The U.S. Tennis Association and the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour are at odds over the women’s circuit’s efforts to reformat the confusing tennis calendar.
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A break in the WTA calendar would cut the physical
strain of a nearly yearlong season. |
The USTA fears that the evolving WTA initiative may disrupt the now three-year-old U.S. Open Series, the branded circuit of summer events created to give a marketing boost to the sport in America.
But beset by complaints over player injuries and a nearly year-round season, the WTA is considering a three-week break in the middle of the year, which likely would occur during the Open Series. And the WTA wants to create a handful of elite events, which could mean that top-10 players may not be allowed to play at the Series events in Stanford, Calif., and New Haven, Conn.
“For us, the most positive thing that has happened in tennis is the creation of the U.S. Open Series and the commitment the USTA has made to raising professional tennis,” said Bill Peterson, tournament director for the JPMorgan Chase Open in Carson, Calif., one of the Series’ WTA stops. “Everyone has to be careful with any plan that would affect that momentum and that growth.”
Larry Scott, the WTA’s chief executive, cautioned that any decision on radically altering the calendar was still six months away.
“We are determined to make significant improvements to our product,” Scott said. “The USTA is one of our very important partners, and we have active discussions with them about the plans.”
But the USTA is taking the developing ideas at the WTA very seriously. Arlen Kantarian, chief executive of professional tennis at the USTA and the driving force behind the Series, has had many meetings recently with Scott to try to find a solution.
Speaking briefly earlier this month in New York, Kantarian said he did not want to negotiate through the press.
Later, his spokesman provided a statement attributed to Kantarian declaring, “At the end of the day, everyone will come to their senses and realize that if we are really going to grow the sport we will do what is best for television. And that is what the U.S. Open Series is all about.”
Two of the principal issues in the sport appear on a collision course here. One is the move to bring order to the event-cluttered calendar through swings such as the U.S. Open Series, which provide consistent programming, marketing dollars and a buildup to the season’s last Grand Slam, the U.S. Open.
On the other hand, with the game having evolved into such a physically taxing sport, player injury withdrawals are now the rule. That’s why two years ago Scott launched his Roadmap 2010 process, which seeks to reduce the number of tournaments and reduce the strains on players.
“The sport has always talked about finding the most logical flow of the calendar,” said Anne Worcester, tournament director of the New Haven-based Pilot Pen and a former WTA chief executive. “The overall concept is that what is right for the sport is for the top players to play each other more often, and not just in the final but in the early rounds. If you have two of the top 10 here and two of the top 10 there, the top players are not playing each other that often.”
The problem for Worcester’s event, which is owned by the USTA, is that the WTA wants to create a handful of mega events in which all top players compete, getting that early-round competition going.
Such an event would not occur the week before a Grand Slam, as Worcester’s now does. She said that it would be insanity for the WTA to do anything to hurt the Pilot Pen, which added an ATP stop last year, because it draws more than 100,000 fans and is televised on CBS and ESPN. Instead, she suggested the WTA might move New Haven’s week to earlier in the summer, though that would then likely bump into another tournament.
To get the top players together at events and minimize the number they play, the WTA wants to place limits on how many lower-level stops they can compete in. The group has pledged to create a funding program to assist events that are hurt by the new initiatives.
Meanwhile, similar discussions are occurring at the ATP, though its plans have not sparked as much controversy. ATP chairman Etienne de Villiers has said he would like to reformat the men’s tennis calendar in two years, in part by raising prize money levels. He is scheduled to meet with Scott in London later this month to discuss calendar issues.
