BY
EDWARD de la FUENTE
The Cincinnati Enquirer
The three-day Great American Insurance Seniors Championship, which begins Thursday as a prelude to the ATP Championship at the ATP Tennis Center in Mason, won't be without big names.
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SENIORS CHAMPIONSHIP
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• When: Thursday, Friday and Saturday evening.
• Who: Ross Case, Owen Davidson, Jaime Fillol, Tom Gorman, Brian Gottfried, Tom Gullikson, Tim Mayotte, Marty Riessen, Ken Rosewall, Harold Solomon, Dick Stockton and Fred Stolle.
• Format: Four players in singles competition and a six-team doubles field. Preliminary rounds will be a single conventional set.
• Tickets: Call (513) 651-0303 or TicketMaster at (513) 562-4949.
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But the event is not part of the ATP-sanctioned Nuveen Senior Tour, which thrives on the star power of long-time tennis greats such as John McEnroe, Jimmy Connors and Bjorn Borg. It is one of three legs in the annual ATP Delta Senior Tour.
So why doesn't the Nuveen Tour stop in Cincinnati? ATP tournament director Paul Flory said it's a matter of economics.
"We decided not to join (the Nuveen Tour) because it would have meant much more money than we had to put up," Flory said. "We felt that, with the exception of a Connors or a McEnroe, we could still attract roughly the same players."
Nuveen Tour officials and Flory have discussed bringing an event to Cincinnati, but "it never got real serious," Nuveen Tour executive director Henry Brehm said.
Added Ray Benton, chairman of Net Assets, which oversees the Nuveen Tour: "We'd love to come to Cincinnati. The tournament they have there is one of the most successful in the world.
"If we could work out something, we would, but I wouldn't say we're aggressively pursuing it right now."
The Great American Insurance Seniors Championship was born in 1991 as simply the Senior Challenge, but when the ATP formed its own senior tour the following year, tournament officials accepted an offer to become affiliated with the new tour.
The Nuveen Tour formed in 1993 and merged with the ATP senior tour last year. Cincinnati organizers declined to continue affiliating with the ATP seniors.
Another issue keeping the Nuveen Tour away is timing. The Nuveen Tour makes worldwide stops independently from the ATP Tour, while the seniors tournament here is held on the same days as the qualifying rounds of the ATP Championship.
"It's the opening act to a two-act play," Flory said. "It's a nice lead-in to the regular tournament."
Holding the seniors event immediately before the ATP tournament in Cincinnati, or anywhere, would create problems for the Nuveen Tour.
"We had been talking about the weekend before (the ATP event)," Brehm said. "But there were a lot of issues and potential conflicts. For example, what if the main sponsor was different? Whenever you lead up to the main event, there are always difficulties."
Brehm did not rule out the possibility of bringing a Nuveen event to Cincinnati at a different time during the year, but said there currently were no plans to do so.
"That wouldn't be a compelling choice," Flory said. "I think we can bring to our fans an appealing senior event without the cost involved (with the Nuveen Tour)."
Flory, for one, is happy with the status of senior tennis in Cincinnati.
"We started out alone, and we returned to being alone in 1997," Flory said. "I don't notice any difference. It's for a third party to judge, but I think we draw very well."
The 12-man field scheduled to begin competing Thursday may not have the star power it would have had with Connors or McEnroe, but to the avid fan of tennis history, the lineup is still solid.
Among the group, which has won a combined 178 singles titles and 266 doubles championships, are Grand Slam tournament winners Ken Rosewall and Fred Stolle.
Rod Laver, the only man to win all four of tennis' Grand Slam events in a season two times, was also scheduled to participate but suffered a stroke last week. He will be replaced in the lineup by Owen Davidson.