ATP Chairman Guadenzi reveals goal of merging the ATP, WTA, ITF into one organization

Andrea Gaudenzi has revealed his plans to unify the ATP, WTA, ITF, and all four Grand Slam organizers under one organization to better improve the level of efficiency in tennis.

Former professional Gaudenzi has endured turbulent two years as Chairman of the ATP after his appointment on January 1st 2020. In that time, the world has seen a number of global crises that have all had wide-ranging impacts on tennis, including the 2020 Australian bush fires, the Covid-19 pandemic and now the ongoing war between Russia and Ukraine.

According to the Italian, tennis has “seen more changes in the past two years than in the previous 20 combined." and he's not wrong in that assessment. To counter that and improve the efficiency of the sport Gaudenzi wants to unite all the relevant tennis organizations into one. He said:

"We have worked more closely with the WTA on some marketing initiatives and also with the other major organisations through the launch of the T7 working group made up of the four Grand Slam, the ITF, WTA and the ATP. All of this makes me very optimistic that our sport can achieve great things in the future if we all work together."

He further said:

“In the near to mid-term future, it would be my wish to see tennis evolve towards shared leadership and governance, where seven organisations work together to make decisions and move the sport forward,” Gaudenzi outlined. Right now, that process is making decisions fragmented, which leads to inefficiency."

He finished off with:

“Still, I have to say that over the last 24 months we have already made progress that is extremely encouraging, so I have faith that a model like the one outlined in feasible and that it would take our sport extremely forward.”