Columnist Ron Kantowski: New chance to court pro tennis

Friday, April 23, 2004 | 10:35 a.m.

Ron Kantowski is a Las Vegas Sun sports writer. Reach him at ron@lasvegassun.com or (702) 259-4088.

I'm what you would call a casual tennis fan. Wimbledon, the U.S. Open. Maybe a little French and Australian Open, if I can find a featured match that doesn't start at 3 a.m. And I'll admit that in the rare occurrence Anna Kournikova would survive until the weekend, I'd tune in to see what she was wearing -- I mean, who she was playing.

As for following tennis any closer, how can you? There are simply too many tournaments spread around too many distant ports on the globe for the novice to make any sense of it. That's my theory for Bud Collins' wacky wardrobe. I'll bet he has some khakis hanging in his closet and shirts that match, but he simply never gets home to repack.

That's why this new U.S. Open Series announced this week could be "the historic breakthrough" the United States Tennis Association proclaims it to be.

The series will link 10 existing tournaments -- six men's and four women's -- to the U.S. Open, creating a lucrative and cohesive seven-week summer pro tennis season, if you will. The big attraction is that these events will be televised (most by ESPN) in a regular time slot, making it easier for viewers.

Provided they do, the series should also create new marketing opportunities for the sport.

"Tennis really needs to have some consistency in programming, some simplification of the major events around the Grand Slam events, and a unified and aggressive promotional campaign," CBS president Sean McManus said Tuesday in announcing the tour, which will funnel into his network's tennis showcase.

"When you look back at the history of tennis, I think today will be looked at as an awfully significant day."

The U.S. Open Series will be the meat of a Grand Slam sandwich between Wimbledon and the U.S. Open. It will be comprised of ATP (men's) tournaments in Los Angeles, Indianapolis, Toronto, Cincinnati, Washington, D.C., and Long Island and WTA (women's) stops in Stanford, Calif., Los Angeles, Montreal and New Haven, Conn. A women's event at San Diego also may be added to the schedule.

The marketing campaign already has begun.

"9 cities. 49 days. 10 tournaments that really count," proclaims a banner on the USTA Web site.

Which, of course, got to me to thinking why that couldn't be amended to 10 cities, 56 days and 11 tournaments that really count.

This series should be to Las Vegas what Wilson is to the tennis balls used at the Open. It has got our name written all over it.

Forget the Lindbergh baby kidnapping. The real crime of the century is that Las Vegas, the quintessential country club city, hasn't had a pro tennis tournament since the Alan King Classic folded in 1985 after a 13-year run. Sorry, that Roscoe Tanner vs. Jimmy Connors match I endured about 10 years ago that more or less marked the end of a shortlived seniors tour doesn't count.

Not to belabor the point, but Cincinnati has a tournament and we don't? I'll bet we have 10 times as many BMWs as they have. And ours don't have rust around the wheel wells.

There are two big obstacles, or so I'm told, to Las Vegas landing a tournament.

The first is the weather. Yup, it's hot here during the summer. So I would suggest setting up center court in the middle of the diamond at Cashman Field. The 51s have been playing at home in June, July and August for almost 30 years without so much as an out-of-shape utility infielder succumbing to the heat. And where does it say you have to play tennis outdoors?

The second so-called roadblock is that the ATP Tour is structured like major league team sports, with its tournament sites serving as franchise owners. The ATP supposedly is not in expansion mode, which means a Las Vegas group would probably have to purchase a tour stop from somebody else.

Again, I don't see a major problem, Name your price, and we'll add a couple of zeroes and call it a deal.

That might be oversimplifying things. What we really need is for Pat Christenson of Las Vegas Events and Andre Agassi of Mister Tennis Inc. to bump into each other on a street corner. As I've said in this space before, it's often just a matter of putting the peanut butter with the jelly.

Christenson has a long history of attracting and promoting big-time sports in Las Vegas, so he and his staff could be the jelly. "It sounds like it's something that absolutely could be done," he said Thursday.

And when it comes to peanut butter, who has more than Agassi?

The really neat thing with Agassi is that charity begins at home, as evidenced by his prep school, boys and girls club, Grand Slam for Children gala and all the other charitable stuff he does. Even the chair umpire at a John McEnroe match can see that Agassi doesn't mind giving something back to the city he still calls home.

And he's already on record saying that the U.S. Open Series is just what tennis needs.

"This initiative shows what can be accomplished," he said in a statement, "when the various entities in the sport work together."

I'm wondering what could be accomplished if the various tennis entities in Las Vegas would do the same.