"Why else would you go to Dubai?" Martin said, underscoring the problem for the far-flung tournaments.
The new tournament in New Delhi last year got value from Thomas Enqvist of Sweden, who was paid $80,000 for appearing, then won the tournament. Sweden was already in town to play India in Davis Cup, so it made sense for Enqvist to play.
But the problem is not with players who play and win. It's with those who take the money and bail out in the first round. Why stay and play the tournament when the appearance fee is, in some cases, equal to 10 times the winner's check?
Sampras, one of the ATP tour's most reluctant travelers, set a curious schedule for himself last year. He played and won at San Jose and Memphis, then flew to Rotterdam in the Netherlands for a tournament that paid huge prize money.
Still, that meant that if Sampras continued playing as he had been, and made the Sunday final, he would have to travel from Rotterdam to Indian Wells for the Newsweek Champions Cup, which started the next day.
Sampras solved the problem by withdrawing from the Rotterdam tournament in the quarterfinals, citing an ankle injury.
Asked if money had had anything to do with the convoluted travel schedule, Sampras candidly answered, "You could say that."
The allegations against Steffi Graf were made last September during the trial of her father, Pete Graf, for tax evasion. The charges were all the more sensational, considering that they were made by the general secretary of the German Tennis Federation.
Gunter Sanders told the German court that Peter Graf had been paid $150,000-$270,000 a year for "services and advertising" between 1990 and 1993 in connection with Federation-run events in Hamburg and Berlin. Peter Graf often served as his daughter's business manager, and was on trial for funneling her income to offshore bank accounts undeclared to German tax authorities.
Asked if the money had been paid to ensure Graf's appearance in the tournaments, Sanders replied, "Yes."
Graf's alleged appearance fees for the four-year period examined during the trial topped $2 million.
The German magazine Der Spiegel reported that court documents also revealed the widespread practice of paying appearance fees in the women's game. The magazine reported that Graf and then-co-No. 1 Monica Seles each commanded $30,000-$400,000 to play in an event, depending on its size.
The appearance money was extended to the top 15 players, the magazine said.
