Tennis has not one but two successful governing bodies at work – the ATP (for men) and the WTA (for women). And for a long time now, there have been discussions about their merger, which were started off by Roger Federer. But recently, Andrea Gaudenzi, Chairman of ATP, shed some light on the recent developments and the idea behind the merger.

The retired Italian player, Andrea, is optimistic regarding the prospects of ATP and WTA joining together. He visited Tennis Channel and spoke about what was happening outside the court.

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ATP chairman reveals new developments on Federer’s merger idea with WTA

The idea of the merger was first brought in by none other than Roger Federer. The 20-time Grand Slam champion claimed that it was now time for the two governing bodies to become one.

Moreover, Gaudenzi highlighted that tennis is fortunate to have an extensive array of female talent.

“I think it is a great strength of our sport that we have a very strong women product. I think it is a unique selling point. Our biggest events are combined; the fans want to see both,” the ATP chairman said.

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Additionally, Gaudenzi expressed that he truly believes in selling, packaging, and distributing under one banner “because we belong to the same storytelling, starting in January and ending at the end of the year.”

Finally, the chairman shared some good news about their completed work and also mentioned the ongoing project.

“We are working very closely with the WTA; we have now joined the marketing and social media department,” Andrea added. “We are also looking to aggregating the commercial rights, so it’s progress.”

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Will Roger Federer play the next ATP and WTA combined event?

The Mutua Madrid Open 2021 is the upcoming combined event for ATP and WTA. Unfortunately, Federer will not play the event this year; he will instead play ATP Geneva before the French Open.

In 2021, women’s tennis has also adapted the tournament segregation as per men’s tennis. The Madrid Open was a Premier Mandatory event in 2019, but now, it is a WTA 1000 event.

Also, there is a lot of excitement between fans and players for a new ATP-WTA combined live scoring app. However, it will come into play from next year.

Hopefully, the merger will complete at full speed, and fans will experience the new era of tennis. Until then, there is no choice but to enjoy the ATP and WTA events separately.

Also Read: “Perfect Person For This”: Billie Jean King Backs Roger Federer for ATP-WTA Merger