ATP Tour Player Bryan Defends Embattled Chair De Villiers
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Bryan One Of Few On Players
Council That Supports ATP Chair |
ATP Tour player Bob Bryan "came to the defense of embattled" Tour Chair & President Etienne de Villiers, according to Charles Bricker of the South Florida SUN-SENTINEL. Bryan: "I'm on his side. I think he's doing a great job." Bryan "sees the point of making the big tournaments mandatory, a major de Villiers decision." Bryan: "It's a great bargaining tool to get more sponsorship dollars. When you know the top guys are going to be there, you're going to invest more." Bryan has "tried to persuade the other nine members of the [ATP players'] council to his view, but with little success." Bryan: "I know I'm in the minority. Most of the guys have their minds made up already. As for me, I hope Etienne rides this out." However, Bricker wrote there is a "powerful sense that de Villiers, whose contract expires Dec. 31, will not be working for the ATP in 2009." Bricker: "There are too many forces stacked against him. The clay courters are upset because he's taken Hamburg away as a Masters Series event and invited a very expensive lawsuit." Bricker noted de Villiers "has not been sighted" at the French Open, and that is a "big mistake." Bricker: "De Villiers should be here to face the issues head-on and restate his case. His absence only makes him look weaker. It only makes him look as if he's in hiding" (South Florida SUN-SENTINEL, 6/1).
COURT CASE: SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL's Daniel Kaplan reports court documents for the ATP's court case against its Hamburg, Germany, tournament indicate that the tour "plans to call [WTA Tour CEO] Larry Scott as a witness." The case is "shaping up as [a] benchmark trial that will test how far a governing body can go in stripping members of commercial rights in pursuit of what it deems best for the sport." The case is scheduled to be heard beginning July 21 (SPORTSBUSINESS JOURNAL, 6/2 issue).
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