Another year left in Doha, then three in Istanbul, Turkey, so what price London as the venue for the Sony Ericsson WTA Tour finals from 2014 onwards? Not only will the focus at the top of the men's game be solidly on the London Borough of Greenwich later this month, as the 02 Arena is spruced up and star-spangled for the Barclays ATP Tour World Finals; the women will be casting an interested eye on proceedings, too.

In 1990, the men stopped parading their world championships at Madison Square Garden; the women stayed for another decade at the iconic New York venue before deciding they should go on the road, from Munich, to Los Angeles to Madrid and when Doha broke historic convention to become the first Middle Eastern city to apply to stage a women's tennis event, the tour leapt at such ground breaking.

The partnership has been a tremendous success, the red carpet has been rolled, the stadium has buzzed, the Souk has done a roaring trade. The women's tour would appear to have so much right, but there is still much to do. In charge of the shooting match for the past four months has been Stacey Allaster, a Canadian who had been second-in-command to the former CEO Larry Scott before he was snatched from under the noses of the sport by Pac-10, the college sports division in California.

Given that Scott was the mastermind behind the $80 million partnership with Sony Ericsson, the global communications company, that has enhanced the profile of both organisations, the Road Map that set stringent targets for player participation and the establishment of a leaner calendar and successfully negotiated equal prize money at the four grand slams and paying $4.5 in prize money at each of their four mandatory events (Indian Wells, Miami, Madrid and Beijing), Allaster knows she has large shoes into which to step.

"Larry was probably the finest CEO we had and has left me both a wonderful legacy and a great platform on which to build," Allaster said. "This is a dream job, waking up every day to know that I'm going to market the very best female athletes in the world. Those who built this tour, most notably Billie Jean King were the game changers, not only in sport but in society as a whole, they always stood up for what they believed was right, no matter how hard it was."

And so what does Allaster regard as her priority? "Financial stability for sure," she says. With one year left on the Sony Ericsson contract and Aldo Liguori, corporate VP and head of global communication and PR for the company unable to guarantee an extension as belts are tightened and further innovations required, she is right to concentrate the efforts there.

"We need a stable organisation that is best able to deliver the highest quality of service to our members and to make sure we don't falter in any regard," she said. "We have taken a long hard look at our 2010 budget, we have been tightening our belts, we have put money away into our reserves to make sure we are well positioned just in case we are confronted by a crisis. In the past, the tour tended towards a peak and valley existence but we've come through that experience. Sony Ericsson have been wonderful partners, they are challenging us further and it is up to us to respond."

On a prospective new venue for the end-of-season championships once they have served out their contract with Istanbul, Allaster was ready to acknowledge that London was 'definitely on the radar'. Of course there are logistical problems. The shortening of the WTA calendar - the official tour business ended yesterday - means that they would need to be able to work on a date that was acceptable.

"We have heard it from the athletes, we have seen it here, they are done, they are ready for a rest," she said. "Because of the qualities provided by the Road Map, where we are trying to get the best of our athletes to play as often as possible, most of the bigger week-long events have taken on the intensity of the second week of a slam. There is no doubt the ATP have taken a risk with moving from Shanghai to London but the signs are it is going to pay off for them. Yes, we are certainly watching how they go."

Reasons to be cheerful

Let us hope John Lloyd, Great Britain's Davis Cup captain, was able to get across the United States in the nick of time. From his home on the west coast, Lloyd was heading to the east coast, to Virginia, to watch and talk to Jamie Baker, whose resurgence has done everyone's heart good. Baker, who won three Futures tournaments in the Far East and Australia recently (beating 13 Australian opponents in succession), had stepped up a league, to Challenger level, but was beaten in the first round of qualifying on Saturday at Charlottesville.

The consolation for Baker will be to discover that Lloyd has him firmly pencilled into his plans for the Euro Africa Davis Cup Zone II tie in Lithuania next March. While there is no such thing as a guarantee, the Scot's surge up the rankings and recovery from illness could not have come at a more opportune moment.