Women's tennis is not doing good, and according to Kazakhstan Tennis Federation's Vice President Yuri Polsky it is because people go to men's tennis more.
In an interview with Russian outlet Championat, Polsky talks about the difficulties of women's tennis and how increasing the number of bigger events in order to attract and compel the top-ranked players to participate is gathering pace.
Over a month ago, the Telegraph broke the news of a potential historic merger between the ATP and WTA, seen at the time as a strategic move to ward off any takeover interest by Saudi Arabia's sovereign wealth fund, PIF, which has expressed solid interest in investing in tennis.
Not at any point did people foresaw a financial crisis wreaking havoc on women's tennis and a merger would appear as the swiftest and most reasonable of solutions.
The ATP have been posting strong financial results year-on-year, establishing a healthy reserve and retirement funds for players and the association. On the other hand, the WTA is struggling, and according to Yuri Polsky, the fact that the WTA offers some prize money doesn't mean that they generate the same income.
"It should be understood that the Billie Jean King Cup and the WTA, having equal prizes, do not generate the same income. That is, unfortunately, this is a reality - people go to men's tennis more."
"As a solution, ATP offers an option with a combination of rights: broadcasting rights will be sold in the ATP+WTA complex. Broadcasters will buy the block: they cannot buy ATP separately, so they will also purchase WTA."
"Thus, it is possible to raise the value of the women's tennis association - to pump up a little artifficially. But in general, attention is drawn to the fact that women's tennis will at least be broadcast."
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