THE MODERATOR: Dear guests, ladies and gentlemen, welcome to the press conference of the Organizing Committee. This is the last day of the China Open. The women's doubles final just started. We're honored to have everyone here at this press conference room.
Please allow me to introduce to you the guests here today. They are:
Executive Deputy Director and Secretary General of the Organizing Committee, Chen Jie.
Director of the Sports Channel Editorial Department, Sports and Youth Program Center CMG, Zhang Bin.
Deputy Director of the Beijing Olympic Center Area, Administrative Committee, Lu Wenyu.
Executive Deputy Secretary General of the Organizing Committee, Li Xuhua.
Deputy Secretary General of the Organizing Committee, Tournament Director of the China Open, 'Alfred' Zhang Junhui.
Co-Tournament Director, Lars Graff.
The first item on our agenda, we'll have Executive Deputy Director Chen Jie a talk to us about the highlights of this event.
CHEN JIE: Dear friends of the media. Thank you to all support from all sectors of society, China Open will conclude tonight. This tournament presented a world-class competitive feast but also injected vibrant energy and excitement into Beijing during the National Day Holiday.
On behalf of the Organizing Committee, I would like to express my sincere gratitude to all those who have been supporting the China Open, especially the media members.
Let me briefly update the highlights of this year's event.
Number one, quality matches create new highs. Rave reviews from players and spectators. The tournament schedule has been expanded ensuring sustained popularity. The 2025 China Open expanded to three weeks for the first time. The ITF J300 kicked off on September 14th, featuring 148 players from 20 countries and regions, presenting 211 matches.
The ATP and WTA tournaments commenced on September 22nd with 222 players from 44 countries and regions, including 61 men and 161 women. The men's field was led by 2023 China Open champion, the world No. 2, Jannik Sinner. With returning stars such as Zverev, de Minaur and Khachanov.
The women's singles main draw boasted 76 direct qualifiers, including 11 Grand Slam champions, Chinese players Zheng Qinwen and Wang Xinyu, Wang Yafan qualified directly into the main draw. Zheng made her comeback after an 88-day absence.
To date, 54 tiebreaks have been played with the longest men's and women's matches lasting 2 hours 49 minutes, and 3 hours 29 minutes respectively.
The women's quarterfinal match between Anisimova and Paolini featured a record seven deuces, the most deuces of the tournament, resulting in intense and exciting action.
Visitor traffic reached a new high. The National Tennis Center attracted 360,000 visitors, a 20% increase over last year, over 180,000 visitors from outside Beijing. On September 27th, attendance exceeded 45,000 on a single day, setting a new record.
The matches with Sinner and Zheng Qinwen were very popular, with the Diamond Court attendance exceeding 95% in the men's singles match. Sinner once again won the title and the Diamond Court attendance reached 97%.
Since the tournament began, the China Open has organized nearly 100 experience events. This year the inaugural China Open Carnival Second Site Initiative was launched. This featured three super sites, nine viewing parties, seven pop-up events and a city-wide ticket stub collaborative campaign creating a series of unique viewing environments and consumption experiences. This effort allowed the China Open to be shared by all.
This event attracted nearly one million people to watch and interact, creating a vibrant off-site atmosphere. Survey data showed an overall satisfaction rate of 4.37% out of 5%, with audiences praising improvements to the tournament's hardware facilities and content, including improved visual presentation and venue circulation, continued improvement to the player experience and player services benchmarked against the world's best. The China Open has received high praise from many players.
Sinner said the additional practice courts gives players more flexibility when scheduling trainings. Gauff said Chinese fans are so lovely and thanked them for their warm gifts every year. Swiatek found the Beijing courts very comfortable. She said she successfully transformed the pressure of competition into motivation. Several players, including Pegula, Maya and Parks noted significant improvements in player services, food and hardware facilities.
Number two, media coverage continues to heat up with nickname culture ramping up. Migu, CCTV broadcast 50 matches for over 90 hours. This year's tournament featured 378 journalists from 107 outlets, including 22 international outlets, over 190 post-match interviews and 37 press conferences.
As of October 4th, statistics indicate that over 420,000 articles covering the China Open were published online, including 35,000 reports from mainstream domestic media and 24,000 from international media.
RedNote published 212 articles, generating 1.06 billion impressions, a five-fold increase from the same period last year.
On Weibo, #2025China Open garnered over two billion views with 452 trending searches. On Chinese TikTok, over 50 high-quality K0Ls participated in the promotion, generating over 60 million views.
This year the China Open strengthened original content production efforts, releasing 386 short videos covering a wide range of content including preparations, greetings, airport pickups, training highlights.
The nickname cultured created by China Open fans has also added a unique character to the event, whether it's Fruit Queen, First Rich, Second Rich, these created an affectionate atmosphere. Nicknames have become an emotional bond between players and fans.
Number three, the event has a significant economic impact boosting consumption in the Asian and Olympic business districts. This year's customer operations reached new heights. Box office revenue reached 88 million Yuan, a 10% increase over last year. Sessions at Lotus and Diamond on September 27th, as well as the men's singles final on October 1st, were completely sold out. Total spending exceeded 36 million Yuan, a 44% increase over last year.
In terms of food and beverage services, the venue offered 70 dining options, 50 food brands and outdoor seating. A newly constructed rooftop bar at Diamond was dedicated to spectator hospitality.
Licensed merchandise sales exceeded 12.5 million Yuan. Over 240 items were co-designed with 15 partners, resulting in popular items such as key chains, fridge magnets, pendants. Wakuku co-branded products sold over 80,000 Yuan in the first hour of the opening day, continuing to be popular throughout the tournament.
According to UnionPay's business data, consumption in the Asian Games business district was very strong during the 2025 China Open, with all consumption indicators showing positive growth compared to the non-competition period in September. Average daily spending increased by 18.93% year over year, with the China Open driving consumption in the Asian Games business district at a ratio of 127.4.
Number four, empowering with core technologies, creating high-tech China Open. The sports presentation has been further upgraded with 10 new player statistics added, including player side changes, break points and set points. The speedometer screen has been increased to optimize the viewing experience. Collaboration with CMG has enabled pop-up displays of key statistics, adding details such as the number of deuces.
In collaboration with the Beijing Economic and Technology Development Zone, other organizations, the technology equipment has been upgraded. Access to the park is now document free and on-site spectators no longer need to scan QR codes. Facial recognition has increased access accuracy by 25%. The introduction of driverless mini-buses provided players with novel and comfortable shuttle service, showcasing China's cutting edge capabilities.
Terahertz contact-less security checks were implemented in the player area. Consumer robots make watching the games more engaging. Pancake robots, cocktail robots, coffee robots and tea-making robots allowed domestic and international spectators to experience the high-end consumer experience.
A technology market was also created, attracting over 10,000 participants. Robot parades and dances made the court more engaging and popular, allowing players and spectators to experience the high-tech China Open and a high-tech China.
Number five, establishing the China Open International Guest Day to highlight its function as a city living room.
On September 30th, the China Open's International Guest Reception Day was a complete success. 27 international guests attended the event, including WTA Chairman Steve Simon, WTA Asia Pacific Director Xiong Jianhua. ATP Senior Vice President of Competition Rules, Miro Bratoev, and ITF board director Philip Mock.
Discussions featured future development of the China Open industrial collaboration, resource sharing and youth development, aiming to foster long-term development in tennis.
The tournament also attracted ambassadors from Finland, Italy, El Salvador, Poland, Argentina and the Czech Republic. The international guests praised the atmosphere, presentation and park facilities.
Italian ambassador to China commented, The China Open is not only a grand sporting event, but also great celebration of tennis. I would like to extend my heartfelt congratulations to this event.
Ambassador of Finland to China said, I am deeply honored to attend the men's doubles final. It's a fantastic tournament, and I extend my sincere best wishes.
Number six, promoting Chinese culture and telling Beijing's stories.
The China Open 2025 player party was held at the Suzhou Garden of the National Convention Center on September 24th. The exhibition hall blended the charm of traditional gardens with vibrant energy and modern trends offering a Fusion of Chinese and western cuisine and fine wines.
Tennis stars such as Gauff, Osaka, Sinner and Zverev gathered in style, enjoying moments of relaxation amidst a packed schedule. It showcased Beijing's charm and cultural heritage to the world.
In an interview, Medvedev expressed his love for Chinese food and the fun of the ring toss game. He gave all five stuffed animals to his daughter.
The star players deeply experienced Beijing culture. At the press conference, Gauff promoted the Temple of Heaven, a Beijing landmark. Bencic and Khachanov visited the Temple of Heaven and made wishes before the Hall of Prayer.
Noskova experienced traditional crafts at the Arts and Crafts Building. Yastremska visited Langyuan Station. Muchova and Fokina polished handcrafts at the 798 Art District. Muller tried his hand at the intangible cultural heritage lacquer fan, making and hoop toss. Norrie checked in at the China tennis history and culture tour and left a signed bowl and handprint.
Number seven, we focused on youth, strengthening the concept of online network of youth. The China Open's Sports Carnival attracted over 16,000 visitors. Its themed network driven youth. This event was the first carnival IP dedicated to youth during the China Open, creating a large scale open-air parent/child playground, integrating sports activity, food and cultural experiences. There were five themed areas: A fun market, a game challenge zone, a digital art screening zone, a performance exhibition zone, and a fitness zone.
The carnival incorporated a blend of technology and traditional cultural elements, including AI blind box customization, intangible cultural heritage lacquer fan making and enamel craftsmanship.
The China Open's first tennis lesson charity event brought together nearly one thousand teachers and students from different areas. Through a sports plus charity model, they experienced the charm of tennis through cultural exhibitions, high-level competitions, professional coaching.
With the support from the Tongzhou Education Commission, the full-court project attracted over two thousand young people to attend the matches. These activities not only sparked a love the tennis among young people, but also through teacher training programs will continue to promote tennis in schools contributing to the long-term development of physical education and ensuring that tennis truly takes root and flourishes in the hearts of the young people.
These above summarizes the highlights of this year's tournament. Once again, I'd like to thank all of the friends of the media for your support and assistance to the China Open. I look forward to an even more exciting China Open in 2026.
THE MODERATOR: Thank you for the presentation. We'll come into the Q&A session.
Q. A question for Mr. Li. In 2025, the China Open for the first time adopted a three-week schedule covering junior tournaments, professional events and international exchange activities. What measures has the tournament taken this year to enhance services to optimize organization?
LI XUHUA: Thank you very much. A super long tournament. We've seen a lot of efforts from our team and we have learned a lot in the three-week organization.
At the beginning of this year we adopted a plan of four plus. At the beginning of this year we've been preparing for 2025, player services, sponsor services and spectator experiences are the priorities of this year, when making plans for upgrades for this year.
Number one, in terms of the venues and facilities, there were many upgrades in terms of the circulation, categorization, as well as interactive activities and upgrades of existing facilities.
A lot of spectators came into the venue and observed changes. We found the venue to be more spacious with more functions as well as more circulation routes. It was very crowded when there were 40,000 visitors, but there was more space this year with more interactive activities with spectators in different zones of the park. This is the result of the upgrade of 2025.
One is interactive activities. All sponsors' stalls include interactive activities. Now it has been dispersed into different areas. We have five big screens in different areas of the park in conjunction with consumption experiences.
Player and spectator interactions. We have added practice courts at the F area and we are able to have access to different aspects of the training sessions as well as the lives of the players. You will see different materials coming from the training sessions as well as different aspects of the players. These are the changes.
In the south square and the west square, when you come into the tennis center, you will find the traffic become more accessible. We did not observe any long lines in these two entrances. That is the very foundation of spectator experience. We'll continue with this upgrade. An upgraded experience will be based on these facilities and planning. We have done a lot of trials.
Number two is heartwarming services. Spectators are getting more critical of services. There are more needs and demands which also pose challenges to us. We have seen upgraded services.
We can see that the park is cleaner. The cleaning team is cleaning trash on different shifts during the day. We are making grounds of the park not see any traces of trash in the park. This is the result of the cleaning team.
We also upgraded the security teams. We have hired the best security service companies in Beijing, creating good order in the park. Boa Zong became a new nickname. This is a new trend during the tournament, with conversations with these spectators and the security teams. We have a better understanding of the demands of spectators.
We also have upgraded the services and food options. We also have customer experience and customer support representatives to answer people's questions. We provide services with smiles.
A medical station has been set up across the venue for small injuries, with also medical services provided to the spectators.
We are trying to provide services with smiles to the spectators. More data regarding satisfaction surveys will be released after the press conference. We indeed feel a high satisfaction rate from the spectators during this event.
Number three, you will see the number of dining vendors are becoming more diverse. At the beginning of this year we have been doing upgrades to food and beverage services with diverse food stalls as well as technology markets. We also have interactive zones in the sponsor stalls.
For example, the themed cocktails have become very popular. Also some themed dairy drinks became popular during this event. We have been seeing long lines in front of the interactive zones of the sponsor stalls. This is really sparking a new wave consumer experience in the park. This is also a very positive result coming out of our planning at the beginning of 2025.
In the previous presentation we also heard about technology innovations to meet future demands, for example robotic services which have been dispersed in different areas of the park. Children enjoy robotic experiences in the technology market. We also have live band performances to further diversify a carnival experience, which has been applauded by the spectators.
We also have expanded different scenarios. We have done a secondary site, secondary venue. We've been working with different shopping areas so that we have a wider coverage of the broadcasting of the matches into the different shopping areas. We have specific data related to the secondary venues.
These were some of the highlights coming from the 2025 plan. We'll continue to upgrade spectator experiences and player experiences. We hope to get more and better feedback from spectators. We look forward to progress in 2026, injecting great momentum in the National Day Holiday. Thank you very much.
Q. (Question regarding player feedback.)
LARS GRAFF: We have got very positive feedback from the players. The players are extremely happy to come to Beijing. This year the players saw that we have the five new practice courts. We had worked with the player areas, so when the player enters the building, the Diamond Court, it's more open, more spacious. We're very happy with that.
We made some improvements in the locker rooms. We built an ice bath, three for the women and two for the men. We also made locker rooms more open and more modern.
The players, they come to Beijing and they are very surprised every year what we have done because they think that already last year was good. Now they come this year and they see we have done more things. This is not stopping this year, because next year there will be other things.
The players are very, very happy to come to Beijing. They see the improvements. Many tournaments they come to, they don't see the kind of improvements we do here.
The players also see we do a lot of improvements for the spectators. The area for the spectators has been developed so it's a better flow. The spectators can enter, they can come in. When we have almost 50,000 spectators one day, it's very important that the spectators can move from the Diamond Court to the west plaza or maybe go to the Lotus Court without getting stuck and have to wait 10, 15 minutes. They are very happy with all the facility improvements we have done. But they are also happy with the way we treat them.
We had meetings with ATP and the WTA, and they are giving us very good feedback. They say it's very difficult to write a report about Beijing because we don't know what improvements we can tell you to do.
Other tournaments, we can tell them they need to improve different areas. Beijing, you almost reach a state now where we can only tell you small things because everything is so good. Like the food this year, we changed the vendor for the food. The players can choose between รก la carte restaurant or they have a buffet. They were very happy with that.
After the singles final, we made the possibility for Mr. Sinner, his team, and for Learner Tien, to get the private flight from here to the next tournament, which they really appreciated. They thought that was a very good thing we did.
The players also are very happy with the spectators because they see that there is no country in the world that has more enthusiastic spectators than China Open. The players are taking more pictures. Sinner says he takes more pictures one week in Beijing than he does for six months in Europe because everybody wants to have a picture with Sinner either privately or when he's practicing, signing autographs.
The crowd is very enthusiastic. The crowd is also very fair. There are other parts of the world where the crowd is always supporting the home player. In China, in Beijing especially, the crowd is very fair. Even when there is a Chinese player, they are supporting the opponent, too, which is a very good sign.
The players are telling us basically that Beijing has reached a state now where the only tournaments that are better than Beijing is the Grand Slam tournaments. On the ATP Tour and the WTA Tour, we are on the top. The players know that, and they are very happy. As you can see, the player field is very strong.
Maybe some people are disappointed that not all the seeded players win. I always say, Tennis is not a movie, it's reality. The best players always win.
This year we could see two new faces coming that the Chinese fans didn't know about before: Learner Tien, 19-year-old boy, reaching the final in the China Open. It was his first final. He played against Jannik Sinner, who of course is a top player in the world.
On the women's side, we now have Noskova, who is also reaching her first final in a big tournament. This is the new generation. These players, Learner Tien, never played in Beijing before. Most of the players that are young, they never played here before.
When they come here, they realize that in Beijing there is the experience of doing other things than playing tennis. The Beijing experience, going to the Great Wall, the Forbidden City or going out to eat, to have the Chinese cuisine, if it's Peking duck or hot pot, whatever. So the players really enjoy it. We can see that many players are adding people to the team each year.
In a normal tournament, the players have maybe one, two rooms. In Beijing they have three rooms, four rooms, five rooms. There are players that have six rooms in the hotel because they bring their whole family and maybe even some friends. They think there are so many interesting things to do in Beijing. The culture and history of Beijing is something that everybody wants to experience.
So I think this was a very good year. We still are going to make it even better next year.
THE MODERATOR: This concludes our press conference. Thank you for your support.
FastScripts Transcript by ASAP Sports