ATP and WTA launches first joint project amid calls for tennis unification

The newly combined ATP and WTA marketing operation has launched its first major project.

The two top tennis associations – the men’s ATP and the women’s WTA – first announced plans to merge their marketing departments in January amid further calls to fully merge the seven bodies that run the game. 

The new project in question is the second season of the digital show Tennis United: CrossCourt, which was first launched in 2020.

The current state of affairs sees the ATP, WTA, International Tennis Federation and the four Grand Slams handle their own ranking systems and broadcast rights. The crisis caused by the Covid-19 pandemic has seen strong calls for governance reform from the likes of ATP chairman Andrea Gaudenzi, who took over at the start of 2020.

Even then, the exec was calling to unify the tours under one body. In recent comments to Reuters, Gaudenzi reiterated his stance that a unified sport should be the future of tennis and that bringing the marketing teams of ATP and WTA together “is an important step towards packaging and distributing tennis as one sport, which ultimately will help us enhance the experience for fans.”