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A proposal from Tennis Australia for a Team Cup event could come to a vote in November.
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China’s CMC Capital Partners has pulled out of bidding for the ATP’s proposed World Team Cup, pulling its 13-year, $500 million offer for the rights to run the event, sources said.
The ATP since last year has been considering setting up an Olympic-style tournament, putting 24 national teams in a competition that would award ranking points and prize money comparable to a Grand Slam.
CMC made its offer more than a year ago, the sources said, but the ATP did not move on the bid because, it is believed, major tournaments were against a team cup. A Team Cup could strain players and dilute the shared revenue of the ATP.
The ATP declined to comment.
The ATP is now left with a nascent proposal from Tennis Australia to rework its January tournament schedule into a Team Cup. That could come to a vote at the ATP’s November board of directors meetings, though it’s unclear whether Tennis Australia will proceed with the CMC bid off the table. Tennis Australia was concerned that CMC’s tournament could compete against those January tournaments and so put together its own idea, first presented to the ATP last month.
