The Karnataka State Lawn Tennis Association (KSLTA) may have tried their best to impress upon Larry Scott about the facilities they have in place for the on-going Tier II Bangalore Open event, but the Chairman and CEO of the WTA Tour said they are minimally adequate for a tournament of this magnitude.

"Bangalore has met the minimum adequate requirements for hosting a tournament of this stature but a lot of work still needs to be done," Scott, on a two-day visit here, said on Tuesday. "The purpose of my short visit was to appraise these facilities and I am happy with whatever I have seen so far and my preliminary impressions are good."

"A decision on whether Bangalore stays as a Tier II event or if it goes back to being a Tier III tournament will be taken latest by June," Scott explained.

"I am leaving tomorrow morning and we will watch till the end of the tournament, on how it goes along, on the public and media support and then we will base our final impression on it," he went on.

"A Tier II event is a different financial proposition and it needs continued government and corporate support. It needs the best of facilities. Bangalore continuing to be a Tier II venue depends on the commitment we get from the tournament in terms of continuing government and corporate support," he observed.

Competition

Scott said that there are other cities vying for this tournament. "As a matter of principle I cannot name them. This tournament comes after the Dubai tournament and most players are in this part of the World, hence the applicant-Cities are also in this swing from the Middle East to these parts of Asia."

Sunder Raju, the KSLTA secretary and the Tournament Director, said: "We are aware of what the issues are. We knew that hosting a championship of this stature was a tough task and in fact when we asked the WTA to award us this tournament, we asked them to give us some leeway, give us an opportunity to prove ourselves."

Facilities

"Yes, we need to improve the facilities for the players, for the public and for the media. We are working on all that and we will be building a new facility so that by 2010-2011 we are in good shape to host such championships," Raju added. Scott then revealed WTA's plans to restructure the Tour calendar. "We are finalising plans to restructure the Tour. We have a program called 'Roadmap 2010' which looks at stream-lining the calendar.

“In fact, from 2009, instead of the 25 tournaments in the Tier I and Tier II category, we will consolidate it to a Premier Level comprising 20 tournaments. The Grand Slams will be in addition to this. We plan to finish the Tour by mid-November and give the players a long off-season of nine weeks. We want a healthier Tour and by reducing the number of tournaments, we are ensuring that more players are available for these tournaments.

"In the remaining Tiers, we will have around 35 tournaments and that is the tentative plan."

As regards the criminal background checks – started two weeks ago -- on players' coaches and friends and support staff, Scott said there was initial resistance to the move. "There was lot of discomfort, support members didn't sign the papers," the WTA Tour chief said.

On doping in the sport, Scott said the WTA has a zero tolerance policy. "We follow the Olympic standards. Tennis is an Olympic sport. We have to make sure there is no cheating and health and well-being of our athletes is paramount."