ASB Classic tournament director Karl Budge is a big fan of Ana Ivanovic but he probably wouldn't mind too much if she lost a few matches in the coming weeks.

Former world No 1 Ana Ivanovic will headline the ASB Classic tennis tournament in Auckland at the end of the year.

If you work for ASB and you are in Takapuna's Sovereign House, Albany's C:Drive or are about to move into ASB North Wharf at Wynyard Quarter, then lucky you.

Yanina Wickmayer's love affair with Auckland is showing no signs of dimming, with the 23-year-old Belgian within a match of a third Auckland women's classic final in four years.

Global tennis star Rafael Nadal is being lined up to play in the Auckland tennis open next month, nine years after he appeared on the backcourts as a virtual unknown.

She's won more than US$11 million in prize money, made the final at Wimbledon this year and is clearly the class act of the ASB Classic field, but the world's fourth-best female tennis player Agnieszka Radwanska is hardly a household name in New Zealand.