Thursday, September 18, 2008

Tournament of Champions scheduled for Bali: not my favorite announcement

From the beginning, I have been opposed to the Tournament of Champions that will be played starting next year in Bali. The Tournament of Champions will be an end-of-year round robin event featuring the top twelve players who have won at least one international event in singles but who have not qualified for the Sony Ericsson Championships.

This event, promoted as a stage for "next generation champions," is an idea I wish had stayed on paper. It cheapens the Sony Ericsson Championships by creating a grand stage for players who are not yet good enough to be in the final eight. I support these players--some of them I enjoy very much, and I follow their careers--but they are not yet major champions, and there should be only so much hoop-la to go around.

Doubles with no ad point and no third set. Microphones on coaches. A tournament for someday champions. What next?

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

I completely agree, Diane. I was against this from the moment I heard it was a possibility. I heard it is going to be held the week after the Year end championships? I'm not sure if this is the case, but if it is, then it takes away from the prestige of making the championships. It also takes away from them because it puts less pressure on someone to make the championships, as the next twelve ranked people in the race will have no doubt won a title, and will still get to play in a year end championships.

What's next, indeed.

Diane said...

I fear, David, that we will be the minority.