The USTA was the focus of criticism from top men's players
over the weekend for their decision to discard the ATP rankings
when issuing the seeds for the U.S. Open. The incident was
featured on CBS' "U.S. Open Preview" show on Saturday. The USTA
agreed to a redraw, but held firm on its decision to use its own
seedings. USTA President & Chair Les Snyder admitted there was a
perception that "by not announcing the seeds before you did the
other part of the draw," that the tournament could have been set
up in a "predetermined" way. Snyder: "So, to put us above
reproach, we decided that the best thing was to take the
unprecedented move and have the draw made in a public meeting"
("U.S. Open Preview," CBS, 8/24).
PLAYER ANGER: Yevgeny Kafelnikov (No. 4 in the world, but
No. 7 to the USTA) protested the decision by returning to Russia.
Kafelnikov told the N.Y. TIMES: "They basically set up a draw
for the Americans, and that's not fair to the rest" (Robin Finn,
N.Y. TIMES, 8/25). Thomas Muster (No. 2 in the world, No. 3 to
the USTA): "[It] looks like the USTA is simply favoring American
players for American TV" (Stacy China, NEWSDAY, 8/25). Pete
Sampras: "It was so confusing. ... I can understand Wimbledon
changing the seeds, but the U.S. Open is something that every
year is always the same and they decided to change it." Andre
Agassi: "I agree with the decision to redo it and have a few
days of bad talk about it versus a few weeks." CBS' Mary
Carillo: "Drawgate is over, but I still think there will be all
sorts of buzz. ... It looked covert. ... The USTA is within its
rights, but a lot of these guys are thinking they did it wrong,
they did it for all the wrong reasons, they're trying to protect
American players" ("U.S. Open Preview," CBS, 8/24).
