China Open 2010

After working one-on-one with the players and WTA/ATP officers,  the China Open staff,  and the reporters and studio teams from Associated Press, Reuters, China Daily, U. COM, Tennis Channel, CCTV, etc., I can't imagine a job where I could have learned more about the way a major event works. The internship was amazing,  and even though we worked crazy long hours and sometimes barely had time to sit down (or eat!) I would do it again in a heartbeat.

Here's a video I made of photos from my media relations internship in Beijing at the 2010 China Open:



All of the photos in the video are mine, except for the montage of players at the end. Here are a few of the players I specifically worked with or had a memorable experience with during the tournament:

{in order  from the end of the video:}

• Andrea Petkovic: That's an official press photo from a private clinic she did with a father and son before the tournament. Katie and I brought her to the clinic along with a Player Relations Staff member on a golf cart.  We got to keep the ball she hit around. 
• John Isner: Not just the winner of the world's longest tennis match, or the tallest person I've ever seen, but my favorite tennis player. 
• Caroline Wozniacki: Loved her during the tournament, and she won a match that put her at the #1 WTA world ranking! Got to carry her trophy to the press conference. 
• Ana Ivanovic: She said she liked my hair and we got to talking on the way to press. Love her!
• Novak Djokovic: He won the 2010 China Open, and was hilarious in  press conferences and on the way to his interviews.  He kept a good attitude even when a Reuters reporter tried to twist his words on the amount of smog at the tournament. 
• Francesca Schiavone: My favorite Italian player.  I was able to bring two reporters to meet with her one-on-one by myself in the player's lounge after she stopped me in the hallway worried about her press schedule. 
• Gilles Simon: The French player who lost to Djokovic. Josh Barone was able to land an amazing one-on-one interview with Simon after his match because we pushed it through to the ATP officer!
• Bryan Brothers: They move completely in sync, even just walking around the player's lounge! It's freaky.
• Vera Zvonareva: She is a pro at doing press, so once we brought around a "rookie" player with us to watch the way she answers questions during her press conferences, one-on-one interviews, and CCTV studio interviews. She just has a great attitude and comes off very confident. 
• Ivan Ljubicic: He was one of the first players we watched on the practice courts.
• Svetlana Kuznetsova: She was concerned about her "new haircut" before her first interview with CCTV. She's won the China Open in the past and had a ton of initial press about her expectations. 
• Andy Murray: Poor guy kept having to do take after take trying to get the lines right for a commercial raising money for children after playing a tough match. 
• Li Na: China's sweetheart. She was the favorite of all the fans and was so sweet in press, even though her conferences were the longest.
• Maria Sharapova: She was one of the players I knew the best, and it was so surreal to watch her warming up in the hallways with her coach before a match. 

There were a ton of other players, obviously, but those were one's I specifically had a lot of time with! I still can't believe what an amazing experience I had-- I learned so much about doing media from the players, the WTA and ATP officers, and the press,  from how hectic it can be when things go wrong (when they don't speak the same language!) to how smoothly it goes when all sides understand each other and have a comfort level that allows clear communication.

So much goes on behind the scene to make a tournament like this successful!The ATP staff kept asking us if we were going to be in Shanghai for the next ATP tournament.  Let's just say I would still be traveling around the world if that were possible!

Beijing Recap

A little Beijing sight seeing...

Day 15: Summer Palace, Bye Bye Beijing!

Flowers at the entrance to Summer Palace.

As smoggy as it was yesterday, it was absolutely beautiful when we woke up today! The sun was shining and the sky was blue as we made our way the Summer Palace the morning of our last day in Beijing. 

Tomorrow we FLY

Welp--tomorrow’s the day we leave for Beijing! After several weeks of meetings and some intense tennis background reports, it’s finally time for the tournament! I’ve spent hours pouring over the ATP and WTA player’s lists, putting together and updating bios of the players coming to the China Open.

When we first arrive we’ll have time to visit the stadium and do some sight seeing before the big games begin. I’m planning on watching as many of the qualifying matches as possible before the real tournament starts. At our meeting we with Blake Starkey, the head tennis coach at MIZZOU, we were told to look out for the “drama” at the qualifiers. 

These players are intense--even more so than the big players who play in million dollar matches.  They’ve given up everything in their lives to try to make it in tennis. For some of them, the qualifying rounds at the China Open are “make it or break it”.   Losing a point here could literally change a life. I’m looking forward to tons of good tennis—plus, I can’t wait to see where my “credentials” will take me.

Tomorrow morning I fly out of St. Louis to Chicago, then all the way to Beijing. It’s crazy to think that I will be half way around the world within 24 hours! I’m all packed up and ready to go…

Prep Work-Culture and Transport

To get ready for the China Open, we've been having meetings twice a week to go over everything from tennis rules, to player bios, to Chinese culture.  Dr. Ernest Zhang and two graduate students, Gracie Sun and Tina Ma, gave a presentation to help introduce our group to Chinese culture.  Spanning from history to travel tips,  the presentation helped us to prepare for the experience of traveling to a completely foreign country.


Dr. Zhang began with several definitions of the word “culture.”  He emphasized that understanding a nation’s culture is not limited to the broad categories of language, food, and religion; but is really more of a macro definition that includes deep-rooted beliefs, norms, systems of knowledge, and communication standards of a community.

The good news is that I already love all things Asian.

He stressed that culture encompasses much more than just history and facts, and that we should be prepared and open-minded in order to soak in as much experience as we can from our opportunity to visit another culture. We're learning as much as we can about China before we leave for Beijing, but I know that nothing I read about will ever compare to experiencing it in person....

Another big issue we discussed was public transportation while we are there:

Updated in 2008, Beijing subway lines now include English signage--whew! 

We went over the subway systems and the best ways to get around in Beijing.  I feel much more comfortable after our meeting because they have been largely altered to accommodate English speakers since the 2008 Beijing Olympics. This means SIGNS in English!  We're going to get to and from the stadium using shuttles from our hotel, and I am planning on taking the subway and cabs to do some sight seeing. 

Beijing taxi driver--heard they are wild!
photo from http://blog.chinesehour.com/?p=951

Oh, the taxis. We received some tips on working with cab drivers--as in never leaving the hotel without having the name of our destination written out in Chinese! I'm going to get about four things with my hotel address on it to keep with me at all times--I'm not trying to get lost in Beijing! The fare for cabs and subways is incredibly cheap, it's just the language barrier I'm worried about, so public transportation will definitely be something to master...

China Open 2010

A group of Journalism students and faculty at the University of Missouri-Columbia received a formal presentation from Mr. Yabin Zhang, the Managing Editor of the Beijing Daily Tribune and Chairman of the China Open Tennis Company, LTD.  Mr. Zhang began formulating plans for China Open in 2003, and founded the first official China Open tennis championship in 2004.

Chairman of the Board, Mr. Yabin Zhang at the China Open in 2009.

Built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics, the venue for the 2010 China Open features 17 tennis courts, including Lotus Stadium, which seats up to 12,000 spectators.  The largest court at the stadium, Court 1, can seat 2,000 people.  In 2009, over 110 broadcasting nations picked up over 2,220 hours of coverage of the 2009 China Open.  

Lotus Stadium, National Tennis Center built for the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

Now in its 7^th year, the China Open is one of the most extensive tennis tournaments in Asia, featuring a 2010 event prize money pool of up to 6.6 million USD.  Ranked the 8^th top tennis tournament in the world, the China Open will be held October 1^st through October 10^th at the National Tennis Center in Beijing.

Although not quite as large as the U.S. Open, the China Open tennis championship is a huge deal for China.  The Top 50 female players from the WTA will compete this fall at the tournament in addition to select players from ATP Men’s Top 30.  Corporate sponsors of the event include Mercedes Benz, Sony Erikson, Corona, ThinkPad, Rolex, and Citic Bank.

The Chinese government plays a large part in the planning and administration of all major events in China.  The General Administration of Sports for the People’s Republic of China and the Beijing Municipal Government hosts the 2010 event.  Liu Peng, Minister of the General Administration of Sports, forms the organizational committee along with Guo Jinlong, the Mayor of Beijing.  Both Peng and Jinlong also played a large part in organizing the 2008 Beijing Olympics.

It’s crucial to understand the role government plays in planning and organizing major events such as the China Open, which is the only major event other than the 2008 Beijing Olympics that is able to offer international media internships to students.  Mr. Zhang’s company must comply with government regulations in the planning and management of the tournament.

 Mr. Yabin Zhang presents a plaque at the 2009 China Open.

After a positive experience with University of Missouri-Columbia Journalism students at the 2009 China Open, Mr. Zhang and his committee have invited approximately ten journalism students to the 2010 China Open to assist in tournament reporting.  Positive relations from last year’s program allow the Journalism School to continue to foster good relations with the Chinese, which greatly benefits the institution in Columbia. Students traveling to Beijing in the fall will be responsible for covering five matches daily, assisting in the planning of press conferences and interviews, and working in the Player’s Lounge.

Photos courtesy of http://www.chinaopen.com.cn/en/2010/