By Chris Oddo | @TheFanChild | Thursday April 9, 2020
In his first year as ATP CEO, Andrea Gaudenzi talks about the challenge of guiding the ATP safely through the Coronavirus pandemic.
ATP CEO Andrea Gaudenzi gave an interview on Wednesday and did his best to provide a blueprint for moving tennis forward in 2020. Though hopeful that the sport can resume in July for the North American hardcourt swing, Gaudenzi told reporters that things will be determined by factors that are outside of anybody’s control.
“Now we are talking about the season’s calendar, but you should know that we’ve come up with about 50 different versions, and we’ve had to re-shuffle them on a daily basis,” he said.
The 46-year-old Italian, in his first year at the helm of the ATP, said that there are currently hopes for a four-week clay season beginning after the US Open. After all is said and done, potentially seven Masters 1000 events and three majors can be played before the end of the year.
“We are working on the possibility of a four-weeks clay swing after the US Open,” Gaudenzi said. “The best-case scenario would be to have the North American swing during the summer, then the clay, then Asia, and then the ATP Finals.”
Still, every bold and hopeful statement must come with a caveat. This is the state of professional sports during the Coronavirus pandemic.
Gaudenzi adds: “If the US Open gets cancelled, the complexity of the situation would grow exponentially, because we should consider playing in November and December too, but at the moment we are focusing on a re-start after the Wimbledon slot.”
While painting as hopeful a picture as is possible given the current state of the world as it social distances in unison, Gaudenzi took time to talk about other real issues of the ATP going forward. Gaudenzi says the tour will survive, provided things slowly but surely return to normal.
“We have three main sources of income: TV/media rights, advertising, and ticketing,” he said. “The latter will obviously take a big hit, and advertisers will demand lower prices too, especially if play were to be resumed behind closed doors. We can hold on for a year, and I’m quite optimistic about resuming play in autumn, and to a certain extent even during the summer. If we can sit tight and have the chance to host the ATP Finals, that’s good, we’ll survive. Would we survive for two or three years? Definitely not! The longer it takes to solve the situation, the worse our condition becomes.”
Gaudenzi ruled out changing the makeup of the tour to a more regional outfit with less emphasis on travel, saying that he’d like to avoid tamping down what makes the sport a truly global experience.
“Our job is to put a smile on people’s faces, we are part of the entertainment business,” he said. “Sure enough, we don’t want to become a regional sport, because that would mean taking a step back, and that would also create a ranking problem, since the best players would be competing in different leagues instead of against each other. However, it is certainly an option, even if it’s not our preferred choice.”
The Italian, a former World No.18, also broached myriad topics relating to the current state of the sport, and its future, such as the potential union of the ATP and Davis Cups, Roger Federer, the current income inequality pervading the sport and on working more closely with the WTA.
On the subject of providing financial assistance to players and tournaments, he said: “On the matter of financial support, we’ll deal with Challengers and 250 events first, along with the players whose ranking is comprised between 250 and 500, because they’ll be the ones in need. There’s no point in providing support for the Top 50 or for the Slams.”
Gaudenzi has had the roughest first possible debut as ATP CEO, after beginning a four-year stint when he took over for Chris Kermode in January. He steered the ATP through the Aussie bush fire crisis and now has seen the sport deal with the crushing blow of the Coronavirus.
Though things promise to get even more difficult for the tour in 2020, he remains positive and dedicated to creating a spirit of cohesiveness among the sports’ governing bodies.
“We need to dream big, as a collective unit,” he said. “We need to speak the same language, and to speak the truth. Some small sacrifices are required of everybody.”