Tennis: Court circular gains a global vision

IF business is war, and sport is now business, does that make sport war? It has often resembled it on the field of play, of course, but there are also more and more conflicts outside the arena nowadays. The enemy? Other sports and forms of entertainment. The prize? Money.

Tennis is at present mounting a global campaign to strengthen its position. Larry Scott, the chief operating officer of the ATP Tour, is a perfect example of the link between sport and commerce, being a former player and Harvard educated. With an insouciant shrug of "we didn't make the world, we just try to live in it", he explained the game's strategic plan.

"The world is going towards a single global market place and companies are having to think globally and we think in this area tennis has a significant if not unique advantage. But we have to create a high quality product to attract the fans, sponsors and media," he said. The message is clear: create a desirable product and sell it hard. Tennis is the Tour's product, and they are merely reacting to the prevailing business climate. With so many entertainments competing for the pound and dollar they would be foolish not to.

"If you stand still you are going backwards," Scott said. And that is a luxury no sport can afford today. The bonus for Britain is that one of the significant moves brings the nation's best chance of having a world No 1. In 2000 the ranking system will become a calendar race with all competitors starting from zero, making the form player of any time the most likely No 1. This will allow a greater turnover of players to hold the top position and, it is hoped, will generatewider world interest.

Arguments will abound about the new system, but at least it might inject some drama. At the moment it's news if Pete Sampras loses the No 1 spot, but the hundreds of weeks he holds the position are not. After 2000 the oft repeated phrase "You're only as good as your last performance" will have real meaning.

The tournament structure will also change, with the present top- tier tournaments, the Mercedes Super Nine, being reduced to seven. The men will be joined by the women at those seven tournaments, which will become the pinnacle of both tours. "The top players will have to play in these seven or they will incur stringent fines. We are trying to get the very best players playing in the very best tournaments, that is what the fans, whether at the venue or on TV, and the sponsors want," Scott said.

However, this commitment - for the 16 top players - will be eased by the payment of compensation from a bonus pool. As if the vast sums of prize money and personal endorsement deals weren't enough. But, remember, this is a business.

And like all good businesses the Tour wants control of that most powerful of modern mediums - TV. "If we control the TV rights and production we can invest in the very best technology and innovate to bring the best quality coverage to the viewer," Scott said. "It's uneconomical for most TV companies to spend the money we can and want to on new super slo-mo cameras or infra-red cameras for line calls. We want to control the quality and packaging of tennis on TV so we can create an instantly recognisable brand."

Disheartening as it may be to hear sport talked about in marketing terms, it is a reflection the direction in which the world is moving. And the players themselves are playing their part. Each has a certain amount of Tour promotion work to undertake and will be fined up to $20,000 for each failure to comply. The aim is to use the players' personalities to promote the game through making them more accessible to their paymasters - fans, sponsors and the media.

Scott knows that the future of tennis is in the players' hands and the rise of the younger, more open-minded generation gives him hope. "It's the first time the players have acknowledged in such a significant way that they have to take responsibility for their sport," he said. "Without them, the changes will do nothing and tennis will struggle."