Kiwi tennis star Michael Venus will look to add his hometown tournament to his trophy cabinet, when the ASB Classic kicks off next week.
Venus, 31, and doubles partner Raven Klaasen are one standout pairing of the doubles draw, coming off the back of a 2018 that saw them take the runner's up spot at Wimbledon, as well as the Canadian and Japanese Opens.
Speaking to 1 NEWS this morning, Venus said he was looking forward to taking the court in front of his hometown crowd.
"Playing centre court here, [with] all the Kiwis out watching, you look in the stands, you see friends and family - it's the highlight of the year," Venus said.
"To be back here, and be able to start the year, it's very exciting."
Venus also said that he didn't have to work very hard to convince partner Klaasen to come down to New Zealand to compete in
Auckland, with the pair using the tournament as preparation for the first Grand Slam of 2019, the Australian Open.
"There was no question, once the schedule came around, beginning of the year what we're going to play."
"Definitely we'd love to play here and get a good boost of confidence heading into the Australian Open."
Having only come together at the start of 2018, Venus says that his partnership with Klaasen was headed in the right direction, with the Wimbledon runner's up spot just the beginning.
"We're very consistent, but kind of lack those bigger results that we'd hoped."
"Then Wimbledon rolled around, we made finals there and things just seemed to click, and [we] had a good rest of the season to follow.
"New partnerships take time sometimes, we knew it was going to come, we both work hard. It was really pleasing to have that result, and hopefully we can have some more in the future."
Both Venus and Klaasen will be hoping for more success when the ASB Classic begins on December 31.
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