Men's and women's tennis tours to discuss game-changing merger

Exclusive: A meeting has been arranged for later this month, in an attempt to stave off a potential Saudi takeover of the sport

The men’s and women’s tennis tours have taken the first steps towards a historic merger, by inviting executives and tournament representatives to a two-day summit in London at the end of this month.

Three years after Roger Federer called for the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) to unite, the bosses of the two organisations – respectively Andrea Gaudenzi and Steve Simon – are finally looking to align the tours and pool their assets.

If the initiative goes to plan – and that is a big “if” – it will be a game-changer. Tennis has long been hamstrung by its disunited governance, and although the four grand slams would remain separate from any unified tour, this would still be a transformational move.

The summit comes after months of speculation about Saudi Arabia’s interest in tennis. It seems that the spectre of LIV golf, and the fear of a tennis equivalent, has prompted the tours to act with some urgency.

Another concern is the challenge from the rival player union founded by 23-times major champion Novak Djokovic – the PTPA – which has been gradually expanding its influence since its establishment four years ago.

All these moving parts have contributed to a febrile atmosphere among tennis administrators, who held non-stop meetings in New York throughout the first week of the US Open.

Men’s players may be protective over prize money

Gaudenzi and Simon called the London summit a few days ago, and still have many hurdles to clear before they can say that any merger is official. Each body has its own commercial partners and its own deals for TV rights and data rights, while some tournaments may be impractical to run as combined events.

The very word “merger” is open to many different interpretations. But as long as Gaudenzi and Simon remain committed to the idea – and can convince their respective boards of its merits – then they should be able to draw the ATP and the WTA closer and closer together, step by incremental step.

The least enthusiastic stakeholders will probably be the male players. Despite the provision of equal prize money at the majors, they earn about 75 per cent more than their female equivalents. Were the tours to become one, they would fear a financial redistribution.

Yet Gaudenzi and Simon would surely argue that, if tennis were able to act in a more cohesive manner, the size of the whole pie would soon expand.

Saudis want to host more tennis events

While the Saudi issue has been the source of much angst over the past week, Gaudenzi and Simon may also see such tensions as an opportunity, helping them to bounce tennis’s stakeholders towards a long-awaited union.

Even so, both organisations must still work out a strategy for dealing with the Middle East. Until late last week, the WTA were leaning towards staging their finals event in Riyadh in seven weeks’ time. But public opposition from the likes of Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert – who have both highlighted Saudi Arabia’s regressive stance on women – appears to have changed the mood. The tournament is now expected to be held in the Czech Republic, although there is also a Mexican bid in play.

As for the ATP, they have discussed Saudi Arabia’s desire to become part of the tennis establishment – and specifically to add a 10th Masters 1000 event in Riyadh to the nine which already make up the main pegs of the men’s tour.

But when would the new Masters tournament be played? There is hardly any space in the calendar, however much the ATP would like to bring the Saudis inside the tent. Admittedly, the Next Gen ATP Finals were recently awarded to Jeddah, Saudi Arabia’s second city, but that may not be enough to satisfy them.

Potential scheduling options for a 10th Masters include October, December and early January, but all three have drawbacks. The first would involve squeezing Riyadh between two existing Masters in Shanghai and Paris, while the second would extend a season that is already seen as overlong. The third would be a direct challenge to Tennis Australia’s new United Cup event.

Another issue is the ATP’s long history with Qatar, which has staged a 250-point tournament in Doha for the past 30 years. Nasser Al-Khelaifi – the former Futures-level player who now runs the Qatar Tennis Federation as well as the Paris Saint-Germain football club – could potentially cause trouble if a new event in Riyadh were to overshadow his.

‘One voice, women and men together’

These are turbulent times in the world of tennis, but potentially promising ones as well. Any progress on a unified tour would no doubt please Federer, who published a tweet in April 2020 asking: “Am I the only one thinking that now is the time for men’s and women’s tennis to be united and come together as one?”

His question did not impress Nick Kyrgios, who reflected the overall feeling of the men’s locker room when he immediately responded with the answer: “Yes”.

But Billie Jean King, who originally founded the WTA 50 years ago, was more receptive. “I agree,” she wrote, “and have been saying so since the early 1970s. One voice, women and men together, has long been my vision for tennis. The WTA on its own was always Plan B. I’m glad we are on the same page. Let’s make it happen.”