ATP Tour To Institute Harsher Penalties For Missing Top Tourneys
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Blake Calls Tournament Requirements
Under '09 ATP Schedule "Mind-Boggling" |
Among changes to the '09 ATP World Tour schedule, the nine ATP Masters Series events will be reduced to eight "Masters 1000" events, and players who skip one "will pay for it the following season by missing the Masters event where they had their best result," according to Kamakshi Tandon of ESPN.com. But ATP Corporate Communications Dir Kris Dent added that players "who are legitimately hurt will be let off." ATP Tour player James Blake said the expected workload is "mind-boggling." Blake served as ATP Player Council VP when officials were developing the rule, but he said that he had "little opportunity to prevent it." Blake: "I don't feel I had any say when I was on the council to begin with, but I don't think it's going to change. ... I think we're going to have to deal with eight for eight mandatory events. It's unfortunate because I don't think that's good for the players." But the ATP is "hoping to largely avoid the thorny issue of when to suspend" players by introducing "additional incentives for playing Masters events." Dent: "More money, better bonuses, considerable profit-sharing models -- the feedback from the vast majority of players is that they see the benefit of the model that's being put into place." Dent said that the changes to the system are "based on objective research -- the polling of 20,000 fans conducted on behalf of the ATP." Dent said 61% of those polled "have come back to us and said they don't understand how the sport works." Dent: "Now that is frightening" (ESPN.com, 11/6). Tandon reported based on the published schedule for the first three months of '09, there will be "small increases [in bonuses] at most events, with some significant increases at the top Masters events." The Sony Ericsson Open in Miami and the annual event at Indian Wells "will raise their purses by about $900,000 to $4.5[M] each" (ESPN.com, 11/6).
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New ATP Tour Tournament Hierarchy
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LEVEL
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EVENTS
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Grand Slams (4)
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Australian Open, French Open, Wimbledon, U.S. Open
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Masters 1000s (8)
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Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid, Rome, Canada, Cincinnati, Shanghai, Paris (Monte Carlo)
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500s (11)
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Rotterdam, Memphis, Acapulco, Dubai, Barcelona, Hamburg, DC, Beijing, Tokyo, Basel, Valencia
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250s (39-40)
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The rest
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