WTA: New logo, new tournament categories
The alignment of tennis tours for women and men has come a big step. The women's players' organization WTA announced on Wednesday as part of a realignment that the women's tournaments will in future be named analogously to the men's tour.
by SID / red
last edit: Dec 02, 2020, 09:33 pm
Accordingly, in addition to the four Grand Slam tournaments, there will be WTA tournaments in the 1000, 500, 250 and 125 categories from now on. So far, tournaments for professional female players have been categorized as Premier Mandatory, Premier 5, Premier and International, which has often caused confusion.
The fans advocated a "uniform approach", as WTA President Micky Lawler said: "We see it in the ticket sales for combined women's and men's tournaments or in the number of viewers on shared broadcasting platforms." The new naming of the tournaments "should make it 100 percent easier for WTA fans, corporate partners and the media to practice and follow our sport."
Rittner for, Hordorff against an association
The WTA was founded in 1973 on the initiative of the American tennis icon Billie Jean King. Recently, there had been more and more supporters from the scene for the idea of completely merging WTA and ATP. For example, the two superstars Roger Federer and Rafael Nadal had shown themselves impressed, and Germany's women's tennis boss Barbara Rittner also spoke out in favor.
Dirk Hordorff, DTB Vice President, spoke out against an association in the tennisnet podcast "Quiet, please". Such a step must lead to both sides being better off. He doesn't see that in the specific case.
quietplease38