Federer proposes ATP, WTA merger

Roger Federer
Roger Federer believes this could be the right time for a merger between ATP and WTA for the betterment of the sport. File photo: Reuters

London: Swiss maestro Roger Federer has come up with a radical proposal regarding the future of international tennis. The 20-time Grand Slam champion 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 was not  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. The tennis 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.

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