A major revolution in tennis seems to be on the horizon. With a merger, the four Grand Slams want to win over more tournaments to create a “super tour”
Are we witnessing the biggest tennis revolution in many years? As The Athletic reports, talks are currently taking place behind the scenes that could lead to a new Super Tour.
According to the report, the four major Gland slams are currently seeking a partnership with the ten biggest tournaments (apart from the Grand Slams) in order to create a new premium tour.
The organizers are looking to package 14 tournaments into a single tour that could resemble a tennis version of the Formula 1 World Championship. This has been confirmed by five people involved in the talks, reports The Athletic.
New “premium tour” in tennis?
The tournaments in question are the nine ATP Masters 1000 tournaments, to which a further tournament – to be held in Saudi Arabia – is to be added.
At the highest level, the men’s tennis tournament series organized by the ATP players’ association will therefore only have the ATP Finals in addition to the 500 and 250 events. A similar concept is likely to be used for the women’s tournament
Whether and to what extent the plan for this new “premium tour” can be implemented is still up in the air. “There are many hurdles to overcome, but this would be the proverbial turning point,” wrote tennis journalist Jon Wertheim on X.
But the people behind the new Super Tour are serious. One sign of this is that they have not yet signed the next three-year agreement with the tours, which sets out the system for awarding ranking points.
FWIW, hearing more chatter about the Slams joining to acquire 10 biggest events, forming a super tour (with Saudi Arabia getting 10th event)…leaving @atp and @WTA to run 500s and year-end finals… lot of hurdles to clear but this would be the proverbial game-changer…stay tuned
– Jon Wertheim (@jon_wertheim) November 26, 2023
Positive talks – but everything is still open
According to the report, the prevailing opinion is that this is pointless in view of the plans under discussion – even if it means that the 2024 season would start without an agreement.
However, talks about the Super Tour, which have apparently been taking place in the background for months, are said to be going well so far, according to several people in charge. Nevertheless, nothing is certain yet.
Both a failure of the planned Super Tour and an expansion to more than just ten additional tournaments are still possible
