Clouds gather over Graf’s favourite playground

[sgtr...@yahoo.com]

BERLIN: It is springtime in Berlin, the sun is out and the German Open
tennis tournament is on, maybe for the last time.

The fourth oldest tournament in the world for women and the favourite
event of Steffi Graf, who won it nine times, might be scrapped from
next year. Once a symbol of the wealth of German tennis, the Berlin
claycourt show is not even live on a national television channel this
year and its main sponsor is threatening to pull out. Without a deal
with a broadcaster for next year, tournament director Eberhard Wensky,
who has been running the event created in 1896 since it moved from
Hamburg to Berlin in 1979, will find it hard to save it. “Without the
presence of a free television channel, it will be difficult to keep
one of the most prestigious women’s tournaments in Germany,” he said.

The tennis boom generated in the country by Boris Becker and Graf has
not survived their retirements and Germany has already lost several
high-profile tournaments, notably the Stuttgart Masters Series and the
men’s year-end championships which were staged in Hanover for years
and now change venue every year. The German Tennis Federation (DTB),
which turned 100 last year with little to celebrate, has lost a
valuable source of income as a result and is struggling with severe
financial difficulties.

The DTB has also come under criticism from Graf, who said the
governing body’s structure and its policy in schooling young talent
were two of the reasons for the current crisis.

Ratings dropped: Since not only Becker and Graf but also Michael Stich
and Anke Huber have stopped playing competitive tennis, television
ratings have dropped significantly and buying the rights for German
tournaments is no longer a priority for the public channels. As a
consequence, sponsors are also losing interest and prefer to invest
money elsewhere.

The main reason there is less tennis on German television is because
the country no longer has a truly great player. Neither Tommy Haas nor
Nicolas Kiefer has lived up to huge expectations and the enthusiasm
for Rainer Schuettler’s surprise run to the Australian Open final last
January came as a reminder of how frustrated German tennis fans were
getting.

Schuettler has struggled since and the situation in the women’s game
is even more critical with no German player in the top 50. The only
local to make the main draw of this year’s German Open without needing
a wild card or having to qualify was world number 73 Anca Barna, who
survived the first round with a 6-4 6-2 win over Spain’s Anabel Medina
Garrigues. “I’m feeling more pressure than usual,” said the 25-year-
old Barna. “Normally nobody cares about how I play and this is new to
me but it’s all right.”

Rescue: Germany are struggling at team level as well, facing battles
against relegation from the world group in both the Davis Cup and the
Fed Cup. Becker, who has suffered a string of misfortunes since
leaving the professional circuit, and Graf, concentrating on her
family life with fellow tennis great Andre Agassi, still win more play
in the German media for anything they do than any active German
player. The two, who won 28 grand slam titles including 10 Wimbledon
crowns between them, are now being called to the rescue.

Becker and his Switzerland-based marketing agency BCI have stepped in
to save the Hamburg Masters Series, starting next week, from financial
collapse, while Graf has promised Wensky she will play an exhibition
at the German Open next year in an effort to convince a German
broadcaster to show the tournament live. To promote this year’s
Hamburg event, Becker has organised exhibition matches on a Davis Cup
format featuring himself, Stich and the McEnroe brothers, John and
Patrick. “That’s entertainment,” said Becker, who has gone through a
multi-million divorce settlement, a dispute with a pregnant lover and
a trial for tax evasion since leaving the professional circuit. At
least when the present is too depressing, Germany can always look to
the past. —Reuters

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