BART MCGUIRE SAYS TITLE SPONSOR ANNOUNCEMENT "VERY CLOSE"

          Speaking at Tennis Canada's sponsor workshop, WTA Tour
     CEO Bart McGuire said an int'l tour sponsor to replace Corel
     "is very close" to being announced, with the new sponsor
     "paying at least twice as much as Corel's" $4M per year,
     according to Tom Tebbutt of the Toronto GLOBE & MAIL. 
     Meanwhile, McGuire backed Tennis Canada's efforts in
     "exploring options" to replace the "antiquated" National
     Tennis Centre at Toronto's York Univ., host of this year's
     du Maurier Open (GLOBE & MAIL, 2/25).  Also in Toronto, Tony
     Maraschiello writes that McGuire is "not going to apologize
     for having attractive people on the tour," despite those who
     "try to suggest" the WTA is "involved in some kind of
     sexploitation."  McGuire: "We have a lot of players who are
     pretty young and once in a while they cross the line a
     little bit.  But it's perfectly fine to have attractive
     players and perfectly fine to promote that" (SUN, 2/25).