ATP concerned by exhibition fixtures before GS
Source: Agencies |
January 14, 2010, Thursday
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ATP Tour officials are concerned that leading players are increasingly bypassing tour events in favor of exhibition tournaments in the week before the Australian Open.
Men's tournaments this week in Auckland and Sydney have attracted moderate fields while most of the world's top 20 players have chosen to play exhibitions or to rest ahead of the year's first grand slam.
Richard Palmer, director of the Heineken Open in Auckland, complained this week of the increasing difficulty of attracting big-name players while competing with rich exhibition events.
Board member Justin Gimblestob said his board was aware of the impact of "special events" and concerned about the trend Palmer highlighted.
"It is disconcerting when you see special events cherry-picking some players that we prefer to see supporting our own events," Gimblestob told the New Zealand Herald. "From a tour standpoint we want players playing (ATP) events and we are constantly trying to make that happen."
Gimblestob, one of three player representatives on the seven-man board, said the ATP was limited in the action it could take.
"At this time of year we are conscious that there are so many special events and that they do pose some challenges and we are looking into that," he said. "There are certain rules in place and obviously we don't want to be prohibitive to players' free will, but we also want it to be enticing for players to support ATP tour events, so it is a constant balance."
Recent initiatives such as giving the top four seeds first-round byes, allowing them to arrive later at tournaments, appeared to be working, Gimblestob said. He also said the Auckland tournament appeared to be thriving, despite the lack of top names.
"Other events probably couldn't be as solvent without as many top players but here they really seem to understand their tennis, the history of the sport and the quality of the sport," he said. "There are some very, very skilled players here who are just under that top cusp. You have great storylines and you have great tennis and the crowd here seems to support that."
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