The WTA’s Premier Necessary and Premier 5 tournaments shall be categorised as WTA 1000, the Premier occasions shall be WTA 500, the Worldwide stage shall be renamed WTA 250 whereas the $125k occasions shall be generally known as WTA 125
By Reuters
Final Up to date: 02/12/20 10:48am
Simona Halep received in Rome earlier this 12 months – a Premier 5 occasion which can develop into a WTA 1000 match from 2021
The Ladies’s Tennis Affiliation (WTA) will rename its match classes from subsequent season to align with the lads’s ATP, an indication of additional collaboration between the excursions following a season that was severely disrupted by the Covid-19 pandemic.
The worldwide well being disaster decimated the 2020 tennis calendar and prompted requires a merger of the governing our bodies, a suggestion that was nicely acquired by each the WTA and ATP.
The ladies’s tour has comprised of 5 tiers – Premier Necessary, Premier 5, Premier, Worldwide and $125K occasions, whereas the ATP has Masters 1000, 500, and 250-level tournaments.
From the 2021 season, the WTA’s Premier Necessary and Premier 5 tournaments shall be categorised as WTA 1000, the Premier occasions shall be WTA 500, the Worldwide stage shall be renamed WTA 250 whereas the $125k occasions shall be generally known as WTA 125.
“A numerical system permits for fast understanding of match stage, offering followers with a easy approach to perceive and interact with the Tour and tournaments,” WTA President Micky Lawler instructed Reuters.
“Along with offering simplicity and fast understanding, this supplies alignment with ATP’s match nomenclature in order that skilled tennis is constant and displays the identical match naming system.”
All Premier Necessary occasions had been cancelled in 2020 – Naomi Osaka received the China Open in 2019, which can develop into a WTA 1000 occasion from 2021
Prize cash and rating factors of the renamed WTA classes won’t be modified to reflect that of their ATP equal.
Merging the skilled excursions can be no simple process.
As many as seven associations run totally different elements of tennis around the globe. Along with the ATP and WTA, the game can also be managed by the Worldwide Tennis Federation and the boards of the 4 Grand Slam tournaments.
The lads’s and girls’s excursions have a separate rating system whereas some guidelines, together with on-court teaching, are additionally totally different.
Nonetheless, a merger might simplify tv contracts and sponsorship offers as viewers at the moment want totally different pay-TV platforms to observe matches.
“2020 has paved a novel alternative for higher synergy throughout all of the governing our bodies of tennis,” Lawler mentioned, including that she was happy with the WTA’s work with the ATP and appeared ahead to additional collaboration to assist strengthen the game.
As a part of its rebranding, the ladies’s governing physique will reveal a brand new emblem on Wednesday and launch a ‘WTA For The Recreation’, that includes high present gamers, to higher join with followers.
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