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ROGERS CUP

August 17, 2009

Karl Hale

TORONTO, ONTARIO

THE MODERATOR: We will start with opening comments from the Rogers Cup tournament director, Karl Hale.
KARL HALE: Thank you all for coming, and for those of you who came down to our great fun today, it was great to see so many people out there watching our top players play on the street.
We're really excited to have the best player field arguably in our history with 10 of 10, 9 former or current Sony Ericsson WTA tour players who are playing here. We have a fantastic opening night with legends Monica and Navratilova, along with Serena and our very own Aleks, followed by a great match with Maria Sharapova and Nadia Petrova.
We're thrilled to have such a great player field here this year, and I hope everybody has a great week here.
THE MODERATOR: Questions?

Q. If you would, just maybe speak to expectations in terms of attendance during the course of the tournament given the economy and people maybe not necessarily attending sports events as much as they once did.
KARL HALE: Yeah, we're fully aware of the economic impact, and we're trying to compare men to men and women to women, so we had approximately 130,000 two years ago. So we're trending toward that or a little bit ahead. We had a great opening weekend, so we hopefully will hit that target.

Q. In years past you've had trouble with drawing a field this good. How come this year it's so good? Is it the changes of the WTA or is it something that...
KARL HALE: I think it's twofold, to be very honest. One is the changes with the tour, which Stacey had a huge impact on that which has made a great impact on all the tournaments this year, Dubai and Rome, which are the same level and tier as us have had a great player field as well. So I think that's one.
And also I think I discussed earlier the economic impact. I don't think that there's the exhibitions out there and the sponsor contracts for the players as there used to be.
So now, for example, our winner's check is $350,000, so it has more impact to the players now, as well. So those two factors I think are the keys.

Q. Can you elaborate a little bit more on that and talk about why that is? What has gone away for those who don't follow the sport as closely?
KARL HALE: For point No. 2?

Q. Yes.
KARL HALE: Well, I think there's not as much sponsorship dollars out there for people to put on exhibitions when the season is over, and I think that the sponsors themselves, the manufacturers are getting much tighter with their budgets.
So I think it's very important for the players, you know, to play their sponsor commitments for their contracts, if it's the 15 tournaments a year to meet their bonuses or what have you. So those are the two main reasons.

Q. Could you please comment on your feelings about Stacey Allaster and -- I'm sorry, I've forgotten the name of the man who is now going to taking over.
KARL HALE: Shoemaker.

Q. They're two Canadians now at the top of the WTA?
KARL HALE: Well, first Stacey, I've known Stacey since I was probably about 12 years old. I think it's great for Canadian tennis to have Stacey at the top. I think she's very deserving. She's one of the top female people in sports, so it's great for Canadian tennis and great for the tournament to have her at the top.
Mr. Shoemaker is a really good person, as well. He's from Ottawa. He's done a tremendous job with the WTA, so it's great for Canadian tennis and our tournament to have so many Canadians involved in the sport of tennis at a high level.

Q. What does it mean to have Kim Clijsters back to the Rogers Cup where she's such a fan favorite?
KARL HALE: It means a tremendous amount. She won in 2005, I believe. As you can see on the grounds when she goes around, she has a tremendous fan following. She's one of the best personalities in the sport.
You know, the phone calls have been coming in for her, and we have her playing Tuesday night, so we expect to see a lot of people out there. It's great for the sport, as well. Now there's another person in the mix that's a contender.
She's still in the prime of her career. I believe she's around 25 years old, so she's still right now, I would say, a top 10 level player. Next year at this time, who knows? We'll see.

Q. You made mention on Friday night at the CN Tower, or somebody brought it up that this tournament is thinking of putting the men and women together the same week in Toronto one year, Montreal the next year, I presume. Why are you thinking like that?
KARL HALE: More specific, please?

Q. You want the men and women participating at the same week at the same time, right?
KARL HALE: In 2011, that's correct.

Q. Why? Why go that way?
KARL HALE: Because it was part of the tours. They wanted more combined events. So now we're going to be a virtually combined event in 2011, so it was more or less a restructuring of the two tours together with the whole calendar starting in 2011.

Q. Why does the tour want to go that way, though? Why have the two events simultaneously?
KARL HALE: I think, you know, because of the Grand Slams they see it's a better product. There's more interest with the men and women playing together at the same place. So as you can see, this year Madrid was a new tournament, I think it was in May, and it had tremendous success, so I think that's why they wanted to go that route.

Q. Can you talk about in the past the challenges that you faced trying to draw? You mentioned this is arguably the top field you've ever had here.
KARL HALE: Uh-huh.

Q. Why the challenges before?
KARL HALE: I think there was a lot of different reasons, you know. One was the calendar. They didn't have the commitments that they do now. They have less commitments now than they did then, so it frees them up for a couple of tournaments.
They're going to have more time off at the end of the year as well so they won't be as beat up at the end of the day of the year so they're more willing to play our tournament.
Things like that just attributed. You know, obviously injuries were a factor, as well. You know, it wasn't just that they didn't play. There were some injuries that came up from time to time, as well.

Q. Was it almost part and parcel, the difficulty with being so close to the US Open, as well? Everybody's always looked at that as being a factor in your success or not success of the tournament.
KARL HALE: Yeah, it was a part of it, for sure; not the major part of it, but those other -- you put those -- it's not one single factor why it happened.
It was just a combination of things, and that's what the tour has done is kind of rectified that so that we don't have that issue going forward.

Q. Don't you think this schedule, to make simultaneously playing men and women at the same time, that it will split the media and the media coverage at all?
KARL HALE: I don't think so. I think what you'll find is that, you know, like I said earlier, the product will be a better product. There will be more interest around it by having the men and women, so I don't think it will be -- I think it will be more.

Q. Could you talk about the emergence of Aleksandra Wozniak and how that has been a contributing factor into interest going into this tournament?
KARL HALE: Aleks has had a tremendous year and a half. She was 21 earlier this year -- actually, back in June. She's beaten some really top players, got to the round of 16 at the French Open.
Now we have a legitimate contender. She has a good draw here, so I think she could have a really severe impact in the tournament.
I think people are realizing that we have, like I said, a top player who can do damage. People want to follow top players, you know, especially in Toronto and Montreal.
You know, we're used to having top athletes in the sport. Now we have one, and people are following her.

End of FastScripts

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