HOME DEPOT CHAMPIONSHIPS INSIDE LOOK: TOO EARLY TO CALL EVENT A FAILURE PLANS ALREADY IN PLACE TO MAKE CHAMPIONSHIPS BETTER NEXT YEAR.

Byline: Lauren Gustus Staff Writer

Attendance at the start of the WTA Championships hovered around the poor-to-embarrassing mark and improved to average-to-satisfactory as the week ended, or at least that was the majority opinion.

But maybe it wasn't as pitiful as was first anticipated - maybe too much was expected too soon.

``There was never any consideration we would hit a home run right off the bat,'' said Tim Leiweke, president and CEO of Anschutz Entertainment Group, the company which owns Staples Center. ``We knew this was going to be a work in progress.''

The early matches of any tennis tournament rarely draw the numbers the later ones do, and the Championships were no exception. A marquee meeting between Monica Seles and Lindsay Davenport on Wednesday, the first day, featured plenty of vacant purple seats. But there were 10,232 for the final Monday.

The Championships drew 36,500 in Munich, Germany, last year. The final tally at Staples Center this year was 56,862.

``Even now the crowd is getting bigger and bigger,'' Williams said Sunday after her quarterfinal match against Jelena Dokic. ``I think (it) will be successful. I hope so. I like playing here. I love being here.''

The Championships will be back at Staples Center next fall, and promoters already are constructing a more effective marketing plan.

Although Los Angeles is home to four professional sports teams, it should be easy to sell the event as the top 16 female players in the world are guaranteed to show up. And this year there were three players with local ties in the event: Lindsay Davenport and Serena and Venus Williams.

And the Williams sisters appeal to a younger, more diverse crowd than most American tennis players, male or female, ever have.

Before the tournament's short stay in Munich last year, the WTA Championships were held at Madison Square Garden, where they initially got off to a slow start.

``There is no reason why we're not going to grow this similar to the way it was grown back in New York,'' said Kevin Wulff, CEO of the Sanex WTA Tour. ``This is a great market, great sports fans.''

Tour organizers also are planning to reorganize the format of the tournament - including shrinking the number of midweek matches, and keeping players in the tournament longer by playing a round-robin format like the ATP Tour Championships does.

``There is room for improvement,'' Leiweke said Monday night before Kim Clijsters beat Serena Williams in the final. ``There are things we learned this year that we will be able to utilize now between today and the next time.''

Certainly promoters and planners will look to do a better job of marketing, advertising and ticket sales for next year. But to speculate on the level of success the Championships will have in Los Angeles next year, and the years to follow, would be impossible.

Just ask Serena Williams.

``No one knows what the future holds,'' she said.

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Photo:

Serena Williams rips a return during her loss Monday in the finals of the WTA Championships at Staples Center.

Michael Owen Baker/Staff Photographer