ATP Boss claims premium tour is ‘absolutely not’ a possibility
Executive Chairman of the ATP, Andrea Gaudenzi, has had his say on the rumours of a premium tour and called for more unity going forward.
It was recently revealed by The Athletic that their were potential plans for a premium tennis tour that would be lead by the four Grand Slam tournaments and include ten Masters 1000 events, in a similar style to the Formula-One season.
However, when asked by The National, Gaudenzi did not think the possibility of this coming to fruition was likely at all, “No, in my opinion, absolutely not.”
Despite this, the ATP chairman of three years does believe there should be more collaboration between the different tennis organisation’s going forward, “I think what I’ve been extremely vocal about the last four years… is that we need to figure out a way to work together.
“Whatever was written in that article, it’s definitely the concept of focusing on a premium product, which will mean the Slams and the Masters and the premium product, all together combined, is a very powerful proposition for the consumers. That I agree with 100 percent.”
"It's an honour to be appointed for a second term as ATP Chairman, and continue serving the sport that has given me so much"
Andrea Gaudenzi has been re-elected as Chairman of the ATP Tour. The Italian will now serve a second term, from 2024 through 2026.
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— ATP Tour (@atptour) June 26, 2023
Gaudenzi continued by saying that the premium tour ‘will only destroy value, not add value’, suggesting that it could cause ‘disruption’ and ‘civil war’.
“Ultimately, I think you can get there by building on top of the value that we have today rather than destroying and creating disruption, which I think ultimately, it’s always more expensive, it’s time and energy and money-consuming, it’s not necessary,” explained Gaudenzi.
“I’m 100 percent pro unity and pro finding solutions through conversations in a room. I strongly believe we can agree a lot more than we actually believe, when you’re together.”
The Italian concluded, “Because ultimately we are aligned. We are all pushing for tennis to be stronger and growing… So we’re on the same side, we’re on the same team – that’s team tennis. Having civil war doesn’t help.”
Inside the baseline…
The premium tour appeared to be coming more and more of a possibility, however Gaudenzi’s latest statement appears to have quietened those rumours. There were suggestions that meetings might take place at the upcoming Australian Open, so it will be interesting to see if more comes to light in January.
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