Early marker: A year-end championship crown for a younger Alcaraz may have been a good staging level in his nascent profession | Photo: Getty Images
From introducing aggressive tennis to budding children to laying out a clear-cut pathway in direction of the higher echelons of the sport, the International Tennis Federation (ITF) does a host of issues. ‘From Playground to Podium’ is in spite of everything one among its flagship slogans.
In an interview to The Hindu on the sidelines of the ITF Women’s World Tennis Tour occasion at the Bowring Institute in Bengaluru, Andrew Moss, Strategy and Pathway Head, ITF World Tennis Tour, mentioned ITF’s sprawling governance mandate, gamers’ monetary constraints, event parity between women and men, enlargement plans and extra. Excerpts:
How is it being in India and what are your ideas on how the ITF World Tennis Tour is progressing right here?
We’ve been actually delighted in the final couple of years to have the ability to accomplice a lot with the AITA (All India Tennis Association). We’re aware of the indisputable fact that it’s a very pricey enterprise for skilled tennis gamers with the journey and lodging. What we wish to do is present alternatives in their very own international locations in order that price is much less and it’s extra about skill and having the ability to climb the rankings. We’re delighted that in the final 12 months we’ve launched a new class of girls’s occasions, a $40,000 event (W40), of which there are 4 in India this yr. And we wish to develop that subsequent yr.
You talked about the significance of creating it simpler for gamers to handle prices. But aside from say the top-200, it’s powerful for others. Are there any efforts to make sure that extra folks can reside off the cash they make by taking part in tennis?
One of the issues that the ITF has invested itself in is prize cash on the ladies’s World Tennis Tour. Last yr (2023), it was over $17 million, and that was a document. It was two million greater than in 2022, which was additionally a document. There are some smaller issues that you just can do as nicely, like having tournaments in consecutive weeks, both in the identical nation or at small distances between international locations.
One of the issues we did at the begin of 2023, and we’re doing at the begin of 2024, is having the identical ladies’s $40,000 tournaments in consecutive weeks in Thailand and India as a result of the visa journey is kind of straightforward. We are additionally going to survey gamers’ prices. If they’re taking part in of their nation, what sort of journey and lodging prices have they got? What occurs when they’re taking part in outdoors their nation? It ought to have the ability to give us an thought of what it can take for extra ladies, specifically, to have the ability to cowl their prices with prize cash.
You spoke about top-200, however what wouldn’t it take to permit 400 ladies to do the identical or 500? So it’s all about ensuring that extra ladies can see skilled tennis as a reliable profession and we’re dedicated to creating certain that occurs. What we’re additionally attempting to do is present the identical stage for ladies as the ATP’s Challenger occasions do for males. That’s in the variety of occasions. We acquired nearly to parity this yr, however there are variations in prize cash and the variety of tournaments that present hospitality. Those are two gaps that we want to shut in the quick to medium time period.
Regarding event parity — for males, ATP handles every part upwards of Challenger 50 (50 factors). But on the ladies’s aspect, it’s the ITF that handles till W100 and solely then does the WTA are available. Does that drawback gamers?
It’s not the identical, however I don’t assume it’s a drawback. The most vital factor is the coverage and the dedication to executing that coverage. The variety of tournaments is now the identical between ATP Challengers and the ladies’s equal, which is nice. Three or 4 years in the past, for each one ITF ladies’s occasion $40,000 (W40) or greater, there’d be two ATP Challengers. But now it’s one to 1. So, as I discussed, it’s the coverage and the dedication to executing the coverage that’s the most vital factor.
Hosting tournaments is turning into an costly affair. Even FIFA (soccer World Cup) and IOC (Olympics) are cutting down their expectations as a result of prices are ballooning. Tennis occasions are at a a lot smaller stage, however do you see event-financing as a downside affecting the sport?
We have an organisational necessities doc that everybody follows. It is value saying that a lot of tournaments are run by individuals who love tennis. Profit shouldn’t be a issue of their motivation. But we can’t deny that prices are growing. That’s the place the ITF has stepped in with some financing. Not simply in having the ability to help nationwide associations, and by extension event organisers, but in addition gamers. I don’t assume at this stage prices are prohibitive and that’s stopping tournaments from being organised. But, for certain, we’ve to be vigilant.
The ITF’s mandate is to develop the recreation and in addition look to construct a business enterprise with a sustainable revenue-expansion mannequin. How do you stability the two?
When we take a look at the success of the World Tennis Tour every year, we don’t simply take a look at the prize cash or variety of occasions at a sure stage, however we’re additionally taking a look at what number of totally different nationalities of ranked gamers there are, what number of totally different international locations are organising competitions. At the second, there are about 75 international locations that host ITF World Tennis Tour occasions. There are about 140 international locations that host ITF Juniors. So the most evident place to look for new internet hosting international locations are the ones that host Junior occasions however not skilled ones. If you could possibly get to 100 international locations organising, that might be nice. We’re all the time seeking to help extra gamers get onto the pathway and be given alternatives in order that we can be agnostic about the place expertise comes from and it can nonetheless succeed.
The tennis calendar stretches from January to November. Do you assume it’s too lengthy?
I believe we’ve to be a little bit agnostic to the time of yr. There are occasions of the yr, for instance, right here in India in December the place you would possibly get nice crowds and that basically helps the event work commercially. So it’s not fairly really easy to say, ‘we’re going to cease in December.’ One factor we should be aware of is about gamers who’re taking part in in the Grand Slam qualifying in Australia in January. They do want time to relaxation and recuperate. More broadly, we’ve been occupied with having a little bit of construction to the starting and the finish of the yr.
Like an end-of-the-year championships for the ITF World Tennis Tour. Something like that might bookend January to November. We’re conscious that the tour can run each single week. There are fewer occasions in December than there are at different occasions of the yr, in order that type of has its personal logic. But at the identical time, we’re additionally a international tour and December shouldn’t be essentially a down month all over the place in the world. I believe we’ve a good stability at the second. Up till November, there’s a sturdy illustration of tournaments, and it tails off in December. But I perceive that a lot of gamers would really like it a bit structured in order that they can have a correct low season earlier than Australian Open qualifying.
Is the season-ending championship for ITF World Tennis Tour like the ATP Finals, WTA Finals and the ATP Next Gen Finals? Is it in the works?
It’s an thought and we have to focus on it with the Tours (ATP and WTA). It’s definitely an thought as a result of I believe it provides a little little bit of construction. The ATP has the Finals, as does the WTA. So I believe one thing like that might help. It’s additionally a kind of issues the place we may begin establishing a legacy of the ITF World Tennis Tour. For a participant like Carlos Alcaraz, who has been World No.1 and a Grand Slam champion, what had been the levels in his profession? It isn’t just that he gained a ATP Masters 1000 or that he gained Challenger titles. It can also be that he gained a Men’s ITF $25,000 in Spain in 2019. Had there been a second for him the place he may need been capable of win an end-of-year championship for males, that might have been an attention-grabbing type of staging level in his profession. And that’s one among the issues that might help the profile of the ITF Tour. But it’s solely an thought for now.
Considering any such change includes discussions with a number of stakeholders and tennis governing our bodies like the ATP, the WTA, the 4 Grand Slams and Grand Slam board, how troublesome are these negotiations?
The factor that you just can take as a constructive is that change can occur by consensus. We have our participant panel, we’ve our committees, we’ve the ITF board, we’ve the ATP, the WTA, all crucial stakeholders. But what meaning is we get a constant and joined-up method. I see advantages in having the ability to take totally different opinions and totally different business pathway views and having the ability to observe them into one. So I don’t see a problem with that. From a fan perspective, generally it can be irritating to see totally different guidelines and totally different organisations. But the indisputable fact that it can contain totally different views, I believe it’s a good factor.
What are the plans for 2024? Any new growth initiatives on the anvil?
Over the final three years, we’ve been capable of materially change the quantity and high quality of suggestions that we’ve acquired from gamers. In truth, we’ve Niki Kaliyanda Poonacha and Shivani Chilakalapudi from India in the gamers’ panel, and that’s been nice in enabling us get suggestions.
Some of our goals [for the future] are associated to the subjects that we’ve mentioned — prize cash, scheduling of tournaments, introduction of extra hospitality which can ease the profit-loss equation for gamers. We are additionally seeking to work on requirements at every event, and making it higher. These simply stay basic, and we’ll proceed to work on them in 2024 and subsequent years.
