Sunday, August 06, 2000
Flory pushes for women's tourney
By Michael Perry
The Cincinnati Enquirer
![[PHOTO]](/tennis2000/art/flory9_150x198.jpg)
Paul Flory is the Tennis Masters Series Cincinnati tournament chairman.
(Enquirer file photo)
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It never stops. Paul Flory's effort in attracting a Women's Tennis Association (WTA) event to Cincinnati has been an ongoing and never-ending process.
The tournament chairman of the ATP Tour's Tennis Masters Series Cincinnati event vows it will happen someday, he just can't say when that might be.
“We're going to continue talking to people who have tournaments and see whether or not a merger can be possible or an acquisition can be possible,” Flory said. “Some way or other we've got to persuade somebody who owns a women's event to either sell it to us or join with us.”
That's what happened at the Tennis Masters Series Indian Wells, where half the tournament is owned by IMG and the other by a private organization.
Of the four top tennis tournaments in the United States (Indian Wells, Miami, Cincinnati, U.S. Open), Cincinnati is the only one without a women's event at the same time as the men's event.
Flory experienced a close-call about four months ago. The WTA was considering adding a women's tournament two weeks after Wimbledon — starting in 2001 — and awarding it to Cincinnati.
But during the Ericsson Open in Miami, the council of tournaments voted it down for two reasons:
• The addition of a new tournament could threaten the quality of field of other events
• There were questions as to why Cincinnati would get the event without an open bidding process.
“That kind of squelched it,” Flory said. “I believe the players were in favor of it because that meant another tournament, it meant more prize money, it meant more player opportunity.
“ ... Back to the drawing board.”
Flory continues to believe a women's event will eventually come to Cincinnati, and he is planning accordingly.
Whether the tournament remains at the ATP Tennis Center in Mason or moves to a new location in a few years, a new locker room intended for women's players is in the plans.
One of the reasons it is so hard to get a tournament now is because of the popularity of the WTA.
Because of the number of top players having success and showing a great deal of personality, the women's tour is enjoying an incredible amount of exposure and attention worldwide.
“If they were going through a drought and didn't have any Williams sisters or any Kournikovas, the situation would be different,” Flory said. “But right now they're riding the crest, so therefore those that have a women's event aren't anxious to give it up.”
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![[PHOTO]](/tennis2000/art/flory9.jpg)