ATP Ready for Alternative ‘Slam’ Plans

While continuing to negotiate with the Grand Slam tournaments on issues of economics and promotion, the Assn. of Tennis Professionals is preparing to move forward with an alternative plan of action should these talks break down, according to the organization’s chief executive, Mark Miles.

Miles faced his membership for the first time since his opening request of $50 million for the players was rejected by the Grand Slam Committee at the French Open. The players’ meeting was held Saturday night at Wimbledon, drawing about 120 players, including Andre Agassi.

One development, and another occurring Saturday, appeared to garner widespread backing. Miles has been negotiating with the Unites States Tennis Assn.’s Arlen Kantarian and a healthy prize money increase was announced last week for the 2003 U.S. Open.

Additionally, Tim Phillips, chairman of the All England Club, appeared at Saturday’s meeting and expressed interest in continuing discussions, according to Miles.

Todd Martin, president of the ATP Player Council and a member of the negotiating team, was gratified by the tenor of the meeting. “It was encouraging,” he said. “We approached it with great interest tonight, to see exactly how much support we had and it was confirmed for us that there’s great support.”

Even a frequent ATP critic, Jeff Tarango, a member of the breakaway player trade association, IMTA, was pleased after the session.

“They’ve embarked upon a very large task,” Tarango said. “It’s going to be a long negotiation, a heated negotiation. It’s a good step forward for tennis. The players are going to become unified and actively seek the best solution for the future of tennis.”

Tarango was asked if there was more or less of a chance of the men skipping the U.S. Open.

“Much less because the U.S. Open has shown very good faith in wanting to open negotiations,” he said. “I would say this time next year is where you’re going to see the breaking point if nothing happens.”

Afterward, Miles spoke of proceeding on “two parallel tracks.” One is, of course, the continued negotiations.

“We’re committed to that, and at the same time, we’re going to proceed on a second track, and we’re going to move forward to organize other alternatives, so we’re prepared for any contingency,” he said. “That doesn’t mean there is a specific plan to do something else. The players’ priority is to stay at the table and work out reasonable ways to address all the issues.

“If we ever got to the point where the players became convinced that the Grand Slams are simply not willing to deal, from our perspective, reasonably with the players’ concerns, we would be prepared to make other plans.”

He was not specific, but made a point of saying the word boycott was not mentioned in the meeting.

“We’re not talking about a boycott,” Miles said. “If the players ended up being left in a position -- which we hope very much will not be the case -- where the economic value of the position of the Grand Slams is simply not going to be fairly shared, then the players’ alternative would be to play elsewhere.”