Tennis Australia will make a big push to win bigger sponsorship and broadcast deals in Asia after the opening of its Hong Kong office and the signing of an agreement with the Shanghai Masters tournament. 
The agreement with the Shanghai event, which has common sponsors such as ANZ and Rolex with the Australian Open, could see the two tournaments eventually share resources and promote tourism around both events.
Tennis Australia commercial director Richard Heaselgrave said a fast growing television audience in Asia for the Australian Open each   January made the region an attractive one for the organisation.
"This has to be a very slow, methodical approach [in Asia]. You can't rush things but we are very keen on the region and it is about having boots on the ground there, as well as telling the staff here that we have to look outwards and be a tournament for the whole region. This is not just a tournament for Victoria any more."
Heaselgrave said the new Hong Kong office would help negotiate lucrative new broadcast deals for the Japanese and Latin American markets in the next year, while in   September, Tennis Australia reached an agreement with Eurosport to extend its current deal across 50 countries for a further five years from 2017 onwards.

Lucrative deal
The European deal is understood to be at least equal to or more lucrative than Tennis Australia's domestic rights contract with Seven West Media, worth an estimated $35 million per year until the end of the 2019 tournament, while a new Japanese deal could be worth even more given its favourable time zone.
"Japan is a really important market for us, and we are going to be putting a lot of effort into it," Heaselgrave said. "That has been a growing market for 10 years now and while we have a big focus on China, I think Japan is very important. So you might see us one day have a wild card tournament there and other events as well."
Broadcast viewers in Asia grew 47 per cent for the 2015 Australian Open compared with the previous year, according to Heaselgrave. He said Tennis Australia's control over broadcast production would increase its ability to tailor telecasts for specific countries and regions, which would in turn grow viewers and increase the value of broadcast rights.
Prizemoney for the 2016 Australian Open will rise 10 per cent to a record $44 million.