also performance support There are basically three elements to my role. Generating Tennis Australia's revenue is my primary focus. The second is marketing and promoting events, like the Australian Open. but also the United Cup, the Brisbane International and Adelaide International. Our ultimate goal is really to promote sport in Australia. And finally, the third pole is the customer experience in our events, that the fans have the best possible experience. very busy month. My Christmas holidays are very short.”
Boulot (2): “TV rights, partnership, ticketing”
“We have 500 permanent employees at Tennis Australia (up to 120,000 during the tournament). It's not just preparing for a three-week event. The Australian Open generates €500 million in revenue each year These revenues are divided into three major areas: television rights throughout the world, with contracts to be renewed; partnerships, with large contracts to be renewed or created for event ticketing; can shoot. I am lucky to have an extremely competent team, around a hundred people. In certain aspects, I have experience like ticketing, marketing, customer experience. aspects of my job where I don't have the experience and I trust my team.”
Australian Open: “The AO is more than tennis”
“The nickname of the Australian Open is The Happy Slam. Our event is much more than tennis. There are shows, bars, etc. The goal is really that the people come to have fun. I walk around during the three weeks of the tournament to understand what could be done better, to resolve urgent problems. Of the Belgians who come from Belgium for the event, there are probably none. so much. I really have very few opportunities to see. the matches. I have a lot of meetings, but when I go to see the other Grand Slams, I had the chance to meet Xavier Malisse, Dick Norman and even Yanina Wickmayer.
-Good momentum: “A million visitors”
“We are at our fourth post-pandemic event which has been very successful. The events have continued to grow. We will exceed one million visitors this year. We will exceed two billion viewers. Revenues are growing, this which allows us to support tennis at all levels and its development.”
Three weeks: “120,000 spectators in qualifying”
“One of my prides is that we went from a two- to three-week event. The qualifying week is a real week of events. 120,000 people came to see it. We also want to quintuple the quantity and quality of the content we put on social networks We have really seen an exponential growth in our online impact. We are by far the Grand Slam with the most views on YouTube.
Grand Slams: “Growing tennis together”
“We often work with the other Grand Slams; we learn from each other. We have certain projects in common, with the aim of continuing to grow tennis. We really have this feeling of responsibility. We are the four biggest events of tennis in the world. We represent a huge proportion of the visibility of tennis in the world. But we also represent a large proportion of the livelihood of tennis players, of professionals.
Future: “Green energy for WA”
“We work really hard to be the most innovative Grand Slam. We measure customer satisfaction every day and get feedback from fans every day. We have done a lot of work to ensure that our hospitality is one of the best in the world. world Souvenir sales on the site really exploded at the end of the pandemic. So we started to expand the size of our stores and the quality of our products. As for protecting the planet, it's been two years. the Australian Open is supplied exclusively with green energy. This is also the second year that we have eliminated 99% of plastic bottles in the player areas. We are in the process of implementing this for the fans too.
Pressure: “Optimize the year over four weeks”
“My work is extremely rewarding but where there is undoubtedly a little pressure is that our year is played out over three or four weeks, during which we must absolutely optimize everything. And these four weeks were prepared for a an. This is where you have to be calm under pressure. You need a little bit of physical and mental resilience.”
Belgium: “Help with pleasure”
“I heard what happened at the BW Open (cancelled this year). Could I bring my experience to help Belgian tennis? Of course. If, one day, there is an opportunity to help Belgium or the federations, or even an event, it would be with pleasure. The tennis calendar is quite difficult. So I understand how complex it is to have an event in Belgium. But if I could help, it would be with the greatest pleasure. I am always open to new experiences. My goal has always been to continue learning and discovering new things. So I will always have an extremely open mind.”
Australian Open – Sabalenka takes out Badosa without surprise and will face Keys in the final, defeating Swiatek in an epic match! Australian Open – Ben Shelton is surprised to find himself in the semi-final: “As a child, I was a little strong. Not big, but heavy”
