Novak Djokovic discussed the possible ATP and WTA merger after he was asked about it following his quarterfinal win at the 2024 Australian Open.
The idea of merging the ATP and the WTA has been around for a while, as many think that the sports moving in unison would be beneficial for all. As with all ideas, it has merit in principle, but the reality might be quite different as the sport is pretty disjointed as it is.
We've seen the Tours take different approaches to many things, including dealing with Saudi Arabia's interest in the sport but also the stance on China during the Peng Shuai saga and the handling of Alexander Zverev's domestic abuse case.
The ATP launched a separate investigation, which was questioned many times, even before they announced that no further action would be taken. On the other hand, some WTA players thought situation should have been handled differently, so there are plenty of reasons why some might be apprehensive of a potential merger.
Djokovic, as an outspoken individual, didn't shy away from sharing his thoughts about it following his win over Taylor Fritz at the Australian Open, and he offered an interesting take.
"Yeah, I heard. I'm not sure if it's like a total merge or is it only a commercial kind of collaboration or agreement between the two tours? I think to some extent it's logical, I mean, that if we are having so many combined events on the tour that, you know, we try to collaborate even further together and increase the value, I guess, of tennis overall."
The idea has merit in principle and seems logical, but many things need to be sorted out before it happens, and a quick merger would probably create a lot of confusion and more problems for everybody.
"But, you know, when it comes to the total merge, I'm not so sure if that can work, to be honest, because a lot of things, there is still a lot of differences, you know, with the rules and the way that the tours operate."
"But commercially, yeah, I mean, why not? Let's see what happens. I'm not in the council anymore, so I don't have any inside information to share with you, but let's see what happens."
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