ATP and WTA to merge? For real?

ATP / WTA 
Is a commercial merger on the way?

The talks about merging the ATP and the WTA tours have been going on for a while, but it seems we’ve never been closer to see it come to life. This week in Madrid could be the one where it all comes to light as the BBC reports that the ATP and the WTA “will jointly stage tournament meetings” in Madrid for the first time and that “the ATP and WTA will this week continue very positive discussions about the foundation of a joint commercial entity to manage assets such as broadcast rights, data, and sponsorship.” The WTA created WTA Ventures a couple of years ago and sold 20% of it to the private equity firm CVC Partners for $150 million. CVC Partners decided last week to go the IPO way on the Amsterdam Stock Exchange.

As for the London meeting where all the tennis leaders were supposed to find a way to stay together instead of writing the tennis version of what’s happening in golf with the LIV and the PGA battle, not much has been leaked. The BBC reports that everyone is still talking to each other so there’s at least that, and it also seems that the Premium Tour proposal is still firmly on the table. In this light, no doubt that merging the ATP and the WTA for good would give this new entity more leverage in front of the four Grand Slam events leading the Premium Tour idea.

CLAY SEASON 
Rybakina still has Swiatek’s number

Elena Rybakina can still do what most of the rest of the players cannot do on clay: beating Iga Swiatek. A winner in Stuttgart on Sunday after dominating Swiatek - winner there the past two years - on Saturday, Rybakina now leads 4-2 in their H2H. That win on Swiatek’s turf won’t be enough to get into the World No.1’s brain just now, but it’s still not ideal to launch her road to Roland-Garros. “I think my serve helped me a lot in the important moments… It was such a close match. We both like to dominate in the points, so it was kind of a battle of who starts the rally better and who can dominate”, said Rybakina.

Iga Swiatek, who has now been at the top of the WTA for 100 weeks, was quick to admit what went wrong after her semi-final loss (6-3, 4-6, 6-3): “She played better than me, obviously. She served better. I didn’t serve well in the third set, that’s a shame but at least I know what I can work on and focus on that. I reacted well but in that third set, my level got down a little bit again. I’m always trying to find solutions, I’m not giving up but it wasn’t enough.”

It was nice to see Marta Kostyuk in that final (2-6, 2-6) in Stuttgart after such a solid run. She’s really finding her way to the top this year, helped by her coach Sandra Zaniewska.

Casper Ruud got over a big hurdle by clinching his biggest title yet. A weird thing to say for someone with already three Grand Slam finals (Roland-Garros 2022, 2023, US Open 2022), but it’s true: beating Stefanos Tsitsipas (7-5, 6-3) in Barcelona, after losing against him last week in Monte-Carlo, gave Ruud his first ATP 500. “This one has been a long, long, time coming. Worth all the wait”, he said. And in a new proof that it’s never too late, Jan-Lennard Struff clinched the first title of his career at 33, at home in Munich.

BREAK POINTS 
Muguruza says no more, while Djokovic says “Thank you, but no” to Madrid again

• Not a surprise but always sad to see a champion leave the sport: Garbine Muguruza announced her retirement on Saturday. “I feel I am ready to retire, to open this new chapter in my life. A new era, a new life. I was nervous, wanting to say it. I feel good, even if the word retired is a bit strong,” she said. Muguruza, 30 and a former World No.1, won Roland-Garros in 2016, Wimbledon in 2017, and also won the WTA Finals in 2021.
  
  She played four events at the start of 2023 without winning a match: her last official appearance was that first-round loss against Linda Noskova (6-1, 6-4) in Lyon. Could she have won way more throughout her career? Absolutely. Does she care? Not at all. if there was one top player you could feel was sometimes eaten alive by the stress of it all, it was Muguruza. Now comes her sigh of relief: she’s done with that part of her life.
  

• As he did in 2023, Novak Djokovic decided again this year that he would not appear at the Caja Magica. Some would say it served him well last year as, after a loss in Rome’s quarterfinals to Holger Rune, he went on to win Roland-Garros. And the World No.1 might consider he already had enough matches with his run to the semi-finals in Monte-Carlo. Playing two two-week events before Paris might also look a bit too much for Novak at this stage of his career. Want to see the glass half empty? Djokovic’s super light schedule this year is a gamble regarding how many competitive matches he really needs to peak in Paris. And his level in Monte-Carlo was still far from his high standards. Djokovic still made the trip to Madrid…but for football. A Clasico is a Clasico.

• Rafael Nadal won’t pass on Madrid as he’s already been hitting the courts there. Rafa won’t play until April 25th but he knows he needs as many hours on the clay as he can get his feet to these days. A reassuring sight regarding his recent abdominal injury. And regarding how much he still wants to get out there and try.
  
  In another sign of how hopeful he is regarding his 2024 schedule, it was announced on Monday that Nadal had signed to join Team Europe at the Laver Cup in Berlin (September 20-22). “At this stage in my career, I really want to go out there and make the most of every opportunity I am given. Teaming up is always an incredible experience and I have always enjoyed it, the competition is different and exciting.”
  

• Jannik Sinner cares about the Olympics. New proof? The Italian entered the Bastad tournament, played on clay, right before fighting for that gold in Paris. The Italian is making sure he’ll get more time on the red after the grass season: someone ain’t going to Paris in July just to go to these Gucci shops.
  

• Crazily enough, Andy Murray is back on a practice court. New overrated item in tennis? Ligaments in the ankles.
  

• Sports fans? It’s a lot about the ears too. A report made by SiriusXM Media, GroupM, and Edison Research states that the majority of sports fans (64%) are also listening to sports audio content. Sports podcasts are even leading the way for GenZ fans (42%°).

QUESTION OF THE DAY 
What about you?

If your answer is yes, please let me know which one(s) by hitting the reply button.
Last week, you were 75% to answer that you’d take that ticket for Rafael Nadal’s last match ever.

MENS SANA IN CORPORE SANO 
More players being MIA in Madrid

• Matteo Berrettini still cannot catch a break from health issues. The Italian, who clinched the title in Marrakech at the start of the month, won’t be able to play in Madrid. No injury this time but an illness that has now evolved into tonsillitis and fever. He still hopes to be in the draw for Rome’s Masters 1000.

• Jessica Pegula didn’t play in Stuttgart because of a scheduling conflict with the BJK Cup, but she’s now out of Madrid because of an injury sustained this past week.

BUSINESS/MEDIA 
Netflix picks the hiding option, and France is (shocker) all about the bag

You know what matters a lot for the advertising companies that support the sports industry? Clear audience metrics. You know what Netflix is going to put into hiding? Clear audience metrics. I mean, seems to me someone at Netflix has decided to make it personal with sports.

I know, had tennis been as scary as Michael Jordan, it wouldn’t have lost its show on Netflix. Some work on the fear factor is needed. Lesson 1? Watch The Last Dance again. Just because…

In a news also reported by Front Office Sports, Netflix announced that it will no longer give its subscribers numbers, starting in the first quarter of 2025. It will instead use other financial metrics like revenue and operating margin. The news didn’t land that well it seems because the company’s share dropped 7% last Friday.

So does that mean Netflix is putting its sports ambitions in the corner? They swear that no. “We’re not anti-sports, but pro-profitable growth. And I think that’s the core of everything we do in all kinds of programming, including sports”, said Ted Sarandos, Netflix co-CEO. Wait and see, I guess.

Are we surprised that French luxury conglomerate LVMH accounts, in the exports, for more than the country's entire agricultural sector? No, we’re not. We got all the bags and we know it (yes, I’m French, I confess). But let’s say it this way: are we surprised that we make more money exporting luxury goods than our food, and by food I mean cheese? We’re not surprised, we’re offended. Should we blame the tennis icons signed by Louis Vuitton? (If you know them, prove it with the reply button)

“LVMH accounts for a bigger share of French exports than the agricultural sector” reports Morning Brew. “The country’s leading exports are not from the agricultural sector—they’re the handbags and other items from the luxury conglomerate LVMH. The ~$25 billion worth of goods from the Paris-based company that also produces perfumes, jewelry, and watches accounted for 4% of French exports last year, per a study by consultancy Asterès for LVMH. Meanwhile, France’s entire agricultural sector accounted for 3.2%.”

You’re all coming to Roland-Garros and are all getting ready for Paris 2024 but all you’re going to think about buying once back home is Vuitton and not Roquefort? I’m sad.

COACHING CORNER 
Former players land new jobs on the WTA

Having a former top player in your team remains a strong favorite on Tour. Case in point:

• French player Clara Burel (#44) works part-time with Tatiana Golovin, as L’Equipe revealed. “I hope it will keep going”, said Burel in Rouen where she lost in the second round. “Each time she will be able to travel with me, she’ll come. That’s a good thing to have her by my side, and she helps me with a lot of things.”
  

• Conchita Martinez, nearly as experienced and successful as a coach as a player, has now accepted the task of bringing the young and fearless Mirra Andreeva to the top. Andreeva terminated her collaboration with Jean-René Lisnard at the start of the year and then hired Kirill Kryukov.

  
  

  

  Mirra Andreeva in Rouen

  
  
  “So far, so good," said Andreeva, "I like it, I hope she likes it too. We will see how it will go and then we will decide about our next tournaments. I cannot say there are special aspects we are working on. But the first thing we worked on was my slice, because she was a good slicer. So she told me some tricks, and I'm trying to use it when I have time and a good possibility on court."
  

• Brad Gilbert wasn’t with Coco Gauff in Stuttgart, but he was with Zendaya at the Challengers premiere in Los Angeles. Yet, no drama there as he will be back in the team for Madrid. Gauff explained she wanted Jean-Christophe Faurel, who is back with her, to have one tournament on his own before sharing the duty with Gilbert. “When I started with him, he was never going to be coming to every tournament. Just mainly the big ones. I'm really happy with it. I think I found the team that I really like right now, and hopefully, it can last long term”, Gauff said in Stuttgart.

PLAY HARD, TRAIN HARD, DRESS THE PART 
That’s pushing it…

Hmmm where do we stand about tennis players and gloves? Is it nay or…nay?

EDITOR’S PICKS 

READ: Jelena Dokic in a talk with The Guardian, about her journey of writing: “It’s not easy to reinvent yourself or start something new after you’ve been an athlete, because that’s the only thing you’ve ever known your whole life. (…) “I was a woman with nothing to aspire to, no goals and dreams left.” Now? “I have a lot of joy in my life now, I’m thriving." The former tennis prodigy has released two books so far, Unbreakable and Fearless. 

WATCH: Dead Poets Society. It’s kind of in the news… And gosh I cried buckets back in the day watching this movie. A classic.

SPLURGE: We already had a 15k espresso machine in this category, so let’s keep the coffee strand: what about Britain’s most expensive coffee, at around $325 for a cup? Where, at Shop London in Mayfair. “Alessandro Birtolo, the head barista, said that the shop sells two to three cups of the most expensive coffee a week, although he has known a single customer to return every day of the week. The price, he said, reflects the rarity of the beans, which have been grown by the Kishimoto family on the island of Okinawa since 2015.” Wimbledon’s Pimms and strawberries might have found their (very expensive) match.

SAVE: You keep losing your AirPods and/or you have tiny ears (so do I)? Well, these Earhooks will be cheaper to buy than a new pair of AirPods. *

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