RCA TENNIS CHAMPIONSHIPS

August 15, 1996

Rob MacGill

ROB MacGILL: It is a delight, great challenge.

ROB MacGILL: I did. I did. So I felt that was the thing to do. I felt that our fans deserved an explanation of exactly what had happened. The ATP Tour supervisor had made a judgment call on the court and we disagreed with the call that was made and appealed it. And went directly to Mark Miles and talked with Mark about it and asked that the decision be reversed. The unfortunate part was it took an hour to do that for that process to work its way out and when -- by that time, the fans had waited at least an hour, as far as I was concerned. So we needed to explain exactly what had happened.

ROB MacGILL: We are delighted that with our fans in the way they reacted in a difficult situation, I think that it is a tribute to the character of the people in this community that we didn't have any events or any incidents of any serious nature whatsoever. People, I thought, were incredibly patient with the wait. I also felt that they used great temperament in their response.

ROB MacGILL: Through the telephones, no. We heard it obviously last night on stadium court, Mark, but we ended up getting a lot of calls last night with people disappointed with the turn of events. Frankly, we couldn't keep up with all of the calls. This morning it was relatively quiet. I think people, from our standpoint, had heard what had happened, and sensed that they could make their own judgment on whether they agreed or disagreed with the judgment of the Tour official.

ROB MacGILL: Our thinking was pretty specific on it. We felt that there was a protocol involved under the ATP Tour rules that may or may not have been followed and we had two concerns at that point. (1): We wanted to know exactly what was the applicable rule, and. (2): Had the rule been followed. So that was our -- that was the reason we appealed it, as we did.

ROB MacGILL: It is hard for me to make a hard judgment on that at this point in time. I felt it was appropriate to talk to Andre directly to get his version of what had happened. He gave me a step-by-step account of what had happened from his point of view. And from his particular point of view, he felt that the process or -- let me put it a different way -- he felt that what had happened did not get to the points of where he was on the verge of a default. He didn't think he was on the edge. Those weren't quite his words, but he felt that it had not come to the last and final point to where default would be called.

ROB MacGILL: He will be leaving here this afternoon, so sometime late this afternoon.

ROB MacGILL: Well, he is not sour on the RCA Championships. There is a release that either has been or will be passed out here shortly which will indicate a couple of things we are delighted about. Andre will be returning in 1997 and one of the reasons I have been unavailable this morning is that we wanted to confer with ATP Tour officials; we wanted to confer with Andre and his representatives as well to get his feelings about the situation and about 1997. And I think this is the first tournament, other than a Grand Slam, that he has committed to going to in 1997. We are very appreciative of that and feel this gives us a huge jump for the next year.

ROB MacGILL: I am not in the position at this point to make a judgment one way or another. I think that the way we look at it is this is a matter of the Tour enforcing rules that they have written and policies that underlie those rules. We haven't had the time to make our own independent analysis. There certainly is a dispute that is now existing between Andre, on the one hand, and ATP Tour supervisor, ATP Tour and we will let them work through the issue as they feel appropriate.

ROB MacGILL: From that standpoint, he didn't have anything to say, Mark. He was concerned about making an analysis of what the applicable rules were and taking a look at what judgments were being made. We didn't -- those kind of issues really didn't come up in our conversations last night during the hour delay and didn't come up today in my talks with him this morning.

ROB MacGILL: I don't think it will hurt and let me tell you why: We are in a situation where I think I am correct in saying that the qualifying weekend was a record, Monday, Tuesday, and Wednesday appear to be a record. Those aren't crystal clear facts at this point. But we seemed to have remarkable days, and as we look forward to advance sales for Thursday, Friday, Saturday and Sunday, last night we had a great picture. We think it is the best event we ever had. The way I look at it as we have got the No. 1 player of the world playing here on stadium court tonight. Stefan Edberg is right out there right now. Goran Ivanisevic is on the grandstand court, I think, as we speak. It is a remarkable field. The blessing we have had this year is that we have just a remarkable player field. We can stand a few seeds dropping out and still have a phenomenal tournament.

ROB MacGILL: There was consideration last night and there continues to be, Mark, we are trying to make a good analysis under our ticket policy. I think we have -- we satisfied what is there under the policy, but we will continue to analyze what can be done. The great news about Andre coming back is real encouraging. We will continue to look at what opportunities that might afford us in 1997.

ROB MacGILL: Did not talk to him. Talked to his coach today.

ROB MacGILL: No, I don't. I think sports, politics whatever you look at it in life, is going to have controversy. You can't do anything without controversy here or there. I think it is has given us some things to talk about, for sure, but in terms of marring the event, I think not. As I look at the draw sheet today, I couldn't be happier with what we have going today. We are delighted to have what we have. We have a lot of great tennis ahead and we certainly hope to report an attendance record at the end of this event for the entire nine days, so I think we are poised to do that.

ROB MacGILL: I cannot -- I don't think I can do justice to the situation and I will tell you why: I think that the ATP Tour supervisor is the one who made those calls. I think there were policies involved from his point of view that he was trying to enforce, as well as the actual letter of the rules that are there. I don't have those rules in front of me, Rich, and I am sorry. I can't give you more detail on that, but I am sure he could answer for himself. And we don't want to give anybody the idea -- we think those rules are there for a good reason. We think that behavior codes in tennis, behavior codes, generally, are very important. We obviously want those rules applied uniformly and fairly and at this point, we have no evidence that they were not.

ROB MacGILL: No, and we have no -- we have one no indication of that and no evidence of that. The rules certainly didn't change last week to this week, but we have no evidence of any kind to suggest that a decision was made by somebody and let us enforce them now for the first time. And we don't know -- we don't know what happened in Cincinnati last week and we weren't there and don't know what has happened in weeks prior, so, you know, overall, you know, it is a disappointing turn of events; but by the same token, that is sports. I mean, that is what happens sometimes.

ROB MacGILL: Absolutely. They are set and the view from them is that we have got tremendous number of marquis players. The question is going to be who is going to be profiled and we have no forecast of rain, but if we did, what is the backup match. They are looking at a lot of marquis names that are with us and should be with us Saturday as well. So they have got a lot of choices to make, really do, and so it will be very interesting. Stefan, right now, is playing real well. We hope he continues to play so well.

ROB MacGILL: My reaction would be to look -- not to look, but to apply the rules as they exist and if the code of conduct prohibits that kind of conduct, the code of conduct should be enforced. If there is a procedure for a default, that procedure should be followed too. I don't know that procedure off the top of my head as it would apply to last night's events. But the rules should be enforced. The codes of conduct are appropriate and it is important to abide by them.

ROB MacGILL: I guess my point of view on what the rules say is this: The rules are there. They have been brought into by the players. This tournament included accepted those rules and we have done one other thing, we have entrusted the ATP Tour to enforce those rules fairly. We still trust them to enforce those rules fairly, and we will rely on their judgments. Their judgment was made last night and they are enforcing a code that has been brought into by everybody. I hope that answers your question partially.

ROB MacGILL: Surprise. I was very surprised because I didn't hear anything. I was sitting not too far away and didn't hear anything and I did talking to the person behind me; heard that there had been a default and the match had been awarded to Nestor. That was the first thing that I heard. I came down to the tunnel to find out first, what had happened, so, that is what occurred.

ROB MacGILL: Yeah, I am. I believe that they feel that the rules were fairly enforced from their point of view. That is what they have indicated to me from the beginning of this 'til the end of this.

ROB MacGILL: He had no problems. He has had no problems or history with Mark Darby according to what he said.