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World’s Best Set to Battle at Bali Tennis Tourney
Ami Afriatni | October 12, 2009

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The long road to Bali is almost at an end.

The Island of Gods will host the $600,000 Commonwealth Bank Tournament of Champions at the Bali International Convention Center in Denpasar on Nov. 4-8. Twelve of the world’s top women’s singles players will vie for the inaugural championship.

To qualify, players must be among the 10 highest ranked not playing in the year-ending Sony Ericsson Championships in Doha from Oct. 27-Nov. 1. In addition, they must have won at least one of 29 WTA Tour tournaments this season.

Organizers will fill the final two spots with wild-card entries of their choosing.

Anabel Medina Garrigues of Spain and Belgium’s Yanina Wickmayer are the only players whose participation is confirmed so far. Garrigues, ranked 21st, won in Morocco in April, and 24th-ranked Wickmayer won the Estoril Open in Portugal in May.

“We’re still working to select eight others,” tournament director Kevin Livesey said during a press conference on Monday. “We also have a long list of players applying for wild cards. Just so you know, [Maria] Sharapova’s agent has asked me to give her a wild card.”

Livesey said organizers are waiting for results from three tournaments which also count toward Bali — the Generali Ladies Linz in Austria and the Japan Women’s Open this week, and the BGL Luxembourg Open on Oct. 19-25. The field for Bali will be announced on Oct. 26.

Of all the potential entrants, Israeli star Shahar Peer stands to generate the most interest. She has won two WTA events — the Guangzhou International Women’s Open in China and the Tashkent Open in Uzbekistan, both in September — easily qualifying for the Tournament of Champions.

If she comes to Bali, though, it could spark controversy as Indonesia has no official diplomatic relations with Israel.

“Part of the rules of the tournament say every player who is qualified has to play [in Bali]. [Peer] is not coming in as a diplomat, she’s coming as a player. But currently, she has yet to confirm,” Livesey said.

“I think the IOC, WTA, ATP and ITF said that every sportsman and sportswoman must be allowed to play everywhere.”

Peer garnered headlines when she was denied an entry visa by the United Arab Emirates government to play in the Dubai Tennis Championship in February. Tournament organizers said security fears were behind the decision to bar Peer. The WTA board fined the tournament a record $300,000 for a breach of tour rules.

Fans at the Tournament of Champions will not have local talent to cheer on after the Indonesian Tennis Federation (Pelti) decided not to apply for wild cards on behalf of Indonesian players, citing low rankings for even the top hopefuls.

“Isn’t it such a shame if we applied for the wild cards to play in the tournament while other participants have much higher ranks? We will support the event by playing our role as a good host,” Pelti president Martina Widjaja said.

Ayu Fani Damayanti, ranked 277th in the world, is the highest Indonesian women’s singles player on the WTA Tour.