As the ATP Tour's Master Series continues this week in
Monte Carlo, "all is not well with the ... tour's elite
events," as the sport's "three biggest drawing cards," Andre
Agassi, Pete Sampras and Patrick Rafter will be "missing"
from the field, according to Tom Tebbutt of the Toronto
GLOBE & MAIL. Tebbutt writes that when the Series was
announced in December '99, there "were grand claims about
the top 50 players being automatically entered and having to
play" in each event, but some players are opting out of
events citing injury and other reasons. Tebbutt writes,
however, that the Masters Series brand "seems to be catching
on" and the new ATP Champions Race "has been lucky to see
most of the big names do well early in the year." The
Series is also "getting TV air time" (Toronto GLOBE & MAIL,
4/18). In Atlanta, Todd Holcomb notes the absence of the
marquee players and writes that the ATP Tour's new marketing
plan "to make men's tennis more sensible isn't having much
impact." Holcomb: "The ATP Tour won't convince fans that
Monte Carlo is a big event until they've convinced the
[world's top men's players]" (ATLANTA CONSTITUTION, 4/18).
WERTHEIM QUESTIONS WOMEN'S MOVE TO GERMANY: CNNSI.com's
Jon Wertheim wrote that the Sanex WTA Tour's decision to
"move the year-end championships" from N.Y. to Munich in
2001 "was short-sighted at best." Wertheim: "First, any
prize money increase that Munich can offer will be offset by
less media and commercial exposure" (CNNSI.com, 4/17).
