Rafael Nadal y Andrea Gaudenzi They have sat in front of the ATP cameras to talk about the future of professional tennis and about the new project that they have presented together with the rest of the organizations, called OneVision. The project will kick off in January 2023 with the changes in the Masters 1000 in Madrid, Rome and Shanghai, increasing them in length and number of players. The second phase will try to unite the great governing bodies of the competition – ATP, WTA, ITF and the four Grand Slams – into one, to create unity and bring out the true potential of tennis.
In addition, also Topics such as the increase in prizes and financial transparency were discussed, the schedule and a focus on the “premium” product of the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, helped by the improvement of the conditions of this category. Thus, Nadal made his opinion clear with this new step that has been taken to take tennis to a higher level: “We have to bring the Masters 1000 closer to the Grand Slams”.
A great growth opportunity
Gaudenzi, current president of the ATP, has cataloged this project as “a great opportunity”, but has highlighted the key point of this new reconversion. “We are a global sport, we have millions of fans, we have a great product for both men and women. But we struggle with monetization and in that case we are very fragmented. Thus, one of our main parts of the plan is the unit. Try to get us all going in one direction.”
The Italian also discussed the expansion of the Masters 1000 and how to promote the “premium” product throughout the world, so he asked the current number four in the world about the importance of these tournaments for him. “The Masters 1000 are huge tournaments. Sometimes, from my point of view, the Grand Slams and the rest of the tournaments are much lower, so our goal from ATP has to be to bring these tournaments closer to the Grand Slams in terms of promotion and importance”.
In this talk, Nadal asks the president of the ATP how they were going to achieve all these objectives, since many details are going to give a total turn for this new advance. “I think the start is to give the players a lot more transparency. on tournament economics. We are going to create an alliance with all these interests and we are going to improve our sport by fighting side by side”. Nadal is also favorable to these advances and sees in this project a great future for tennis. “Me I have lost a lot of energy fighting between both sides. The tournaments fight for the tournaments and the players fight for themselves”.
Gaudenzi also left a fact with which Nadal strongly agreed, stating that this could be “the winning formula.” “It can change the relationship and trust between players and tournaments, because it aims to give players visibility into the economics of tournaments and also for players to share in our future success. If the tournaments do well financially, players will get 50% of the profits, plus prize money.”
