Tennis leaders of ATP and WTA Tours present the Grand Slams with a new plan to fix the sport

2 weeks ago

“It all starts with top players at premium events — driving rivalries and elevating the sport’s biggest stages,” the deck says. The owners of the 1,000, 500, and 250-level tournaments below Grand Slams, named for the ranking points they award to their winners, have not been included in the proposal’s formation. (Top photo: Andrea Gaudenzi […]

“It all starts with top players at premium events — driving rivalries and elevating the sport’s biggest stages,” the deck says. The owners of the 1,000, 500, and 250-level tournaments below Grand Slams, named for the ranking points they award to their winners, have not been included in the proposal’s formation.

(Top photo: Andrea Gaudenzi and Jannik Sinner; by Marco Canoniero / LightRocket via Getty Images)

There would be six player seats, three for the ATP and three for the WTA, with one chair. The deck uses photos of top players, including Novak Djokovic, who is on the PTPA executive committee, and Iga Swiatek and Carlos Alcaraz, who have recently criticized the tournament schedule and the number of mandatory events that players have to play.AdvertisementGo further down the rungs of tournament prestige and revenue drops while its proportions change; the less lucrative the tournament, the lower the proportion of revenue that comes from media and sponsorships. The split revenues also harm the various bodies’ negotiating positions in media rights because they are effectively competing against each other. Selling one package would maximize competition from bidders and so, the theory goes, drive up the price.The inclusion of the 500s and some 250s is a significant diversion from the Grand Slams’ plan, which proposed incorporating those tournaments into a developmental tour, through which players would ascend to the “premium” tour. The calendar also promises “improved regional flow” and an “extended off-season,” but does not discuss specifics.