KEY POINTS:
ASB Tennis Classic tournament director Richard Palmer wishes the restructured WTA Tour was happening a year earlier than planned.
The Tour is undergoing a major overhaul in 2009 with the Auckland tournament part of a Series B that will see increased prize money and fewer restrictions on players.
Under current rules Auckland, as a tier four tournament, can not sign top ten ranked players and have had to turn down a request from world number four and former US Open champion Svetlana Kuznetsova to play in next summer's Classic.
Palmer was surprised by the approach as he is far more accustomed to chasing players rather than the other way around, but he is excited that Kuznetsova's representatives came to him.
Palmer is still hopeful the WTA may accept his request to grant dispensation for world number three Jelena Jankovic to return to defend her title in January.
He said they have told tour officials they want her as she is the defending champion and it is not creating a precedent as everything is going to change in 2009.
Palmer also faces a difficult task to get the likes of former champion Marion Bartoli and Daniela Hantuchova back as they are on the fringe of the top ten.
He is quite confident, though, that when everything settles there will be a lot of top quality players he can sign.
Richard Palmer heads to the US Open in a couple of weeks to meet with player agents as he steps up his recruitment drive for January's tournament.
- NEWSTALK ZB
