In the meeting room of a small country hotel on Wimbledon Common, a beaming Larry Scott broke the news.

“We’ve awarded the next six years of the [WTA season-ending] Championships – to Doha, Qatar 2008-2010, and Istanbul, Turkey 2011-2013,” he said.

Money from the Doha organizers would allow the purse to become the same as the $4.45 million the men get in Shanghai, he continued, and overall increases will see the tour’s prize money go up by $10 million after next year.

“So there’s some nice positive indicators out there about the future of women’s tennis.”

The off-season will be expanded to seven weeks – which got a beam from Amelie Mauresmo, who was sitting a few seats down.

That concludes the happy part of our broadcast. While all is clearly well on the money front, the extra cash doesn’t come without its own costs.

The ATP’s no-ad, match-tiebreak doubles scoring will be adopted for WTA doubles after Wimbledon – this was a forgone conclusion, and was been used in trial format for a while. As for on-court coaching, it’ll continue in ‘experiment’ mode for a while and a final decision will be made in Madrid.

“We’re taking leadership from our broadcast partners,” said WTA President Stacey Allaster, which caused a couple of sideways glances. Who fell asleep on the couch and left them in charge? Given the antipathy ESPN generates among those who watch the sport, that’s the road to madness. Or ‘Age of Love.’

Afterwards, Allaster said ESPN had been central in “instituting” the experiment and remained in favour of it, while main European broadcaster Eurosport was also on board. That means the only reason it hasn’t been officially signed off on is because the players are firmly against it.

Mauresmo, Henin, Serena Williams, Sharapova and a group of lower-profile players have all given the idea a thumbs down, though some have taken advantage of the rule during the matches.

It’s a good bet TV networks haven’t asked viewers, so major rule chances are being introduced based simply on what TV executives think will produce snazzy clips. Before abdicating that kind of responsibility, how about a fans’ poll on the following:

Which would you prefer?
A. On-court coaching
B. A better camera angle than the current nosebleed view we get from most tournaments

Let’s see how the priorities line up.

But the most forceful line of questioning at both Miami and here has been the geographic shift the calendar changes entail. In Miami, the big theme was the push into China – the announcement of a big event in Beijing in conjuction with a men’s event in Shanghai. On Friday, it was a push into the Middle East, with the aforementioned awarding of the season-ending championships to Doha.

Both times, the response has been that the tournaments can be used to push forward on human rights and women’s rights issues. It's not a completely illegitimate idea. The back-and-forth of tennis players through the Iron Curtain did no harm for the West during the Cold War. The arrival of a diverse group of female athletes, playing sports and earning their own livings, won’t do any harm in the Middle East.

But so far there’s little to suggest that the line isn't just lip service to justify moving tournaments to areas where the title sponsor wants a presence and where the organizers have pockets so deep that the event itself doesn’t have to be economically viable.

When asked about grassroots programs in China during Miami, Scott have a vague answer and deferred to the Sony Ericsson head of marketing sitting at the table. “Yes, there’s a huge investment going on. Dee [Dutta] may know more than I do actually,” he said. So even if there is a push, the WTA isn’t heavily involved.

In Miami, Dutta said, “China is an important market for our business and for businesses around the world, and it's great news that Sony Ericsson WTA Tour will be making a positive move towards improving its footprint in China.”

On Friday at the announcement, a Sony Ericsson executive made this observation about the Gulf region: “We’re the number three brand in that area.”

Allaster, talking about the doubles and coaching changes, remarked that Sony Ericsson was an “innovative title sponsor who’s pushing us always to the outskirts of our comfort zone.”

Who pays the piper calls the tune. But who knew they were allowed to compose the music as well?

On the womens’ rights front – Doha is a long away from being, say, Iran, but the WTA isn’t in a position to determine whether it can have an impact on social issues the region. The government of Qatar is funding the season-ending championships, and the tour won’t risk doing anything to make them pull the plug.

Calendar Changes

It was almost like doing a puzzle - going through and guessing what the calendar for 2009 would look like after the WTA’s ‘Roadmap’ presentation in Miami (click here). Today was the equivalent of turning to the back page and seeing the answers (see right).

The original guesses weren’t too bad. The big question was where Stuttgart would go – on clay during the spring or indoors during the fall. It’s in the spring four weeks before the French Open (brr!).

In some ways, the new calendar isn’t radically different from what exists now – about six or seven small events will be gone, plus a couple of big ones (San Diego, Zurich). The key difference is in the distribution. The biggest tournaments will get an even better quality of field, while the smaller ones are likely to get worse.

If the original plans still hold, this is the breakdown:

The Grand Slams remain the way they are but become mandatory for the players to enter. Four other combined men's and women's events – Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Beijing – will be asked to put up $4-3 million and will be mandatory for the players to enter. Another five or so – probably Dubai, Rome, Canada, Cincinnati, Moscow – will put up $2 million in prize money and can expect 7 of the top 10.

The rest in the left-hand column will have 2 of the Top 6 at best, unless they’re held the week before a Slam. The events in the right-hand column will have 1 of the Top 20.

It’s nowhere near as drastic as the changes the WTA originally wanted to make, but some U.S. tournaments like Charleston and Amelia Island do lose out, and WTA discussions with the USTA on exactly what the summer schedule means for the US Open series will continue next week. No final decision has apparently been taken on player suspensions, which might, e.g., see the Williams sisters banned from playing Miami if they continue to refuse to play Indian Wells.