\n<\/p>\n
Creating a Contender Tour that is financially sustainable and desirable to spectators around the world will still be a monumental challenge. And with current ATP and WTA 250 events likely to be downgraded to Challenger Tour events, there will be many tournament owners with a product they can no longer sell.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Premium Tour will not happen for sure – I am convinced,\u201d said the owner of one tournament that is likely to be significantly affected by the proposals.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe players will not agree – because the players, they need to play. A guy ranked 50 or 60 is going to lose every first or second round, so he will not be able to keep his ranking. Their aim is to have the most number of jobs during the year. The Premium Tour will be for the top 20 players, that\u2019s all.<\/p>\n
\u201cTennis is made of proximity and diversity. So diversity is that you can play everywhere; proximity is that even in a small city, you can meet the players. It\u2019s the strength of tennis.”<\/p>\n
If a new unified tour does emerge, it will require compromise and is likely to take many years, as the WTA\u2019s Simon told the BBC at the beginning of the month.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe don\u2019t have a clean sheet of paper,” he said. “You are going to end up spending all your time in court versus getting something done.<\/p>\n
\u201cThere of course can be principles you want to strive to, but it\u2019s going to take time to do that. You can\u2019t just blow up 1,000, 500 and 250 events as they have invested a lot, are important and all play their roles in the ecosystem.\u201d<\/p>\n
His ATP counterpart Gaudenzi highlighted the goal of \u201ca new unified governance for the sport\u201d in the One Vision strategy launched in 2022.<\/p>\n
And the tours are certainly becoming more aligned: as well as joint meetings, the ATP and WTA will this week continue very positive discussions about the foundation of a joint commercial entity to manage assets such as broadcast rights, data and sponsorship.<\/p>\n
WTA Ventures was created in March 2022 to run the WTA\u2019s commercial interests and its partnership with the private equity firm CVC Capital Partners.<\/p>\n
\u2018Tennis Ventures\u2019 would be the next step, and would bring ATP and WTA commercial assets together under one roof.<\/p>\n
Tennis is moving towards a new future, but no-one yet knows the final destination.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n