Asian tournaments on ATP Tour under threat

Asian tournaments on ATP Tour under threat

STUTTGART, Germany (UPI): A trio of autumn Asian tournaments on the ATP Tour may be under threat from 1997 when the Grand Slam Cup moves to a September date on an already-crowded tennis calendar.

"We want these events to work," ATP Tour boss Mark Miles told UPI Monday. "But with the Grand Slam Cup changing dates, I'm not optimistic. It will ultimately affect three of our six annual tournaments in Asia."

Miles and the Tour are worried about attracting player fields from next year, when the 16-man, US$6 million Grand Slam Cup is played the week of Sept. 22 -- the week after the Davis Cup semifinals.

The danger events are tournaments in Bangkok, Singapore and Beijing, all which Miles said are likely to have trouble attracting top, ticket-selling stars to farway Asia from Europe with the lure of $2 million-plus Mercedes Super 9 events in Stuttgart and Paris scheduled just a few weeks away as usual in late October.

The Grand Slam Cup, which does not count for computer points but does provide the biggest total payday for elite players outside of the four Grand Slams, has always been held in Munich in early December after the Davis Cup finals.

But an intensive lobbying and education effort by the ATP Tour which began at the Australian Open last January, and concluded only weeks ago finally convinced the International Tennis Federation to modify the dates of the Davis Cup in the interests of stabilizing the tennis calendar from next year.

However, the quasi-independent Grand Slam Cup Committee, made up of the four directors of the Grand Slams, decided unilaterally to switch the dates of their event into September, right in the middle of a busy part of the post-U.S. Open men's tennis season.

"There is nothing we can do about it, life will go on," said Miles. "We are not anti-Grand Slams, but in 1997, one of our tournaments (Bangkok, the week after) will be directly affected, along with the other two Asian events.

"Players are going to be unlikely to travel to the region. I suspect it will be problematic."

Miles hinted that the demise two years ago of the Sydney Indoor and this year's cancellation of the Seiko SuperTennis in Tokyo by the sponsor of 20 years standing do not bode well for major tennis in the region.

But he did not rule out somehow adding a major event in Asia/Australia.