By Neil Schmidt
The Cincinnati Enquirer

PHOTO GALLERY

Photos of Tuesday's play

MASON - Picture a tennis match at the Western & Southern Financial Group Masters in five years.

The players take the court to blaring rock music, wearing specially tailored jerseys with their names on the back. They aren't Americans, but the crowd - familiar with them from beefcake billboard shots and The Tennis Channel features - hoots for them anyway. The players do on-court interviews for TV between sets and afterward have formal autograph sessions for the crowd. Tennis rocks!

At least, that's one scenario for promoting the sport. At a time when professional tennis is perceived as losing the public's interest, it seems imperative that the ATP Tour explore all possible ways to market itself better.

Currently, only a handful of players are well-known, especially by American sports fans, and parity has made promotion problematic. There is little to no player-specific merchandising, and player accessibility remains sporadic at best.

"Tennis is less popular than golf - how did that happen?" John McEnroe asked at Wimbledon. "I give our marketing guys a 'D.' What are they trying to sell people, anyway? There's a lot of work to be done."

Gauging tennis' standing in the public consciousness is difficult. But some statistics are worrisome.

According to Inside Tennis, ball sales in the United States were down 15 percent in the past quarter. Racket sales were down 20 percent. U.S. TV ratings for the French Open were abysmal, and the Wimbledon men's final drew its lowest rating since 1987.

"We are very jingoistic about tennis," NBC analyst Bud Collins said. "If there's no Americans (late in a tournament), nobody's interested."

But when there are: Pete Sampras' victory over Andre Agassi in the U.S. Open final last September drew a 7.9 rating, the highest for the Open since 1990.

Tennis isn't nearly as bad off as in the mid-1990s, when participation and interest decreased to the point Sports Illustrated wrote a cover story saying the sport was dying. A USTA study last year counted 23.2 million tennis players in the United States, up from 20.6 million in 1995, though the number is leveling off. Attendance for men's events in the United States climbed each of the past three years.

One chief change in the game is its growth worldwide. In 1986, there were 33 U.S. men in the year-end top 100, with Sweden having the next-highest total of 12. But 1995 was the last year Americans had the most top-100 finishers. There have been no more than 11 U.S. men in the year-end top 100 since '96.

The top 13 players in this week's world rankings hail from 11 different countries. Sixty-four of the top 100 are from Europe, 16 from South America and 12 from North America. Parity is at an all-time high. Thirty-nine different men won ATP events last year. The last seven Grand Slams have been won by seven different players.

"In the NBA, they've done a good job of integrating the European players into their marketing in a way that's made people care," McEnroe said. "But we haven't done that in tennis, and right now, a lot of people have no idea who any of these guys are."

The ATP began hyping its new faces three years ago in its irreverent "New Balls Please" ads. It plans to unveil a new ad campaign next year. In June, Chris Clouser was hired as CEO of ATP Properties and president of ATP, Inc. and the ATP Foundation. He comes to the ATP with an extensive international business and marketing background.

"I think the sport of tennis has been very fragmented," Clouser said. "There hasn't been a very over-arcing kind of brand awareness effort put together."

Tennis is overseen by the International Tennis Federation, the ATP, the WTA and the Grand Slam Committee. Those groups have begun to work together in plotting their calendars and on promotion.

The ATP last summer launched a once-a-year magazine called Deuce, heavy on player profiles, that it sells at events and on the Internet. Its Web site, www.atptennis.com, gets 8 million hits a year. The ATP produces a weekly half-hour TV program called the ATP News Magazine Show that airs in 26 different countries; it's on The Tennis Channel here.

That network, too, is figured to be a potential boon for exposure, though it has been slow to be added to cable systems nationwide. (Time Warner digital subscribers can find it on Ch. 170 here.) "A marketing guy sits back and says, 'How are we going to take the next round of emerging stars and engage the public in that?' " Clouser said.

The ATP clearly has targeted 20-year-old American Andy Roddick for promotion. It has shopped Roddick for interviews and magazine spreads for the past year, and it has greatly increased Roddick's recognition while he has ascended to a No. 4 ranking.

Apparel remains an untapped market. The idea of designing jersey-type shirts or rackets for individual players, to be sold at tournaments or in sporting good stores, remains on the drawing board.

"It's holding the sport back," Tennis Week columnist Richard Evans said. "The marketplace is so fierce now, tennis has to get out and compete."

Why no clothes? Manufacturers will say they sell just as many clothes without a players' name on it - for instance, Reebok has a line of Roddick apparel - and therefore don't have to get into the business of paying royalties.

That doesn't mean major changes - there hasn't been one since the introduction of the tiebreaker in 1970 - aren't being discussed.

The men's five-set marathons in Grand Slams, too long for TV's liking, could be replaced one day by a best-of-three format. ATP Tour CEO Mark Miles has said previously that the ATP is exploring round-robin tournaments, which would ensure fans see the top players for at least a few matches. After a few rounds, the players with the best records would advance to a single-elimination format.

Clouser mentioned the mid-match interviews. Many players like the idea of rock music intros.

There is universal agreement that the players can most help themselves. They are required by the tour to do two hours of promotional work per tournament, but additional time signing autographs or meeting fans can pay off.

"Unfortunately, tennis players are the least accessible athletes in all of sports," said Cincinnati native Tony Trabert, president of the International Tennis Hall of Fame. "All sports are star-driven, and we need to get these guys out in the public eye to make them stars."

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E-mail nschmidt@enquirer.com