Former world No.1 Novak Djokovic has called for the ATP World Tour Finals to be moved to other countries to help boost men’s tennis to a wider audience.
The multi-million dollar tournament has been held at the O2 Arena in London since 2009. Last year a deal was struck to keep the season-ending finals in the same place until at least 2020. Making it the longest time the ATP Finals have been hosted in the same city since New York held the event between 1977-1989.
Following his second round win over Gael Monfils, Djokovic has hailed London as a ‘great success’ in holding the tournament. Although he believes that the governing body of the sport is being too safe if comes to staging the event, which began in 1970.
“This is the biggest event that ATP has. I think it’s probably the biggest asset.” Said Djokovic.
“London has always been the safest option, I would say, because of obviously different reasons and history. But I think it should be exploited a little bit more. It should be leveraged more because of the promotion of our sport.
“ If we want to grow our sport, especially in regions like China or those parts of the world where tennis is popular, I think we should think about it, just maybe travel it a little bit more.”
The comments come on the same day it was announced that Shenzhen will host the WTA Finals from 2019 onwards. The women’s equivalent of the event. A record breaking 10-year deal has been struck with the total prize money doubling to $14 million. Under the agreement a new state-of-the-art venue will be built in the Chinese city with a seating capacity for 12,000 people.
The historic hike means that unless the ATP up their funding, the women will earn more during the end-of-year tournament. Not commenting on the pay gap between genders, Djokovic has stated his support for the breakthrough in women’s tennis.
“That’s a big success for WTA, for all the female players. They deserve it. No doubt about it. They fight to have the best possible tour for them.” He said.
“The World Tour Finals is, both men’s and women’s, the biggest asset we have in the sport that WTA and ATP control, can leverage on the market.”
As to where the men’s event could move to in the future, Djokovic has backed the potential idea of moving it to China. China has invested millions into tennis within recent years to establish their country as a key market for the sport. The country now hosts a string of key ATP and WTA events, including one of the ATP Masters 1000 tournaments.
“Men’s tennis is picking up (in China) as well,” he said.
“We also have some big events there that they are doing very well. Obviously they have great facilities. The Chinese economy is obviously doing great. They love tennis. They put a lot of money into tennis.”
It remains unclear as to what will happen to the ATP Finals beyond 2020.