9 January 2017 | Tennis West

Richard Gasquet and Kristina Mladenovic have won France’s second Hopman Cup title tonight.

The duo defeated Jack Sock and Coco Vandeweghe of the USA 2-1.

Gasquet saved a match point to beat Sock 6-3 5-7 7-6(6) in the men’s singles rubber before Vandeweghe posted a 6-4 7-5 win over Mladenovic.

France then prevailed 4-1 4-3 in the FAST4 Tennis mixed doubles, ending America’s bid for a record seventh Hopman Cup crown.

After seven days of sizzling tennis action, a total of 103,167 fans visited Perth Arena for the 29^th annual staging of the event with a further 6,000 attending 17-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer’s first open practice session.

Over the weekend it was announced the Mastercard Hopman Cup has been secured for Perth for at least the next five years, thanks to the State Government, through Tourism WA.

 

This is the tournament’s final word:

 

On-court action

• World No.18Richard Gasquet and world No.42 Kristina Mladenovic defeated world No.23 Jack Sock and world No.36 Coco Vandeweghe of the USA to win France’s second Hopman Cup in the tournament’s 29-year history
• Seventeen-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer made his return to the Hopman Cup for the first time in 15 years
• Eight countries including France,USA, Switzerland, Germany, Great Britain, Czech Republic, Spain and Australia were represented at the event
• The field included ten current top 50 players: Roger Federer, Richard Gasquet, Nick Kyrgios, Jack Sock, Alexander Zverev, Daria Gavrilova, Feliciano Lopez, Coco Vandeweghe, Kristina Mladenovic and Belinda Bencic
• Ten players returned to the Hopman Cup, including five from last year: Roger Federer – 2001, 2002; Kristina Mladenovic – 2011; Richard Gasquet – 2012; Andrea Petkovic – 2013; Adam Pavlasek – 2015; Heather Watson – 2015, 2016; Nick Kyrgios – 2016; Daria Gavrilova – 2016; Jack Sock – 2016; Alexander Zverev – 2016
• Six players made their Hopman Cup debut: Belinda Bencic, Dan Evans, Feliciano Lopez, Lara Arruabarrena, Coco Vandeweghe and Lucie Hradecka
• Three former Hopman Cup champions were present in 2017: Roger Federer (2001), Nick Kyrgios (2016), Daria Gavrilova (2016)
• The field included four Olympic medallists: Jack Sock (Rio 2016 mixed doubles gold, men’s doubles bronze), Roger Federer (Beijing 2008 men’s doubles gold, London 2012 men’s singles silver), Richard Gasquet (London 2012 men’s doubles bronze), Lucie Hradecka (London 2012 women’s doubles silver, Rio 2016 mixed doubles bronze)
• Nick Kyrgios (AUS) clocked the fastest men’s serve of the tournament at223km/h
• Lucie Hradecka (CZE) recorded the fastest women’s serve at198 km/h.

 

Off-court action

During the event the world’s best have had the chance to experience various parts of Perth, Western Australia:

• Roger Federer visited Cottesloe Beach and played beach tennis with Tennis Hot Shots kids before meeting a group of Cottesloe SLSC nippers. He also met a baby joey named Casper at South Perth
• Belinda Bencic took in the sights around Elizabeth Quay
• Nick Kyrgios met three dogs from the Dalmatian Rescue Association of Western Australia at Sir James Mitchell Park
• Thrillseeker Coco Vandeweghe took a jet ski ride around Hilarys Boat Harbour and swam with sharks at the Aquarium of Western Australia (AQWA)
• Lara Arruabarrena and Feliciano Lopez went swimming at City Beach
• Daria Gavrilova and Jack Sock fed kangaroos and patted koalas at Caversham Wildlife Park
• TheMastercard Hopman Cup New Year’s Eve Gala Ball at Crown’s Grand Ballroom was attended by 350 guests and saw all 16 players walk the blue carpet. The event featured a Q&A with Roger Federer and a special performance by Aria award winner Anthony Calea and DJ Boston Switch
• Prior to the NYE Gala 30 guests attended a VIP meet and greet with Roger Federer at the new Crown Towers Perth.

 

Tournament initiatives

• The innovative FAST4 Tennis format was introduced for the first time with the mixed doubles matches showcasing the fast-paced scoring method
• $5 kids tickets were introduced in 2017, offering junior fans the opportunity to watch some of the world’s best compete at all day sessions
• DJ Boston Switch played at all night sessions

 

Attendance

• A total of103,167 fans attended the Mastercard Hopman Cup, the second largest attendance in the event’s history
• An additional 6000 fans visited Perth Arena to see Roger Federer’s first open practice session
• Friday 6 January’s night session betweenSwitzerland and France saw the event’s largest session attendance in the Hopman Cup’s 29 year history with 13,917 attendees packing into Perth Arena to watch Kristina Mladenovic and Richard Gasquet defeat Belinda Bencic and Roger Federer
• The tournament saw three record night session attendances this week; 13,684 (Mon 2 Jan), 13,785 (Wed 4 Jan) and 13,917 (Fri 6 Jan)
• 41,386 people in total attended Switzerland’s three sessions, the highest combined attendance for a nation’s group matches in the tournament’s history
• 83,000 country hand waver flagswere handed out to fans during the tournament
• Famous faces in the crowd included 24-time Grand Slam championMargaret Court, former Davis Cup captain Neale Fraser, Powderfinger’s Darren Middleton, Eskimo Joe’s Stuart MacLeod and Kavyen Temperley, Fremantle Dockers Nat Fyfe, Michael Johnson and former player Matthew Pavlich, West Coast Eagles Sam Mitchell and Andrew Gaff, Perth Wildcat Matthew Knight, Australian cricketer Adam Voges, Western Force’s Matt Hodgson, Hockeyroo Georgina Nanscawen and comedian Joel Creasey.

 

Media and broadcast

• More than 80 print, radio and broadcast mediaprovided extensive media coverage of the event to media outlets around Australia and internationally
• The tournament was broadcast live and free across Australia by the Seven Network for the fourth consecutive year
• For the first time, Seven’s primary channel broadcast live all six night sessions and the final across the country. The rest of the tournament was broadcast across 7TWO and 7mate
• Roger Federer v Alexander Zverev match on Wednesday 4 January night saw audiences peak at over 550,000 viewers on Channel Seven, with the average TV audience for the tournament up over 40% from 2016
• Tennis Australia managed the host broadcast of the tournament for the third straight year. Commentators for 2017 included Alicia Molik, Roger Rasheed, Mark Petchey, Louise Plemming, Peter Marcato, Bojana Bobusic and Seven’s own Basil Zempilas
• Internationally, the tournament was broadcast to more than 200 countries by 14 different broadcast partners. Recent renewals of Australian Open agreements with existing broadcasters have incorporated AO Series events for the first time
• Broadcasts included China (IQIYI) and Japan (WOWOW and SoftBank), along with Europe (Eurosport) Africa (SuperSport), Latin America and the Caribbean (ESPN).

 

Digital and social media

• Hopmancup.com had 935,000 unique visitors (up 83% from 2016) and 3.2 million page visits (up 70% from 2016)
• As of 7 January@hopmancup on Twitter grew by 20 per cent, to 5K followers and generated 5.6 million impressions and 260,000 profile visits during the event period
• Hopman Cup – Australian Open Series Facebookpage grew by over 85 per cent to almost 34,000 followers and featured exclusive behind the scenes content
• The Hopman Cup Facebook Live video of Roger Federer’s open practice session received 173,000 views with 1400 people watching the session live at any one time
• The @hopmancup Instagram was launched in October 2016 and grew to 5000 followers by the conclusion of the tournament
• TheHopman Cup YouTube channel generated almost 596,000 views, with a clip of Roger Federer’s Hopman Cup NYE Gala Q&A the best performing with almost 30,000 views
• Video of the young girl who tossed the coin for the SUI V GER mixed doubles match generated 1018 retweets and 185,000 impressions on Twitter and 466,000 views and reached 3 million people on Facebook.

 

A total of

• 3,240 Wilson tennis ballswere used throughout the Mastercard Hopman Cup while 220 racquets were restrung for players
• 1,500 towelsincluding 120 personalised embroidered player towels were used during the event
• 66 ballkidsaged 12-15 made up the Mastercard Hopman Cup 2017 squad
• Matches were officiated by32 linespeople, five chair umpires and one referee from around Australia and the world
• Players were transported by a fleet of25 Kia cars during the event
• 19,609 Mount Franklin water bottles were consumed by players, tournament staff, volunteers and officials
• Fans enjoyed5,172 ice creams and 13,194 cups of coffee while watching the tennis at Perth Arena.

 

Community tennis and fan engagement

• Daria Gavrilova was the special guest atthe Mastercard Hopman Cup’s family and friends day on Saturday 31 December which saw a group of children given the exclusive opportunity to watch her practice session on centre court before she answered questions and signed autographs for fans
• Activations around Perth Arena included RAC Rescue Experience, Club Aperol and Heineken Friday
• The Have a hit on us initiative offered all ticketholders one hour of free court hire at participating clubs in WA
• 3000visited the Tennis West activation on-site and took part in mini tennis, Speed Serve and face painting activities
• 7,500 photos were taken at the Tennis West photo booth
• 144Tennis Hot Shots and 10 Fitbit Cardio Tennis participants took part in the on court initiatives held in between the second singles and doubles matches of every day session.

 

-ends-

 

Mastercard Hopman Cup is the official mixed team competition of the ITF and is proudly supported locally by the State Government, through Tourism WA. The tournament will take place at Perth Arena from 1 to 7 January 2017.

 

Mastercard Hopman Cup is part of the Emirates Australian Open Series, which also incorporates Brisbane International presented by Suncorp, Apia International Sydney, Hobart International and World Tennis Challenge (Adelaide).

 

For all tournament information please visit hopmancup.com.