Tennis Australia (TA) on Saturday hit back at Asian Tennis Federation (ATF) chief Anil Khanna's criticism of the Australian Open, the first Grand Slam of the season.
ATF president Khanna has claimed that the Australian Open, which describes itself as the Grand Slam of Asia Pacific, has "failed to understand the aspirations of the Asian nations," and suggested that the region might even seek to create its own Grand Slam at some time in the future instead. But TA chief executive Steve Wood insisted that Australia's commitment to the whole region was "beyond question".
Khanna is disappointed at what he claims is a lack of support for Asian events in the Australian Open 14 series, a sequence of age group tournaments, and a halting of reciprocal arrangements involving junior players. But Wood responded: "Tennis Australia's commitment to the entire region is beyond question. Whether the ATF wants to be involved or not, we will continue to grow our commitment in the region.
"That commitment can be seen in our links with various Asian Federations, our Asian wildcards, our coaching programs, the under-14 series, our commitment to a live site in Shanghai this year, our Asian ball-kids program and of course our tremendous relationship with our major sponsor, Kia.
"Simply, we have an ongoing multi-million dollar commitment to grow the Grand Slam of Asia Pacific throughout the region. It is a commitment we are more serious about than ever."
Wood also said he had noted Khanna's reported comments recently threatening the Association of Tennis Professionals, the body which runs the men's tour, that the ATF might pull out of the tour and run a rebel tour. The ATF issued a statement recently suggesting it was "seriously considering" this, unless eight spots were given to Asian players in every Asian event. Currently only one man from the region is in the top 100.
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