Global Sports Week: "We should try to form a unique governing body for the sport" (A. Gaudenzi, ATP)

"It has been two difficult seasons but, on the upside, we have worked more closely with the WTA and grand slam organizations. We have different governing bodies. We market TV rights on separate cycles, and to a certain extent, we have different rules so a lot of times it makes things complicated for a fan to follow and for us governing bodies it triggers a lot of conflict. I think we should try to work united and try to form a unique governing body for the entire sport because we can definitely deliver a better experience to our fans - who love our sport," said Andrea Gaudenzi, chairman of the ATP, during Global Sports Week 2021 on 03/02/2021.

The idea of merging the various tennis bodies (ATP, WTA, ITF, etc.) is slowly gaining traction and there are signs of a willingness to standardise practices. In 2021, the Women's Tennis Association (WTA) thus adopted a new system of nomenclature for its tournaments which is modelled on that of the ATP (ATP Masters 1000, ATP 500, ATP 250 and ATP Challenger, i.e. ATP 125). In the future, WTA tournaments will now be classified as follows: WTA…