By TERRY MADDAFORD
Auckland Tennis officials might have to resort to rattling the begging bowl to ensure the survival of their annual international women's tournament.
The decision by WTA bosses to restructure the tournament schedule could have repercussions for the ASB Bank Classic, but tournament director Richard Palmer is determined to fight
to retain the year-opening tour stop.
Under the new structure the Auckland tournament will drop from tier 4b to tier 5 - enough to put the tournament's status under a cloud.
In future, tier four events will have to carry a minimum $US140,000 ($317,000) prizemoney. Tier five will have to guarantee $US110,000 - the level paid here.
But it is not the money which has the players urging officials to lift the status of their tournament.
Palmer said the players wanted to come back, but they were concerned about ranking points. A tier-five tournament carried 80 points for the winner, whereas tier four was worth 140.
"That is crucial for them because tier-three events are worth just 155 points and carry a minimum $US170,000 tag."
The Grand Slam tournaments, which cater for men and women, including mixed doubles, carry huge prizemoney - the Australian Open boasts a payout of around $A18 million ($22.8 million). Tier-one tournaments have $US1 million in prizemoney and tier two $US535,000.
It would be impossible to attract a top-20 player to a tier-five event, whereas Auckland has always been able to lure good players, as seen by this week's event which has one from the top 20 - top seed Sandrine Testud (ranked 17th) - and three between 20 and 30.
Auckland Tennis will have a debrief after this tournament with an eye to the future.
The sponsorship contract with the ASB Bank has one year to go.
"We will always have a tournament, but obviously the better the players the more successful it will be," Palmer said. "There is a balance between attracting the good players which means more media exposure which, in turn, means more sponsorship support."
There was less of a gap between the top and eighth seeds in Auckland compared to the tier-three tournament running on the Gold Coast this week
"We got away with it this year because the players were not aware of the proposed change," Palmer said. "We know how to run a tournament and we know the players enjoy coming here. Those things are obviously in our favour. We just have to build from there."
