A potential merger between the men's ATP and women’s WTA tours in tennis has reportedly been put on hold indefinitely.
The two parties had been in discussions to pool their commercial and media rights and were understood to be nearing a deal in 2025 under the previous WTA chair, Steve Simon.
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Citing sources close to negotiations, UK news outlet The Guardian said his successor, Valerie Camillo, is not prepared to accept the terms of the revenue share agreed by Simon and has walked away from the agreement.
The UK outlet reports that the women’s game now faces the prospect of making significant cuts to its operational budget. The WTA is understood to have already begun to implement cost-cutting measures, with fewer operational staff attending some events, including Wimbledon.
In January, ATP chief executive Eno Polo was confident of concluding a deal, saying that the tours were “quite close to reaching an agreement.”
In 2021, the ATP and WTA appeared to move a step closer to a potential merger after combining their marketing operations.
The tours officially transitioned to an integrated marketing operation in January 2021, building on what the respective organizations called an “unprecedented collaboration.”
Calls for the ATP and WTA to merge intensified in 2020 as the Covid-19 pandemic severely impacted the sport, both in terms of its calendar and finances. However, talk of a merger softened after the WTA partnered with investment firm CVC Capital Partners in 2023.
The company, which is heavily involved in sports, purchased a stake of around 20% in the WTA’s commercial rights for $150 million.
The WTA had a reported revenue of $142 million in 2024, less than half of the ATP's reported $294 million.
The women’s tour stood to generate more revenue by pooling rights, but would have likewise locked in a lower percentage of revenue than the ATP in the process.
ATP chair Andrea Gaudenzi recently warned that the sport’s continued failure to pool commercial businesses and reduce fragmentation between events is leading to billions of dollars in lost revenue.
He told the Financial Times that bringing together the men’s and women’s tours, the World Tennis governing body (formerly the International Tennis Federation), and the four grand slams – Roland-Garros, Wimbledon, the Australian Open, and US Open – would transform the finances of tennis and unlock a huge potential fan base.
He claims that tennis is “under-monetized” and estimates that the current revenue generated across professional tennis of about $3.5 billion a year could double or even triple if the entities were to combine forces.
Ross Hutchins, chief executive of World Tennis and Gaudenzi’s former colleague at the ATP, believes a close collaboration between tennis’ main stakeholders is key to competing with other sports.
Speaking to Sportcal late last month, Hutchins said: “I'm all for collaboration. I've said that, and I believe in Andrea's way of thinking from a collaboration standpoint. The sport is in a competitive world with other sports, and we need to make sure that we prioritize tennis as a whole.
“We want to make it easier for anyone willing to spend money with us to come to tennis and be more transactional and easier to access our sport because there are a lot of appealing things that people would pay for in our sport, but we don't want to have blockages, speed bumps, or challenges between getting people in.
“Anything along those lines is a positive for us. I understand why Andrea believes this is the direction. I understand that we should collaborate more, and I'm firmly of the issue that if we do collaborate more, the sky's the limit. Specific to his numbers, I'm not sure where he referenced those from, but again, I do believe it's the right path forward for us.”
Gaudenzi was a key player in creating a 'T7 working group' during his first term as ATP chair alongside World Tennis, the WTA, and the four grand slams in a bid to streamline the governance of the sport.
While there has been no effect on prize money to date, WTA players are reportedly concerned that tournament purses could be cut or frozen in future years.
Earlier this month, the WTA decided to exit its three‑year contract to stage the WTA Finals in Saudi Arabia one year early.
The season-ending tournament features the top eight singles players and doubles teams and has been held in Riyadh since 2024 as part of a contract between the WTA and the Saudi Tennis Federation, which was due to run through 2027.
This year’s edition will instead be held at the Indian Wells Tennis Garden in Los Angeles, California, from November 8 to 15.
