Roger Federer Proposes ATP-WTA Merger Amid Coronavirus Pandemic

London: 20-time Grand Slam champion Roger Federer came up with a radical proposal regarding the future of international tennis. The Swiss superstar suggested a merger between men's tennis body ATP and women's governing body WTA.

Federer believes this could be the right time for a merger between ATP and WTA for the betterment of the sport. The former World No.1 also explained that he isn't asking for competitions being merged but only the governing bodies.

"Am I the only one thinking that now is the time for men's and women's tennis to be united and come together as one?" Federer wrote on his Twitter handle.

"I am not talking about merging competition on the court, but merging the two governing bodies (ATP and WTA) that oversee the men's and women's professional tours."

"It's too confusing for the fans when there are different ranking systems, different logos, different websites, different tournament categories," he wrote further.

The entire sporting calender of the world is reeling due to Covid-19 pandemic and tennis is not different. The season has been put on hold with multiple tournaments being postponed or cancelled.

The second slam of the year, French Open, has been postponed from May to September while the Wimbledon was cancelled earlier this month in the wake of coronavirus crisis. Wimbledon had only been cancelled twice before, because of World War 1 and World War 2.

Federer’s comments on the social media were ‘liked’ by both men and women players within minutes.

“I agree, and have been saying so since the early 1970s. One voice, women and men together, has long been my vision for tennis,” American great Billie Jean King, who created the WTA in 1973, said on Twitter.

“The WTA on its own was always Plan B. I’m glad we are on the same page. Let’s make it happen.”

While tennis is a lucrative sport for those at the top, those in the lower echelons often struggle to make ends meet and with no signs of when the sport can resume again, they face a bleak future.

The ATP Tour, the WTA, along with the ITF and organisers of the four Grand Slams, have in recent weeks joined forces to create a relief fund to help the lower-level players affected by the shutdown.

Novak Djokovic, the head of the ATP player council, said he feared many in the lower tier will give up the sport and called on fellow professionals to help them.

ATP Chairman Andrea Gaudenzi recently said it was extremely important that his organisation works closely with its women’s counterparts.

“The most difficult (part), is actually to align the stakeholders,” the Italian, formerly a top-20 singles player, said in an ATP podcast.

“Players and tournaments currently, in the past, have been spending most of their time trying to solve internal conflicts. That is where most of the time, energy and resources were spent, while in reality, our competition lays outside.

“We compete with other sports, we compete with other entertainment platforms. We need to invest in technology and we need to work more closely with the other organisations, specifically the WTA, the ITF and the other Grand Slams ...”

Fellow player Nick Kyrgios replied to Federer's idea with one word: "Yes."

Former WTA chief executive Anne Worcester called for a merger of the men's and women's tours in an interview with Forbes this month.

The WTA did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

(With inputs from Agencies)