ATP, WTA Tours Plan Joint Series

PARIS — The good news for tennis is that leaders in the sport have awakened to the fact that in the global marketplace, tennis is losing ground. With that in mind, the men’s and women’s tours have forged a tentative partnership to create a series of combined events and sell a combined television package.

The sobering news is that the complicated proposal is not likely to be instituted--if at all--until the turn of the century.

The basic plan calls for five combined men’s and women’s events, using the 10-day format pioneered by the Lipton tournament at Key Biscayne.

According to officials from both tours, the new super series will be sold to a title sponsor and run through the hardcourt season. Then, after the U.S. Open, the tours will split apart for their separate indoor events and world championships.

The proposed combined events are: two hardcourt tournaments, Indian Wells and Key Biscayne; two clay court tournaments, Hamburg and Rome; along with one other North American tournament, either the Canadian Open or Cincinnati.

Two tournaments from the indoor season--Stuttgart and Paris for the men, Zurich and Moscow for the women--will remain.

On the men’s side--to appease the clamoring from European players--another clay court, men-only event is likely to be added, probably Monte Carlo. The women may do the same, at Tokyo.

The timing of the proposal is interesting. The International Tennis Federation has already put forth, then withdrawn, a similar idea that disturbed already chilly relations with the men’s ATP Tour.

The proposal has provisions to appease the ITF and the Grand Slam tournaments. The tours have pledged to include Davis Cup and Fed Cup, as well as the four majors, in each player’s commitment. In return, the ITF and the four majors would add money to the bonus pool that, at the end of the season, pays players to fulfill their commitments.

Both tours also want to have the same ranking system to make it easier for fans to understand.

To that end, the events in the proposed series, as well as the Grand Slam tournaments, would carry higher rankings points to encourage player participation. Skipping out on the Australian Open or Wimbledon will carry harsher repercussions.

The combined television package will be more difficult to manage. The ATP Tour’s current contract expires in 1999. Both tours intend to form corporation to sell joint television rights.

Currently, the tours have been working at cross purposes and actually knock each other off the air at some events.

“We get killed at Lipton, where we have great matches that can’t get on the air because of the previous commitment to the men’s matches,” said Anne Person Worcester, chief executive officer of the WTA Tour. “Our players are willing to get behind a plan that gives them and the tour more television exposure.”

The plans have been discussed intensely since the start of the year, with all parties agreeing only that nothing will be agreed to or implemented until the turn of the century. Worcester will report on the progress of the talks to the WTA board at Wimbledon.

The women are concerned about losing their tour’s identity and the possibility that prize money will not be equal. The men are concerned about how an increased player population will affect their comfort at tournaments.

“I think it’s fair to say that our players aren’t overwhelmingly positive about this idea,” said Larry Scott, chief operating officer of the ATP Tour. “It’s not a slam dunk, but we are committed to presenting it to them. We are convinced that, in order to progress into the next century, tennis must move in this direction.”

For tournament promoters, their financial outlay will increase, but that will be balanced against the potential for greatly increased revenue from television, sponsors and fans.

The Lipton, as the project’s model, is the one tournament that will change the least. It’s already crowded but serviceable and likely will expand somewhat.

Also slightly different is Indian Wells. Under its current format, a men’s and women’s tournament run side by side. Scott said to be included in the new series, the two tournaments in the desert must combine and be run under one sponsor.

As for the remaining tournaments, “Yes, we are asking tournaments to spend, but we think they will win by being part of this format,” Worcester said.