MARCH 22, 2003

A spat in Melbourne

There are fears in Australia that plans for the Australian Open tennis tournament to be held within a week of the Australian Grand Prix will lead to a loss of corporate dollars for one or both events. The chief executive of the tennis tournament Paul McNamee says that the idea will bring the focus of the world to Melbourne for two consecutive weekends. But the Grand Prix's Ron Walker has blasted the idea, saying that McNamee "will find out to his peril that corporate Australia will not entertain people twice in a month."

Walker said that the Grand Prix would not move to avoid the tennis.

"We're staying in March and they can stay in January," he said. "Melbourne doesn't need to get on the map. It's already on the map because of all the events we've put on in the past decade."