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WTA maintains policy of fines for absent players
( 2001-10-09 09:21 ) (7 )

The women's tennis tour said on Monday that despite US air strikes on Afghanistan it was sticking with its policy of fining players who failed to show up at tournaments.

The WTA relaxed the rules following the September 11 attacks in New York and Washington because of safety fears about flying, but resumed the policy of fining players a week ago.

"For the moment, it is business as usual and we're expecting players to honour commitments to tournaments," Chris De Maria, tour vice president of communications, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"From September 12 until October 1 we relaxed the policy and respected that some American players did not want to travel.

"But as of October 1 it was back to full policy and we're still there."

De Maria acknowledged that the tour could change its policy at any time, especially if the US State Department suggested that Americans should not travel abroad.

"We are talking about this and evaluating the situation every day and if things escalate further, we could change our policy," De Maria said.

"We know that the State Department is urging people to be more cautious and we expect to follow their suggestions.

"We are in touch with our tournaments every day in terms of their security procedures and keeping on top of the situation.

"We have increased our security at our events around the world."

Immediately following the September 11 attacks, American players including Venus and Serena Williams and Jennifer Capriati cited fear of travelling abroad as a reason for not playing tournaments on their schedule.

De Maria confirmed that Capriati, Lindsay Davenport and Monica Seles are among American players appearing at tournaments abroad this week.