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Leagues and Governing Bodies

ATP Tour, ITF Talking About Overcrowded Tennis Schedule

The ATP has 64 global events, and the WTA has 54, not including the four Grand Slams and the Davis Cupgetty images

The ATP and ITF are engaged in negotiations over the future of the tennis calendar, as both bodies have new team competitions scheduled for the near future that could add unbearable strain to the sport. ITF President David Haggerty, whose organization is readying a new 18-nation team Davis Cup tournament in November '19 in Madrid, said he expected talks with the ATP to conclude by the end of the year. “The calendar is just pretty -- well, not pretty, it is very -- cluttered,” Haggerty said. “And it’s not just Davis Cup, but Davis Cup can give us the ability to sit down at the table.” The ITF is reforming the 118-year-old Davis Cup to conclude at one site with a week-long tennis extravaganza. The ITF sold rights to the new Davis Cup competition to Kosmos, a European investment group fronted by FC Barcelona D Gerard Pique. for an announced $3B over 25 years. Haggerty conceded that the week-long Davis Cup finale likely would not be enough for Kosmos, and the fund would need more events in the rest of the year. However, a winner-take-all event reportedly to be held in September '19 is not a done deal yet, Haggerty said. Meanwhile the ATP, which earlier this year approved its new Team World Cup competition that is expected to debut in late '19 or early '20, suggested it might be flexible after its inaugural event. “We continue to work and have an open dialogue with the other tennis governing bodies on various matters, including the Davis Cup,” the ATP said in a statement. “While the 2019 ATP World Tour calendar was announced earlier this year, discussions are ongoing relating to 2020 and beyond. Any further discussion around that would be purely speculative at this stage.”

CROWDED CALENDAR: The tennis calendar has long been a jumble of events spanning the globe and thus straining players. The ATP has 64 global events, and the WTA has 54, which does not include the four Grand Slams and the Davis Cup. However, with the addition of two new team competitions, the recently completed Laver Cup, and whatever other new events the ITF conjures up as part of the Kosmos deal, there is a sense the sport may soon reach a breaking point. The men’s season starts in early January and ends in November, so much of the short time off could get consumed by the team events, and this in a sport where player injuries are a constant.

WTA TOUR NOT INCLUDED NOW: The discussions for now do not include the WTA Tour. The Davis Cup reform does not include the women’s Fed Cup, so the issue is one between the men’s tournament schedule and the Davis Cup. Rearranging the schedule is tough even without considering women’s events (though some that are combined with men’s events could get affected). “I know everyone will feel the weeks they have are the most important weeks,” Haggerty said. “But if we step back and if we started today to put together the tennis calendar it might look different.”

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