W

ith a business and marketing grounding, plus many years experience running a major tournament, Sony Ericsson WTA Tour chairman and CEO Stacey Allaster says she has what it takes to deal with the major issues facing women's tennis today.

She also happens to be a woman, an appropriate choice for the Tour, founded in 1971 by Billie Jean King and a handful of other players who were incensed at receiving a fraction of the prize money available to men.

Although the 46-year-old Canadian acknowledges that women still struggle to make headway in the corporate world, she considers her abilities, not gender, to be the determining factor in her selection.

"Throughout my career, I've been singularly focused on doing a great job, and my results will speak for themselves, whether I'm a female or a male," said Allaster, who was promoted from her position as WTA Tour president in July, replacing Larry Scott.

"At the end of the day, for the Sony Ericsson Tour's Board of Directors, what was important was to pick the right person, with the experience and the right skills to lead their organization. After an international search of 21 people, I was chosen as the right person."

Allaster, who is in Bali for the year-end Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions, says she understands what all sides want from the modern game after running the Rogers Cup joint men's and women's event in Canada.

"It was a good 15 years working on the ground, understanding the business, and what fans want. They want to be entertained, and they also want to see the stars who have been advertised. I always know that it really doesn't matter at the end of the day who they see - women's tennis live is always spectacular - but they do want to see the stars ..."

Allaster was the front-runner for the top job - ESPN.com quoted insiders who called her a "great choice" - but she has big shoes to fill. Scott, who was formerly with the men's ATP Tour, was praised for recognizing the importance of reaching out to sponsors, and also the introduction of the Roadmap, 2009's streamlined calendar year of tournaments.

It is designed to ensure players have enough time to rest, with a 30 percent longer off season, and answered widespread calls from fans, tournaments and players about the injury toll from the long season.

There also are continuing arguments that today's game lacks depth. They grew when Russia's Dinara Safina reached world number one despite never winning a Grand Slam title. Some also seized on the fact that Kim Clijsters could return to the game after having a child and win the US Open (while ignoring the fact that she was a former world number one).

From all her years of experience, Allaster has the diplomatic skills and firmness to deal with difficult questions. She has a counter argument at the ready, saying the players are stronger and fitter than ever before.

The debate shows people "are engaged . they care, that's a real positive,", she says.

"I would counter with a hard look at the facts. And the fact is that women's tennis has never had so much depth, with the global superstars Venus, Serena and Maria *Sharapova*. Without question the Russians dominated, they're very athletic and talented.

As for Dinara, she was the most consistent player on this tour. Elena Dementieva held her own throughout the year, her match with Serena at Wimbledon was one of the best of the year, and Svetlana Kuznetsova winning a Grand Slam on clay."

She adds there are new and some more familiar faces returning to the game.

"And all the rising stars with *Caroline* Wozniacki arriving in the top 10, *Victoria* Azarenka who is a very talented young player. Kim *Clijsters* is back and Justine *Henin* is coming back.

Allaster started out in tennis as a 12-year-old given a scholarship to join a local club and take lessons. She realized early on that she would never be a player, so she went into the administrative side of the sport, first managing a club and, after completing her economics degree, trying out becoming a tournament director. It gave her hands-on experience in dealing with crises.

In Bali, Belgian Yanina Wickmayer was forced to withdraw midway through the tournament after receiving a one-year ban from her national drug tribunal for failing to comply with doping regulations. Allaster was in damage control mode when it was announced, refusing to answer questions on the matter because the case is ongoing.

"Running the Tour is like running the Rogers Cup every day," she said. "That's just part of working with live events. There will be things that happen, you don't know what they are, they are beyond your control, but the key to is to manage them effectively for the people involved, the fans and sponsors."

Keeping the sponsors happy is vital to the success of the tour, which offered US$86 million in prize money this year.

Title sponsor Sony Ericsson, which is committed through the end of 2010, is due to make a decision on the continuance of its sponsorship by the end of this year.

With the US and Europe still struggling with economic woes, Asia is an important market, especially China.

The women's tour in May 2008 established a representative office in Beijing, which Allaster describes as the "anchor" for the tour's expansion in the Asia Pacific.

"Obviously, events are key to promotion, we have a new event in Kuala Lumpur, Guangzhou is building a new stadium and the China Open, a mandatory equal prize money event. There's a lot of energy and investment . for us as a Tour, we really believe the Asia-Pacific is a growth area for us."

Sunday's final in Bali brought the season to a close. There will be a couple of months before 2010 gets into full swing with the Australian hard-court events.