| Subject: |
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Re: ATP's #1 Man Steps into Doubles Flap |
| Name: |
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Andrew |
| Date Posted: |
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Sep 6, 05 - 10:15 PM |
| Message: |
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September 04, 2005
ATP's #1 Man Steps into Doubles Flap
It didn't take Etienne de Villiers, the new chairman of the board of the
men's tour, to step into and take charge of the controversy involving the
radical rules changes in doubles.
The day after 45 doubles player announced they were suing the ATP, de
Villiers (on Saturday), even though he's recovering from successful prostate
cancer surgery, phoned Wayne Bryan, one of the leaders of the doubles
revolt, and told him he wants to meet with him as soon as possible.
Wayne is father of the Bryan twins, one of the top doubles teams in the
world and the U.S. Davis Cup doubles combination. It's obvious that de
Villiers is very unhappy about being blindsided by the rest of the board,
which passed the new scoring rules knowing that there would be a new
chairman of the board in June.
It's one of tennis' great mysteries why the board couldn't wait until there
was a new boss in place so they could discuss this action with him.
I saw Wayne early Sunday and he told me this lawsuit can be settled quickly
without any financial costs if de Villiers moves to eliminate the scoring
changes (no-ad with tiebreaks at 5-5) and if the doubles players can get
seven other demands met. None of those demands would cost the ATP anything
significant. They involve guaranteeing that draws and doubles point
standings would be posted at all tournaments and that doubles players could
give clinics.
When willl they meet? Hard to say. The Bryans have Davis Cup next (Sept.
23-25) in Belgium. And it's not know when deVilliers will be able to travel.
But there's always the telephone.
Posted by Charles Bricker at 08:36 AM |
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