WME's purchase of IMG in late '13 left many people asking whether the merged company would continue to invest in tennis "at a time of reduced margins, increased competition and high-profile defections from the traditional agency model," but fast forward just over a year, and the answer "is an unmistakable yes," according to Christopher Clarey of the N.Y. TIMES. WME-IMG co-CEO Patrick Whitesell said, “Tennis and golf are synonymous with IMG." He added, “One of the things you’re seeing now is that whether you have fashion brands that want to be around tennis players or traditional athletic brands that want to be around actors or musicians, all those walls have come down.” Clarey notes WME's "lone active tennis client" before the IMG purchase was Serena Williams. IMG aleady repped Maria Sharapova, Kei Nishikori, Li Na and Novak Djokovic, among others, and since the takeover has signed Petra Kvitova, Jo-Wilfried Tsonga, Eugenie Bouchard and Nick Kyrgios, "as well as the usual young prospects." Lagardere agent John Tobias said, "I think the focus on accumulating as much talent as possible is a real priority for IMG now." Clarey notes WME-IMG "remains a work in progress." A number of top IMG execs "left or were dismissed after the takeover, and the debt load is heavy." IMG "remains handcuffed at the Miami Open, the most significant tournament it owns, by a legal battle that limits its ability to expand and keep pace with the increasingly opulent Indian Wells event." The question is whether WME-IMG, as it "builds toward a possible" IPO, can keep big-name players and their agents "from walking through that door to create their own smaller shops" (N.Y. TIMES, 6/29).
