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Tuesday November 18, 2003
Time for top brass to get act together
By Stephen Bierley, The Guardian
It says much about the precarious financial state of men's tennis
outside of the four grand slam competitions - and the continued
questionable capability
of the sport's leading administrators - that the Tennis Masters Cup,
the season's showpiece finale, ended up being played outdoors at a
small venue in Houston. Nobody
other than Jim McIngvale, the owner of a furniture empire and the
Westside tennis club, was apparently prepared to stage the event, so
the ATP, the men's ruling body, grabbed at the one option, leaving the
TMC to descend into something approaching bathos last week. McIngvale,
in his red cap and stars and bars shirt, used the tournament to
publicise himself and as a showcase for all things American. Even at
the closing ceremony, after Switzerland's Roger Federer had crushed
Andre Agassi 6-3, 6-0, 6-4 in a rain-interrupted final, he launched
into an Agassi eulogy, and all but ignored the Wimbledon champion.
Fortunately for all concerned Agassi, who had been the soul of
diplomacy all week, saved the day with his unstinting praise of
Federer, who before the tournament began had questioned the size of the
venue and the state of the court, thereby echoing the views of the
majority. This
criticism, as mild as it was, incensed McIngvale, who launched a verbal
attack on Federer before his opening round-robin match against Agassi.
Just how much this strengthened the Swiss player's resolve to win the
tournament may never be fully known. However, he played beautifully
throughout, remained undefeated, and pocketed $1.52m (£910,000). One
way and another it has been a dreadful year for the ATP and their chief
executive Mark Miles, and this event put the tin lid on it.
Unfortunately, the TMC is due to return to Houston next year. So in the
next 12 months the International Tennis Federation, who co-run it
together with the grand slam committee, must do all in their power to
make sure that McIngvale is kept under tighter control, although even
without him this would remain an unsatisfactory venue. Which
is all a great pity because from a playing point of view men's tennis
currently has a vibrant mix. Federer is a class act, while Andy
Roddick, the end-of-season No1, is far more in tune with what is needed
to sell the game to the public than Pete Sampras ever was. Agassi
believes he has one more year left in him and Lleyton Hewitt is raring
to re-establish himself. Add
to this the Spaniards and the South Americans, notably Juan Carlos
Ferrero, David Nalbandian, and Guillermo Coria, who will continue to
push for the top prizes, and throw in the all-but-forgotten former US
Open champion, Marat Safin of Russia, and the game appears set for an
exciting opening to the year at the Australian Open beginning on
January 19. So
all should be well, except for the fact that the ATP, which has never
recovered from the collapsed $1.2b deal with ISL, continues to lack
cohesive and credible leadership. The time is ripe for a change.
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