Only 11 of the ATP's 63 events this year, or about 17%, will be played at venues in the U.S.getty images
American tennis fans "used to have more options" to attend tournaments, but smaller events in the U.S. have had "trouble selling enough tickets and sponsorships to stay financially viable," according to Adam Zagoria of the N.Y. TIMES. Twenty-four of 55 WTA events held in '90 took place in the U.S., but that number is down to just seven this year. Five of those seven are "joint events with men." On the men’s side, 16 of 77 worldwide ATP events in '90 took place in the U.S. This year, 11 of 63 will. WTA CEO Steve Simon: "I don’t think that we will ever become a U.S.-centric tour again. ... We have moved to having a global footprint versus being focused primarily in one country." Simon said that the WTA "planned to introduce two new events" in the U.S., one beginning this year and another in '20, both of which will "take place the week before the U.S. Open." USTA Chief Exec of Professional Tennis Stacey Allaster said that with "more than half of the world’s population in Asia, the WTA looked to that continent as a pillar of growth." This season there are 11 WTA events in China alone, part of a "tennis boom fueled by the success of Li Na." Former WTA CEO Anne Worcester, who served as Connecticut Open Tournament Dir until it was sold to Asian sports company APG, said that it was "hard to sell tickets and sponsorships in part because there were fewer American stars to promote" (N.Y. TIMES, 4/16).
