Peng Shuai case: ATP with a toothless explanation
That was probably not the moral support from the ATP that the WTA would have wished for in the Peng Shuai case: The statement by the men's players' association was extremely toothless.
by Jens Huiber
last edit: Dec 02, 2021, 06:35 pm
ATP boss Andrea Gaudenzi is considered a great friend of something that can roughly be described as "Tennis United": men and women fighting together for the sport of tennis. In these days, however, when the WTA leaned far out of the window in the Peng Shuai case with the suspension of all tournaments taking place in China, the ATP… nothing comes. Well, it turned out to be an explanation on the subject. But this is hard to beat in terms of harmlessness.
The reason for this? That can be assumed on the financial side. The ATP does not want to mess with one of its largest markets; the word "China" does not appear once in the declaration. With the ATP Masters 1000 tournament in Shanghai and the 500 event in Beijing, two immensely important events are taking place in China, Beijing even wants to add a lot of money to another category.
Djokovic certainly not happy
The ATP declaration will not meet with approval from industry leader Novak Djokovic either. The Serb had demanded full solidarity with the WTA in the matter in Madrid. Djokovic has been at odds with the ATP since the PTPA was founded in late summer 2020.
It is not surprising that the ITF is acting in a similarly non-binding manner as the ATP on this matter. In recent years, the world association has mostly followed the call of money anyway - be it to Abu Dhabi, where the Davis Cup final tournament will be held from 2022. Interesting in this regard, however: A press conference scheduled for Sunday to announce the details of the move of the final from Madrid to Abu Dhabi was canceled today. Without giving reasons.