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THE
SCOOP: SUNDAY, AUGUST 19
RCA
Championships seeking tour upgrade
By
Sandra Harwitt
tennisreporters.net
INDIANAPOLIS,
Aug. 19 – The
RCA Championships would like to be bumped up to a Tennis Masters
Series level event.
Tournament
Director Rob MacGill has told tennisreporters.net that
they have let the ATP know they would be interested in a more
elite status if the possibility opens.
How
that would ever come to be is another question since the North
American summer hardcourt season already has two Tennis Masters
Series level events on the schedule – Canada and Cincinnati.
It’s true that with the recent ISL deal crumbling –
finding sponsors interested in being involved with all nine TMS
events wasn’t as easy as the powers that be thought it would
be – leaves
the nine prestigious TMS tournaments scrambling for independent
sponsors.
In
terms of Cincinnati, they let Carl Lindner and his years of generous
sponsorship as first the Thriftway ATP Championship and then the
Great American Insurance Championship go in favor of the hopes
of a joint venture as a TMS event. Will Lindner, one of Cincinnati’s
wealthy VIP’s be interested in re-upping with the tournament
or his recent purchase of the Cincinnati Reds leave him disinterested
in tennis? And on an aside, the land lease on the Mason site where
the TMS-Cincinnati takes place is also held by Lindner’s
corporation and is up in a few years – will he send the tournament
packing or raise the rent? Only time will tell.
And as far as Canada is concerned, the Montreal facility where
the tournament takes place gets high marks but the Toronto facility
used on alternate years is said to need upgrading.
But
all those facts do not add up to those two events ever losing
TMS status so it will likely be an uphill battle for Indianapolis,
one of the friendliest tournaments on the men’s circuit.
And if Indy ever did get TMS sanctioning, they would need a major
facility overhaul and would hope the city would dip into their
pockets.
GERMANY,
HONG KONG SEEK PROMOTION
At
the moment, the one TMS sanctioned event that is suspect for giving
up the distinction is Stuttgart and rumors have it that Hong Kong
is very interested in the purchase.
Patrick
Rafter, who will play in his fourth consecutive final at the RCA
Championships on Sunday courtesy of a 6-3 5-7 7-6 (9-7) semifinal
win over reigning U.S. Open champion Marat Safin, is a fan of
the Indianapolis event.
“I’m sure this one could accommodate it,” said
Rafter, who also thinks that professional tennis has to offer
more combined events with the men and women playing. There are
enough courts. There’s a good atmosphere. There’s a
good crowd. It’s a good tennis knowledge crowd. I don’t
know how many Tennis Masters Series they’re going to have.
I thought they were going to cut it down. I don’t know what
they’re doing. But I’m not sticking around anyway.”
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