Paper Tiger

Mornin' folks. This will be your Watercooler post for today, but I'll be back with  some thoughts on  another  ATP issue later in the day. Like many of you, I've been reading the reports of the threats the Asian Tennis Federation has recently made in a effort to secure more places in ATP tournaments for Asian players. These demands are flat-out absurd, and fly into the face of the entire merit-based entry system that tennis uses.

What next, Germany threatening to quit the ITF because the nation is under-represented in the Top 10, in comparison with, oh, Serbia?

So let's take a closer look at the statements made by Chaiyapak Siriwat, vice-president of the Asian Tennis Federation:

Actually, I think Siriwat makes one good point here: if the Australian Open is indeed the "Grand Slam of Asia/Pacific", it would behoove the event to award more than one measly wild card to Asian players as a gesture of good intent. This is especially true if - and I don't know that this is the case, but I have a feeling it is - there is an Asia/Pacific player who actually has a higher ranking than any of a number of Australian juniors or aging pros who often collar the cards. Hey, Asia/Pacific is a pretty big place, isn't it? It was the Australian Open that opened this can of worms, not the ATF.

Beyond that, Siriwat is a paper tiger. His observations amount to little more than a whine. What the Australian Open is doing for tennis is extending an invitation to A/P to join the international tennis family, and stimulating growth and interest in the game in A/P - this is partly to encourage  Asian players to work hard and begin filtering into the rankings, working their way toward the top, the way Japanese baseball players have in Major League  Baseball in recent years. But I guess this guy doesn't just want to come to dinner, he wants to sit at the head of the table and dictate.

Take a hike, buddy, and take the ATF with you if they'll follow. Make your "pact", pour in all that money you brag about having and we'll see you at Wimbledon - except, of course, I'm guessing that Wimbledon will probably stick with the entry list of the ATP, not the ATF. Details, details. . .

This entire episode might be comical if it weren't for one thing. In the rush the exploit the Asian market (and marketing opportunities), the ATP and WTA are in a position to become hostage to the larger design - if there is, or will be, such a thing - of whatever Asian entities happen to be in power. And if those forces are as blithely unilateral and unrealistic as the ATF has elected to be in this case, it could spell headaches at best, nightmarish troubles at worst. The underlying logic - and it does exist - seems to be: We are opening up all these markets for you, and you clearly are rushing in for reasons of your own (some of them may even be honorable ones). So what are you going to do for us, and enough with this "meritocracy" crap.

There is no reason to believe this will be the case; so far, the events in Asia appear to have transpired according to the letter of ATP and WTA law, in a pleasantly orderly, system-abiding fashion.  And Japan  is as deeply entrenched as France in the traditional tennis establishment. But the scary thing about Siriwat's drum-banging is that he is in a pretty high office. What if other, similarly influential members in a centralized, government  bureaucracy decide, by caveat, that for the good of all concerned, the draw for one or all Asian tournaments will be made behind closed doors, by the ATF?

What is the ATP or WTA going to do then, cancel the event? Lose all that sponsorship money and make a mess of the ranking system? That Siriwat can put such outrageous demand on the table in the first place is either just another of those periodic, absurd episodes - or it's a sign that people in positions of power in their respective tennis bureaucracies don't necessarily see eye-to-eye when it comes to some of the most fundamental principles on which the game rests. You can't advance an agenda without power, and hosting tournaments gives you power in direct proportion to the degree to which outfits like the ATP or WTA rely on your events to function.

My feeling is that this is a regrettable episode that you can chalk up as part of the learning process for the ATF. But even Mr. Siriwat can't be so just plain dumb. It's clearly a negotiating strategy by the ATF as well, and if it gets him an extra wild card or two for Asian players at ITF, ATP or WTA events, I say, no harm, no foul.  The problem is that there isn't too much room for negotiation on the issues in question - which certainly might and probably should have been obvious to Siriwat and the ATF from the onset. It's certainly a strange one.