The men’s and women’s tennis tours are reportedly set for historic merger talks at the end of this month amid Saudi Arabian interest in the sport. According to the Telegraph, executives, and tournament representatives of the Association of Tennis Professionals (ATP) and the Women’s Tennis Association (WTA) will attend a two-day summit in London.
Bosses of the ATP and the WTA, Andrea Gaudenzi and Steve Simon, are open to the possibility of aligning the tours and pooling their assets with Saudi Arabia sniffing around. After observing golf’s civil war between Saudi-backed LIV and the PGA, tennis tours are moving with urgency to avoid a similar situation.
Saudi Arabia would like to host more tennis events and the WTA were leaning towards staging their finals event in Riyadh. However, such a move has been met with fierce criticism from female tennis legends Martina Navratilova and Chris Evert, who both pointed toward Saudi’s “regressive stance” towards women.
Meanwhile, the ATP considered adding a 10th Masters 1000 event to be hosted in Riyadh. The addition of a 10th Masters 1000 event would be an added sweetener after Saudi were awarded the Next Gen ATP Finals, which will be played in the country’s second city, Jeddah.
A game-changing merger would see the four grand slams remain separate from the unification. But it could cause friction, with men’s players reportedly being protective over prize money. Twenty-three-time Grand Slam winner Novak Djokovic founded the PTPA (Professional Tennis Players Association) and the report states that professional male tennis stars earn around 75 percent more than their female equivalents despite equal prize money at the majors.
PTPA co-founder Vasek Pospisil is already at war with the ATP and WTA for deliberately making tennis balls heavier. Pospisil says heavier balls are taking a toll on players’ bodies, especially their joints. “There were discussions a few years back that the ATP/WTA wanted to ‘slow the game down’ to have longer points for fans,” he said on X. “The balls have been getting incrementally heavier and surprise surprise, it’s killing our bodies. Almost every player I’ve spoken to feels the same way.
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“I’ve never seen more wrist, elbow, and shoulder injuries in the locker room. If these changes to the ball don’t start getting reversed, it’s only going to get worse. Please start listening @atptour @wtatour. Player injuries are bad for you too.”
Ex-tennis star Mardy Fish responded: “This can’t be more spot on. I struggled with my arm every day because of the different weight of the balls week to week. Need 15 minutes to warm my arm up now just to play catch with my son.”
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