I raised a question yesterday about the changed format of this year's tournament, and the corresponding reduction in the number of singles matches played over the week, coupled with an increased number of doubles matches. Today I had the chance to question David Law (Media Director here, and occasional TW poster) about the change. As I mentioned previously, the eight-man format was used in earlier years - the twelve-man field has been around for the past few editions of this event, though.
Until last year, the BlackRock Masters was the Champions' Tour's equivalent of the ATP's Tennis Masters Cup, meaning that players would qualify for a place depending on their results throughout the year. In addition, there were some wild card places awarded. This year the event has kept the name, but the contract for the tournament to serve as the year-ending Masters for the whole Tour has expired. THis year, therefore, the composition of the field was entirely decided upon by the organisers.
None of the financial details are disclosed, of course, but it seems that a conscious decision was taken to boost the general quality of the field by bringing certain "new" big names here - particularly Stefan Edberg and Pete Sampras. Both men joined the Tour of Champions earlier in 2008, so this was the first opportunity to inivite them to participate (in fact Edberg made a sole appearance last year, for a charity exhibition set against Tim Henman, but at the time wouldn't have been in regular training). It's probably safe to assume that players with this kind of star quality (along with the likes of John McEnroe) make more of a dent in the event's budget than certain lesser-recognised names. Thus the change may be attributed partly to "quality over quantity" - perhaps added to the fact that certain popular singles players that have participated in previous years are finding it harder to be competitive over an entire week. This latter consideration may also account for there being no semifinal round.
From the comments in TW yesterday, I'm not the only TWibe member to express a preference for singles over exhibition doubles - and I said at the time that It's very possible that I'm untypical of the ticket-buying public here. It seems that the doubles matches are genuinely very popular elements of the event - organisers have made use of feedback surveys to get a handle on what customers enjoy. Being a casual tennis fan in London or a corporate invitee is a far cry from being the kind of rabid Tennisworlder who constantly seeks out low-quality livestreams bootlegged from Outer Mongolian satellite TV stations, preferably in the wee small hours when other pesky family members won't be around to interrupt the ongoing obsessive analysis of Moya's missing backhand, Federer's fringe-flicking foibles or the lack of genuine headcase qualities so far discerned in Gilles Simon. There are plenty of people attending here who will be delighted to see a couple of big stars face off, but who will also take pleasure in seeing the doubles, which are almost always consciously more entertaining. Mansour Bahrami may or may not be a favourite of tennis purists, or he may pall with repetition, but for a one-off performance he's certainly unique and surprising.
