Hong Kong Tennis Season in service of Hong Kong’s Mega Event economy
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Michael Cheng Ming-git, President of the Hong Kong, China Tennis Association (HKCTA) has welcomed the impact his sport is having in supporting Hong Kong’s mega event economy ahead of the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open 2025 at Victoria Park Centre Court (29 December – 5 January).
After assuming the HKCTA Presidency in late 2023, Cheng has overseen a growth in the association’s mega event offering from a single professional tournament to the new three event Hong Kong Tennis Season, comprising WTA 125 and 250 events and the season’s showstopper in the Bank of China Hong Kong Tennis Open (BOCHKTO), an ATP 250 tournament.
HKCTA events have already drawn over 200,000 local and international spectators this calendar year with those numbers set to grow further over the coming week with the start of the BOCHKTO, which drew sellout crowds last year.
A pair of tennis legends – familiar faces for long-term Hong Kong Open watchers – are also returning as tournament ambassadors including 1987 Wimbledon champion Pat Cash and 11-time grand slam doubles champion Mark Woodforde.
“Tennis is an important sport for Hong Kong,” says Cheng.
“It is an international tour sport and all major cities around the world host professional tennis events.
“Each of the sport’s governing bodies, ATP, WTA and the International Tennis Federation, sanction events in the city, with ITF hosting its global conference here for the first time ever earlier this year.
“Tennis is aspirational and elite, yet it’s also one of the most accessible sports. Playing tennis also promotes some important values for younger players. Given these factors, we are working hard to harness the city’s potential as a destination for the sport and to create a unique Hong Kong brand in global tennis.”
Those drivers were key factors behind the inception of the Hong Kong Tennis Season (HKTS), which unites the WTA and ATP events under a single enticing tennis destination for fans from around the world and around the region, especially the Greater Bay Area, where Cheng sees significant potential to grow Hong Kong’s role in the sport.
“Events are a key part of the HKCTA’s strategy. Events are one of three pillars for enhancing the professionalism of the tennis industry, along with creating clear development pathways and building an inclusive environment that channels the diverse constituencies and passions of our community in a unified direction,” said Cheng.
The HKTS places the city alongside only Beijing and Tokyo as regional metropolises hosting both WTA and ATP events; Hong Kong is the only one of the three – and the only city in Asia in 2024 – to host a WTA 125 as well.
“We are building an exciting new brand for the city on the global tennis calendar with the Hong Kong Tennis Season,” said Cheng.
So far it seems to be working with Hong Kong’s technical competencies now widely recognized in professional tennis circles. The players’ have voted with their feet with BOCHKTO drawing 4 of the world’s top 20 players to start their 2025 seasons - and year - here, while the stars of women’s tennis are equally supportive after voting the city’s WTA 250 event the tournament of the year for a second time in 2024.
Kai Tak is another eagerly awaited milestone in the city’s development as a global sporting hub.
But the future now rivals the excitement of the past for Hong Kong tennis with Kai Tak.
“Kai Tak is a state-of-the-art multi-purpose facility that extends our ability to build Hong Kong’s tennis brand. HKCTA needs facilities like this to host indoor tennis events as well as outdoor swings.
“Victoria Park and Kai Tak aren’t mutually exclusive. They complement each other and only add to what Hong Kong can offer fans, players and world tennis,” promised Cheng.