It’s Take It and Leave It Title

There were twists, turns and an attempt at an amazing recovery at the Bank of America WTA Tour Championships on Monday.

But we’re not talking about a tennis match.

That, unfortunately, was oh-so routine. Kim Clijsters of Belgium successfully defended her championship, beating Amelie Mauresmo of France, 6-2, 6-0, in 52 minutes before an announced crowd of 8,925 at Staples Center. Clijsters lost her serve in the opening game and never looked back in winning her ninth title of the year and $1,000,030, the extra $30 in honor of the tour’s 30th anniversary.

But the real drama unfolded behind the scenes when the WTA’s chief executive officer, Larry Scott, announced earlier in the evening that the plan for the tournament was to move out of Los Angeles in 2005, saying: “And I believe that will happen.”

Less than four hours later, the tour attempted to play a let.

There was probably someone furiously trying to white-out Scott’s comments in the transcript, remarks made in a news conference before the final. A public relations official from the tour came into the press room shortly before 10 p.m. and said there was a clarification.

Uh, well ... Scott didn’t exactly mean to say what he said.

His comments had sparked a small crisis at Staples Center. Tim Leiweke, head of Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG), was having dinner with sponsors from Bank of America when he heard the news. AEG owns 50% of the tournament, and the management firm, Octagon, owns the other half.

Their contract to own the tournament is for seven years, and there had been a plan to review the progress after three years in Los Angeles. Leiweke said that a move elsewhere, ultimately, might be the best way to proceed, but he was dismayed at the news becoming public just before the final. In fact, it would only make the job of his sales team that much more difficult to promote next year’s event if it were viewed as a lame duck.

“But, look, it’s his tour. If that’s their decision, then so be it, then that’s where we’re at,” Leiweke said. “I would have preferred it not come out the way it came out. I would have preferred a little notice here.” Then, his words got a bit stronger.

“But they’ve got to fix tennis, because eventually what they’re gonna do is they’re going to drive people like us out,” he said. “Because this is not a way to run a business.”

Scott, in his news conference, said there was a delegation from China here this week, expressing interest in playing host to the tournament in 2005. He also said there was interest from Europe and other cities in the United States.

“It’s going to take some months to develop our plans,” he said. “And then we will have plans to take it elsewhere. I think the initial strategy was that this event should move from time to time. It is the crown jewel of the tour circuit. It is a promotional opportunity to move it around the world.”

But as recently as Sunday, Billie Jean King was saying that it takes five years to make a tournament work, in particular in a difficult market such as Los Angeles.

Attendance, which was miserable last year here, was better in 2003. The total for the week, organizers said, was 44,889 for six sessions, compared to 41,260 last year. There was an average of 7,481 per session, officials said, this year.

Leiweke said the event has been a massive money-loser in both years.

“You have somebody like our company and Octagon, to their credit, that have lost millions of dollars on this tournament, trying to build it over a period of time and make it work in L.A.,” he said. “Now at the same time, we were saying if we can’t get it to a point of making sense in L.A., what do we do with it? But again, that was a private conversation we were having. I didn’t know they were going to publicly announce that next year is our last year.

“Here’s the amazing thing. We still own it. I mean, if they move it, we still own half of it. Maybe that’s the right thing. But I wish it wouldn’t have been discussed and aired in the way it was aired. It’s not fair to LA. I think we made great strides. I’m a little bewildered that we could lose as much money as we’ve lost, and then we learn about this through a press conference.”

How much has AEG lost?

“I call it a high-scoring forward, basketball or hockey,” he said, smiling.

Leiweke was pleased with the effort and turnout, noting the event was missing Serena and Venus Williams and Lindsay Davenport, who are all sidelined because of injuries.

Clijsters, who became the first female to earn more than $4 million in one season, had a dramatically different path to the title, in contrast to 2002. Last year, she beat Venus and Serena in consecutive matches, defeating Serena in the final, 7-5, 6-3. This year, she dropped only two sets in five matches, to Mauresmo in round-robin play and Jennifer Capriati in the semifinals.

“I think I saw the ball like a football,” Clijsters said. “I was seeing it really well. And that is a nice feeling to have, knowing you can do whatever you want with the ball.”

Mauresmo, who reached the final despite going 2-2, said she felt tired.

“Physically, I wasn’t feeling comfortable,” said Mauresmo, who had only two break points on Clijsters’ serve after the opening game. “Maybe [it was] the psychological side of it.” She took issue with the contention that she did not deserve to be in the final.

“Well, do you deserve to be where you are now?” she said, tersely. “That’s the question, you know. That is the main question.”

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Virginia Ruano Pascual of Spain and Paola Suarez of Argentina, who were in all four Grand Slam finals, won their first Championships title, beating Clijsters and Ai Sugiyama of Japan, 6-4, 3-6, 6-3, in 1 hour 46 minutes.

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WTA Facts and Figures

CLIJSTERS CONNECTION

2003 champion Kim Clijsters became the first player since Steffi Graf in 1996 to win consecutive WTA Championship titles. Clijsters also:

* Won nine singles titles in 15 finals in 2003, the most finals played in one year since Graf in 1993.

* Was runner-up at the French Open and the U.S. Open to Justine Henin-Hardenne.

* Won five matches in Los Angeles, making her 9-0 at Staples Center in two years and 11-1 at this event since 2001.

* Finished the year with a 102-12 record.

* Was particularly successful in California, winning at Los Angeles, Indian Wells and Carson, and was a finalist in Carlsbad.

NEW NO. 1

*--* Henin-Hardenne takes over the No. 1 ranking from Clijsters following her semifinal performance. WTA No. 1 singles ranking holders: Players Weeks at No. 1 Date became No. 1 Steffi Graf 377 weeks Aug. 17, 1987 Martina Navratilova 331 weeks July 10, 1978 Chris Evert 262 weeks Nov. 3, 1975 Martina Hingis 209 weeks March 31, 1997 Monica Seles 178 weeks March 11, 1991 Serena Williams 57 weeks July 8, 2002 Lindsay Davenport 37 weeks Oct., 12, 1998 Tracy Austin 22 weeks April 7, 1980 Jennifer Capriati 17 weeks Oct. 15, 2001 Kim Clijsters 13 weeks Aug. 11, 2003 Arantxa Sanchez-Vicario 12 weeks Feb. 6, 1995 Venus Williams 11 weeks Feb. 25, 2002 Justine Henin-Hardenne 1 week Oct. 20, 2003

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STAPLES CENTER ATTENDANCE

*--* 2002 2003 Differential Final attendance 10,232 8,925 -1,307 Six-day tournament 41,260 44,889 +3,629

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