Stockholm, Sweden – IEC in Sports has been appointed by Colin Stubs Enterprises to handle worldwide television distribution for the AAMI Classic for 2008 and 2009. The event is held each year the week before the Australian Open at the famous Kooyong Lawn Tennis Club in Melbourne. The 2008 tournament is taking place January 9-12th.
The AAMI Classic will be staging its historic 20th edition in 2008. The tournament has long hosted the finest players in the history of Men’s Tennis including: Andre Agassi, Pete Sampras, Boris Becker, Michael Stich, Pat Cash, Goran Ivanisevic, Thomas Muster, Michael Chang, as well as the top ranked stars of today.
In 2008, defending champion Andy Roddick of the USA is confirmed to return to defend his title against Swiss world number 1 Roger Federer. They will face other major stars including 2007 Australian Open Runner-Up Fernando Gonzalez of Chile, Ivan Ljubicic from Croatia, David Nalbandian of Argentina, Russian Marat Safin the 2004 Australian Open Champion, Andy Murray Great Britain, plus two other top ranked players.
“In 2007 the tournament had its best ever distribution thanks to IEC in Sports with live coverage broadcast to a dozen networks across Asia, Europe and South America. We are pleased to continue working with IEC for a further 2-year period,” said Colin Stubs, Tournament Director.
The AAMI Classic always features the top favorites for the first Grand Slam of the Year as it is the crown jewel event of “The Road to Australian Open Series.” IEC in Sports CEO Jonas Persson commented, “The AAMI Classic is a very important property for our broadcast partners in the region due to the excellent live timings in Asia. Additionally due to the exceptional player field and its storied history, the event is also widely distributed in Europe and South America despite the big time differences to these regions, which is a great credit to the high quality of this tournament.”
IEC in Sports distributes over 30 Men’s Tennis events per year including several other tournaments in the Asia Pacific including the AIG Open in Tokyo, ATP China Open, ATP Thailand Open, ATP Heineken Open in Auckland and ATP Adelaide.