Tennis won't be played until mid-July at the earliest, and it'll likely be even longer than that. The thought of players from all different countries flying to tournaments all over the world seems pretty low on the list of things that are going to happen anytime soon. Former world No. 1 Amelie Mauresmo has even suggested the entire rest of the year may be wiped out.
This extended time off (which, for some players is the longest non-injury break they've had in years) actually creates a great opportunity for both the men's and women's tours, though. Roger Federer's name carries a lot of clout in tennis circles (obviously), and he suggested it might be time for the tours to think about combining into one. And, frankly, he's right. In fact, it's probably something that's long overdue.
While the Open Era started in 1968, there wasn't an official pro tour until 1972, when a group of men's players formed the ATP. There was no equivalent for the women until Bille Jean King famously created the Virginia Slims (now WTA) Tour the following year. There have been separate men's and women's tours ever since.
Combining the tours makes an awful lot of sense, though. And now's as good a time as any to make the move. Because I think it could help players of both genders more than the separate tours do.
One benefit of the separate tours is that they're totally independent of each other. Outside of the Grand Slams and a few other larger tournaments that are considered a step just below the majors (Miami, Indian Wells), they play completely separate schedules. Some cities host events for both the men and women in different weeks, but those are separate events. They aren't combined like you'd see at a Grand Slam.
I'm not proposing any of these events be eliminated. In some cases, especially in the smaller tournaments, it would make sense to keep the single-gender tournaments as-is. But a combined tournament would make more sense in those cities that have two. Running both events simultaneously would save the event organizer money on operational costs while also allowing them to potentially earn more from sponsors and ticket sales. Not every event can have a Federer, Nadal or Djokovic to boost attendance. But if you have some top men AND some top women, that's a much easier sell.
That would potentially carry over into broadcasting, too. You're making it a lot easier on the broadcasters if the men's and women's events are in the same place. They'd only need to have one crew on the ground to cover the two tournaments at once, which will save them on production costs. That would free up more money for them to pay on the rights, and those rights would conceivably go up with the potential for higher ratings that having the men and women together would bring.
More importantly, prize money has been an issue in women's tennis for a while. They make the same amount as the men at Grand Slams, but that wasn't the case until recently. And there's still way too great a disparity in the amount of prize money available to women's players compared to men. If the tours were combined, though, that significantly increases the bargaining power that the women have when negotiating for the equal prize money that they deserve.
A combined tour could go a long way in collective bargaining for all players. For the most part, the ATP and WTA aren't that different. But there are a few distinct rules and other things that are unique to one tour and not the other. While that's not too big of a deal in single-gender events, when they get to the Grand Slams, you've got two different sets of rules. So, combining tours would guarantee the same conditions for everybody--men and women.
Meanwhile, from a fan's perspective, it's incredibly confusing to have completely different ranking systems! The winner of a Grand Slam gets 2000 points. That's consistent between the ATP and WTA. And that's it! The point structure is different for every other round of a Grand Slam, as well as all of the smaller tournaments. The number of tournaments that count towards your ranking aren't even the same! (Not to mention the fact that the men have two separate sets of rankings--the "official" 52-week ranking and a year-to-date ranking used to determine who makes the Tour Championships.)
If the tours were combined, the rankings would be much more straightforward. The points would be the same for both the men and the women. There would still be different tournament levels that offer either more or less points depending on their relative strength, but those distinctions would also be consistent between the men and the women. So would the number of tournaments that count towards your ranking. And, the rankings for both tours will be available in the same place, making them much easier to follow!
Neither tour is struggling financially. That's an important thing to keep in mind. This isn't like beach volleyball, which once had separate men's and women's tours that both went bankrupt. Now the AVP is the pro tour for both men's and women's beach volleyball, and it's never been stronger! Every AVP event is combined and everything is even across the board.
However, the ATP and WTA don't need to be struggling financially to see the benefits of combining forces. In fact, it would probably make things that much better for the players. Things wouldn't be done on behalf of the men or on behalf of the women. They would be done on behalf of all tennis players. Which means everybody would benefit.
The WTA Tour is one of the many, many, many enduring gifts that the legendary Billie Jean King left to the game of tennis. A lot of progress has been made in the last 50 years since she and eight others started the women's tour. And perhaps the greatest sign of that progress--and a real tribute to her legacy--would be a combined ATP Tour, ensuring that men's and women's tennis players are equals in every sense of the word.
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