Soon after after Roger Federer floated around a suggestion of merging the men’s and women’s tennis tours on Wednesday because the sport needed a united front to combat the repercussions of the ongoing global coronavirus pandemic, a score of current and former players backed his idea.
The 38-year-old said in a series of tweets that WTA and ATP, the two governing bodies for women’s and men’s tennis respectively, should come together for running the sport. One of the points he raised was that it can be confusing for the fans when there are different ranking systems, different logos, different websites, different tournament categories.
His suggestion was met with a resounding yes from players such as Billie Jean King, who founded the WTA in 1973 to oppose the rampant gender discrimination, as well as Rafael Nadal, Boris Becker, Simona Halep, Garbine Muguruza to name a few.
Wheelchair tennis great Dylan Alcott said that even his discipline should be part of the united front.
Th Swiss superstar who is on the ATP Council along with fellow top players Nadal and Novak Djokovic, added that this move should have happened a long time ago.
Here’s a look at some of the reactions from tennis players.
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